What do you do to keep healthy?

[CrunchyKnitter]

I'm pretty certain we are leaning toward not vaccinating at all. I just don't believe they are safe and effective, like many of you, so I don't see the point. However, I also realize that the way we stay healthy involves avoiding all toxins (not just vaccines) by eating right and other things. So my question is two fold I guess; 1. what are all of the things you do to make sure you naturally keep your body healthy vs relying on vaccines (since we don't believe that is what makes one healthy, but that you need to do other things to ensure health) and 2. What happens when you cannot do all of those things 100% of the time??? For example, we buy organic food probably 95% of the time, but we also do eat out sometimes. For example, tonight we're eating Qdoba take out since it's freebie Tuesday We also love sushi. Obviously these things are organic and/or the highest quality ingredients. So while I understand there are certain things to be done to produce health, will it still 'work' when said things aren't 100%?

[zinemama]

Really, nothing in particular. We buy organic produce and fruit when possible. The hormone-free chicken. Other stuff I don't worry about. We eat out without fretting about it.

We don't eat fast food (i.e. McD's, BK, Taco Bell). Ever. That's pretty important to us.

We cook from scratch. That's about it. No special herbs, tonics, acupuncture, or anything else. We try to get the kids to wash their hands often.

[CrunchyKnitter]

Originally Posted by zinemama

Really, nothing in particular. We buy organic produce and fruit when possible. The hormone-free chicken. Other stuff I don't worry about. We eat out without fretting about it.

We don't eat fast food (i.e. McD's, BK, Taco Bell). Ever. That's pretty important to us.

We cook from scratch. That's about it. No special herbs, tonics, acupuncture, or anything else. We try to get the kids to wash their hands often.

Ok good, that sounds like us Though, I won't lie..I did have a few nugget cravings when I was pregnant. ha

I guess I am just worried b/c everyone that is strongly anti vax is about living in a way that produces health just from eating a certain way, etc, but if you cannot follow those things 100% then ARE you keeping healthy enough, you know? Like, in a perfect world it would be easy to stay healthy b/c everyone would do X,Y, and Z, but if some only do X, some only do Y, some only do Z, some do a little of X and Y, etc. - then are we safe?

[MountainMamaGC]

I am BFing my DD and any future children till at least age 2. We try to eat a whole food diet with lots of veggies but nobody is perfect. We do indulge in the bad stuff every now and then. I take greens plus and vit C and D. I give Vit C and D to my DD when she gets sick. Thats about it. I rarely get my 18 mo DD to wash her hands and she is rarely sick. When she does get sick she is over it fairly quickly. I also try not to medicate fevers. I believe they are an important line of defence.

[Marnica]

We eat organic when possible....limit sugar and no junk food for DS and rarely for me and DH. When organic is not avaliable I wash the produce with that stuff that removes 95% of surface pesticides. When we eat out I don't worry about it.

We use natural non-toxic cleaning ingredients and detergents. We have air purifiers in our home. We try and avoid plastics contaminated with PCB's and BPA. We try and drink the cleanest water possible (NOT tap water!). We don't use drycleaners and our lawncare is all organic.

We take various supplements, get regular chiropractic adjustments, try and get sunshine and fresh air (although where I am that's kind of a joke!) as much as possible. We get enough sleep and wash our hands and sneeze into our elbows (at least DH and I do!)

We live in an incredibly toxic world. I rec. reading "The Hundred Year Lie" by Randall Fitzgerald http://www.hundredyearlie.com/

The bottom line is nobody can live toxin free 100% of the time. Does that mean that trying to reduce your exposure where you can is meaningless?? Of course not!! Less of anything BAD is better. It's called harm reduction

[fruitfulmomma]

Honestly, until about two years ago our diet was really bad - mostly processed foods and stuff and up until about a year ago we still ate a ton of fast food. Now due to intolerances our eating out choices are really limited, which is a pain, but probably a blessing in disguise. I can't afford organic or grass-fed or anything like that, I just look for the best real foods I can afford and buy them.

At home our cleaning and body care supplies have gone from the cheap name brand stuff to brands like BioKleen and Dr. Bronners, a transition that took several years but again was forced on us because of my high chemical sensitivities.

I've exclusively bf'ed for 4-6months with all my kids and then continued bf'ing them for a long time, up to almost 4yo with a couple of them so far.

We don't do daycare or school, but we don't sit in our house all the time either. We go to church, go out to eat with my father once a week, go to the library 2-3x a week, shopping, etc...

My totally unvaxxed kids range in age from 9yo to 9mo. None have been to a doctor for illness yet. Some of them have never been to a doctor at all. We tend to use a mixture of herbal, homeopathic, and OTC medicines at home to treat the minor illnesses they have. Nothing big though. I think a few of them had Roseola a couple of years ago. We stayed home and let it run it's course. They've never had a VPD.

