So, I guess it’s sick kid season. Facebook is full of posts and comments about sick kids. Every time I look, someone else is talking about their sick kid. They’re taking them to the doctor. They won’t take their medicine. They’re on their 50th round of antibiotics. It just seems endless.
If this describes you and your kids, please don’t misunderstand me, many of you are my friends and I’m not criticizing you or your posts and certainly not your children. My concern is that it seems like too many kids are too sick, too much of the time. I can’t help but wonder why this is.
I have 2 kids, ages 6 and 2, and my family’s experience with illness has been very different. Why? I can only guess. I don’t think my kids are genetically lucky, or that it’s just random chance. I also don’t think my kids are magically protected. They could become very ill at any time. But, I think that the biggest difference between most (not all) families around us and ourselves is that we have an enormous amount of faith in our body’s ability to self-regulate and to protect and heal itself. This idea appears to be foreign to a great many people.
Our immune system is a wondrous thing. When you think about it, we are surrounded by germs all the time. Why do we get sick sometimes, but not all the time? It’s because our immune system is at work protecting us from getting sick. This is not a foolproof system. It can be overwhelmed, but there are things we can do to help our immune systems help us. I believe that they can make the difference between healthy kids and chronically sick kids.
A number of things affect our immune systems such as what we eat, exposure to environmental toxins (other than food), how much sleep we get, getting enough exercise, our mental attitudes, and any stress-relieving activities that we might engage in. Let’s take these one at a time.
Nutrition: This might just be the biggest factor for kids. So many kids are addicted to junk! In today’s society it is nearly impossible to avoid junk altogether, I agree. But, for the sake of our kids, we must try really, really hard to help them eat right. If this isn’t done right from the start, it is much harder to correct later. You doom your children to early heart disease, diabetes, and much more including spending much of childhood sick if you don’t teach them to eat right. Candy, chips, soda, ice cream, cake, pie, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, energy drinks, and coffee drinks, should be rare exceptions to the diet, not the norm. When we allow our children to eat these foods regularly, we are teaching them how to eat and we are failing them, big time! Instead we must insist on healthier foods, no matter how difficult this is. The consequence of refusing the healthy food? Hunger. Deal with it, kid. And you may not be their best friend for a while (not exactly the job of a parent anyway). Do my kids eat salad all day? No. Do they eat perfectly? No. Am I a perfect parent? Definitely not. But, my kids are rarely sick, and when they are, it’s mild and brief. I believe that nutrition is one of the biggest factors contributing to their healthy lives. Bottom line, if you don’t know how to eat healthy or how to get your kids to do so, please research and learn fast – for their sake.
While on the topic of nutrition, I can’t leave out the importance of breastfeeding. For some, it’s too late to do much about this. Either you did it or you didn’t. It is impossible to overstate the importance of breastfeeding to your child’s current and future health. Children who have been breast fed are healthier by far. The advantages of breastfeeding are (just to name a few): Healthier babies, healthier moms, decreased cancer risk, fewer ear infections, fewer allergies, higher IQ, less diabetes, saves lots of money, improves bonding with mother, and much, much more (from WHO, UNICEF, & WABA statistics).
Environmental toxins: This topic can be very controversial so I’ll point out a few items that we try our best to limit or exclude from our children’s lives. Number one has to be vaccines. Did I say this topic can be controversial? Our kids have not been vaccinated – for anything! If you have been told that your child cannot go to public school without having been vaccinated, you have been lied to (at least in most states). My son goes to public school and there has not been a single problem caused by his non-vaccinated status. I believe this to be another of the biggest reasons why our children seem to be healthier than most. Another environmental toxin is fluoride. Again, there is much controversy about this. You must research and decide for yourself. Our kids use non-fluoride toothpaste and drink bottled water whenever possible. Also, no fluoride tablets from the dentist. Chlorine in drinking water is also to be avoided as much as possible. Artificial sweeteners (should this be under nutrition? oh well) are far worse than sugar. At least we know what sugar is and we know that it needs to be severely limited. Artificial sweeteners are not natural substances. There is mounting evidence that these products contribute to a large number of potential health problems, including cancer and autoimmune diseases. My kids don’t even chew gum with artificial sweetener in it.
Sleep: I don’t think this topic is much of a mystery, nor is it controversial. Therefore, there isn’t much to say about it. Our bodies heal and repair during sleep. Without it, we cannot continue to function. Without enough of it, we will get sick. Kids need more sleep than adults. Actually, there is a controversy to discuss here. This is the issue of co-sleeping. Neither of our children used a crib. Our son, now six, slept with us until he was almost four. He spent those years with a feeling of safety and security that all children deserve and cannot get by being isolated in a crib and left to cry themselves to sleep. We had virtually no difficulty switching him to his own bed when the time came. We were told we would never get him out of our bed, but this was not a problem. Those people were wrong. I believe strongly that children are affected, long-term, by their experiences in the first few years, and it can’t possibly be harmful to help your child feel safe, secure, and not abandoned by their parents.
Exercise: Again, not a lot of controversy about the fact that our bodies need to be active. Fit bodies are healthy bodies and are generally sick less often. Kids learn exercise habits just like they learn eating habits. Habits learned in childhood will serve them well in adulthood.
Mental Attitude: My kids are basically happy. I imagine most people will be able to say the same thing about their kids, but can you imagine the effect on health if the opposite is true? We all know sad, depressed, negative people. They are usually not the healthiest specimens.
Stress-relieving activities: I already mentioned exercise but it also fits here. Exercise, as long as it’s not excessive, is a stress-reliever. But how do children relieve stress? Is it different than for adults? When a baby cries it needs to be comforted. One of the best ways to do this is . . . you guessed it, breastfeeding! Babies do not need to “cry it out.” All this teaches them is that they can’t count on their parents. If you take this approach, prepare for bonding complications and long-term relationship problems. Children also relieve stress by playing. In addition, as chiropractors we have noticed that our pediatric patients get sick less often than most kids, just like our own children. We believe that chiropractic adjustments play a role in boosting the immune system so this makes complete sense. Children don’t usually need chiropractic care because of a specific injury or chronic back pain. They need it because it’s part of a healthy lifestyle that will contribute to their overall wellness! Incidentally, this is no different for adults. We need chiropractic care for this reason as well.
So, to sum it up, I would say the big four reasons my kids are healthier than average are: 1) Good nutrition 2) No vaccines 3) They were both breastfed past 1 year, and 4) Chiropractic care.
I hope this will help some people. I don’t profess to have all the answers and this blog post is not my attempt to judge parents of unhealthy kids. My kids could be stricken with something awful at any time and I thank God every day that they are not. All we can do is the best we know how and I think I have something to contribute in this area. Again, I hope it helps.
Remember, these are just my opinions, and if you don’t like them you can Kiss My Healthy Blank!
- Dr. Steve
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Swine Flu Vaccine - To Stab or Not To Stab
Those of you who know me already know my opinion on vaccines in general. I choose not to get the flu vaccine, my wife also makes the same decision, and we have chosen not to have our children vaccinated. If you think we’ve made a poor decision, well, let’s just say I’m glad you’re not in charge of my kids. No, wait. We decided to call this blog “Kiss My Healthy Blank” to give it a little bit of an edgy or controversial feel (and I do enjoy controversy), so please allow me to change the aforementioned rebuke to the following: “Screw you, and the horse you rode in on!”
Whew! That felt good. Are you wondering where this hostility comes from? Well, let’s take a look at that. My guess is that the average reader of this blog should not consider themselves the target of my unfortunate outburst. So, please relax. My frustration comes in 2 parts. One is that there is a tendency of people to get caught up in hysteria. It’s swine flu right now, but it was HPV before that, and SARS before that, and bird flu before that. Or were they the same thing? Right now, I can’t remember. Anyway, there was small pox hysteria before that – you get my point. There is so much hysteria and so little in the way of rational thinking. I’m just sick of hearing about it. The other part of my frustration, and the biggest part by far, comes from those who would create and perpetuate the hysteria. This includes public health officials and the media. There are so many buffoons out there, who are in positions of authority, that know next to nothing about what they’re saying. And, of course, the media loves drama. It makes a much better story to tell you that swine flu is coming and it can kill you, than to say that you might catch it but probably won’t even know that it’s different from the regular flu.
The fact is that healthy people don’t die from swine flu. In fact, very few people die from swine flu at all. If you want to be scared of something, be scared of the vaccine. The last time (in the 70’s) there was a swine flu scare, the government ran commercials advocating vaccination, the media played it up, and people got in line for their shots. What was the result? More people died from the vaccine itself than from the swine flu! This, my friends, is a lesson in not trusting your government to know or to do what’s best for you. You must do your own research and you must make your own decisions about your health and the health of your children. You must also be free to make those decisions. Some public health officials would like to make those decisions for us. They would like to force vaccination on everyone. That cannot be allowed to happen. The rationale here is that vaccinating everyone protects everyone, and that if a few are allowed to go unvaccinated, they are a continued threat to the rest of society. I have 2 things to say to that. 1) If you believe that vaccines work, then you have nothing to fear from my unvaccinated child, even if they cough swine flu right into your face. After all, you’re vaccinated. What do you have to worry about? 2) The single greatest responsibility I will ever have in my life is the health and welfare of my own children. I will NEVER make a decision, willingly, that puts society before them. NEVER! Since everyone reading this is part of that society, you have my condolences. However, that changes nothing. My children still must come first. I believe that many of you who choose to vaccinate have made the same decision to put your children first. You’ve just made a different decision than we did. That’s great as long as you made an informed decision. If you didn’t, if you made a rash, reflexive decision to vaccinate (for the swine flu, regular flu, or anything else) I urge you to take another look at the evidence.
By the way, those unvaccinated children of mine are almost never sick. When they are sick, it is brief and very minor. I believe there are several reasons for this. 1) They were breastfed for over a year. 2) They are not vaccinated – at all. 3) They eat healthier than average. And 4) they get adjusted by their chiropractors. Yes, that’s us!
That’s all for now. I look forward to your comments. Remember, this is just my opinion, but if you don’t like it you can Kiss My Healthy Blank!
-Dr. Steve
Fact: “The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.”
Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (a direct quote)
Comment: I see nothing scary here.
Fact: Infection rate per million of population in the U.S: 204.32
Fact: Death rate per million of population in the U.S: 3.29
Source: www.flucount.org
Comment: Nothing scary here either. Far more people die of the regular flu.
A good resource: www.nvic.org
Whew! That felt good. Are you wondering where this hostility comes from? Well, let’s take a look at that. My guess is that the average reader of this blog should not consider themselves the target of my unfortunate outburst. So, please relax. My frustration comes in 2 parts. One is that there is a tendency of people to get caught up in hysteria. It’s swine flu right now, but it was HPV before that, and SARS before that, and bird flu before that. Or were they the same thing? Right now, I can’t remember. Anyway, there was small pox hysteria before that – you get my point. There is so much hysteria and so little in the way of rational thinking. I’m just sick of hearing about it. The other part of my frustration, and the biggest part by far, comes from those who would create and perpetuate the hysteria. This includes public health officials and the media. There are so many buffoons out there, who are in positions of authority, that know next to nothing about what they’re saying. And, of course, the media loves drama. It makes a much better story to tell you that swine flu is coming and it can kill you, than to say that you might catch it but probably won’t even know that it’s different from the regular flu.
The fact is that healthy people don’t die from swine flu. In fact, very few people die from swine flu at all. If you want to be scared of something, be scared of the vaccine. The last time (in the 70’s) there was a swine flu scare, the government ran commercials advocating vaccination, the media played it up, and people got in line for their shots. What was the result? More people died from the vaccine itself than from the swine flu! This, my friends, is a lesson in not trusting your government to know or to do what’s best for you. You must do your own research and you must make your own decisions about your health and the health of your children. You must also be free to make those decisions. Some public health officials would like to make those decisions for us. They would like to force vaccination on everyone. That cannot be allowed to happen. The rationale here is that vaccinating everyone protects everyone, and that if a few are allowed to go unvaccinated, they are a continued threat to the rest of society. I have 2 things to say to that. 1) If you believe that vaccines work, then you have nothing to fear from my unvaccinated child, even if they cough swine flu right into your face. After all, you’re vaccinated. What do you have to worry about? 2) The single greatest responsibility I will ever have in my life is the health and welfare of my own children. I will NEVER make a decision, willingly, that puts society before them. NEVER! Since everyone reading this is part of that society, you have my condolences. However, that changes nothing. My children still must come first. I believe that many of you who choose to vaccinate have made the same decision to put your children first. You’ve just made a different decision than we did. That’s great as long as you made an informed decision. If you didn’t, if you made a rash, reflexive decision to vaccinate (for the swine flu, regular flu, or anything else) I urge you to take another look at the evidence.
By the way, those unvaccinated children of mine are almost never sick. When they are sick, it is brief and very minor. I believe there are several reasons for this. 1) They were breastfed for over a year. 2) They are not vaccinated – at all. 3) They eat healthier than average. And 4) they get adjusted by their chiropractors. Yes, that’s us!
That’s all for now. I look forward to your comments. Remember, this is just my opinion, but if you don’t like it you can Kiss My Healthy Blank!
-Dr. Steve
Fact: “The symptoms of swine flu in people are expected to be similar to the symptoms of regular human seasonal influenza and include fever, lethargy, lack of appetite and coughing. Some people with swine flu also have reported runny nose, sore throat, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.”
Source: Center for Disease Control and Prevention (a direct quote)
Comment: I see nothing scary here.
Fact: Infection rate per million of population in the U.S: 204.32
Fact: Death rate per million of population in the U.S: 3.29
Source: www.flucount.org
Comment: Nothing scary here either. Far more people die of the regular flu.
A good resource: www.nvic.org
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