[Yulia_R]

Honestly, I have no idea how to stay healthy. I guess it will only happen when my kids would get over ALL existing bugs (which of course is impossible). Ever since we moved from AZ to CO, my kids are sick during winter months with every.single.bug.going around. Has nothing to do with VPDs, but just colds, stomach bugs, etc. We live in a large co-housing (community) where everyone brings in the bugs from different schools, pre-schools, work places, so there are plenty to "choose" from. We eat good, we do probiotics, CLO, good vitamins...nothing really helps. I guess some kids are just like that, they get sick, they get over it and this is how their immune system becomes stronger. I just sometimes wish I had this magical solution to keep them and myself (have sore throat VERY often during cold months) healthy.

[greenthumb3]

Breastfeeding to age 2, at minimum.

Babywearing. Keeps baby away from germs his immune system isn't ready for yet.

Avoiding daycare, and other school-type settings in the early years. We are lucky enough to homeschool as a lifestyle, though we do attend weekly church meetings, with my 18 month and older children in classes.

We wash hands (or try to!) before eating, after coming home from the park or store. I have hand gel we use in the van when we can't get to a sink.

In the flu season, (fall, winter, and in early spring), we take more precautions: less sweets, make an immune boosting soup with herbs once a week, drink more water and herbal teas. I have tinctures and homeopathic medicine on hand to give when cold and flu symptoms start. Not crazy stuff, just more conscientious. Oh, and for fevers, for very stubborn high fevers, I have given Motrin to my kids and it didn't impair their bodies ability to heal, as I had been scared into believing when my oldest was a baby. I don't give it until their temp is past 102/3 and I feel like it's necessary.

We eat relatively healthy; I am the one in the household who is buying and finding ways to have whole foods in our family's diet. My DH is the levity, who buys ice cream No alcohol, tobacco, etc.

I like "Smart Medicine for a Healthier Child" as a reference. It helped me establish what I needed for a first aid and home health kit and how to tell when my kids had a certain illness and how to treat at home, as well as when medical care was indicated. Invaluable reference as I could avoid taking them in unnecessarily to the pediatrician. Aviva Jill Romm's book is excellent as well. (Naturally Healthy Babies and Children and her Vaccine book)

My oldest had unexplainable seizures at age 3. really glad he was unvaxed so I didn't have to worry if that played a role! He never has had them again. All three boys have had pertussis, full-blown, and we all survived. I am SO glad we are immune now! No more worries for that illness.

I keep in mind being healthy isn't about NOT getting sick, but about finding ways to support one's body to be able to resist disease, and if one gets sick, to heal from it sooner. Illnesses, when not excessive, tends to build the immune system, giving it a chance to build back up and become stronger.

[hippy mum]

We're pretty much like Greenthumb.

I bf my boys for 2yrs each. I gave them our food-not store bought baby food, it was cheaper and I knew what it was I was feeding them.

We eat as healthy as possible-this does not mean daily though. I try to look at it as a weekly thing to try to cover all the things we need. Kids just don't want to eat some days, so what will you do then?
I buy organic when possible, it's just exp. So I buy local produce from the farmer market and wash it good. I recently found a butcher who sells all grain fed and hormone free meat/poultry at grocery store $, so will be going there. I try not to eat a lot of meat/poultry at all anyhow. My dh is the weak one-buys ice cream etc. I make most of our meals. This winter I'm cutting back on the little sugar we do eat to almost none.
I do daily vitamins, Vit C, we live in Fl so our Vit D should be efficiant or I'd take extra and probiotics.
I also let my kids play in the dirt and we are outside as much as possible. If it's not raining or 95 out, we are outside daily. I don't think people are outside enough any more. We also use all green cleaners. I buy the concentrate so it's way cheaper, or just use stuff like baking soda and water, vinegar etc.
My son does have an immune problem which makes me happy we quit vaxing him early on. So I do worry about when he does get sick, since it effects him more than us. In his case I add extras on the vitamins and watch his diet carefully-absolutely no sugars etc and he recovers better.

[BeckyBird]

I agree with everything posted so far---eat healthier foods, boost your vitamins, especially C and D.

I had a cold for the past 2 weeks, which I'm almost positive was a sinus infection. Clogged nose, sore throat, sinus pressure headache, yucky stuff when I blew my nose (tmi!) I've had sinus infections every year since I moved to NC, so this was nothing new. However, I refused to take any meds or go to the doctor. I tried several home remedies--neti pot, raw garlic, lots o' nettle tea, juicing every day, eating healthy, even put garlic oil on my feet at night.

You know what kicked the infection out of me? After 2 weeks, I was getting tired of being sick every day. So I boiled some water with apple cider vinegar in it. I breathed in the steam. Close your eyes and mouth though! Then, the next morning, I did the steam again. Well, that was Monday, and today, I feel 100% better. I encourage everyone to try a few apple cider vinegar steams if you have a cold. I don't know why, but I believe it really worked. The steam got waaaay up into my sinuses, and cleared everything out. No more hoarse voice, sore throat, yucky mucus. Try it and see if it works for you too!

[greenthumb3]

Originally Posted by BeckyBird

You know what kicked the infection out of me? After 2 weeks, I was getting tired of being sick every day. So I boiled some water with apple cider vinegar in it. I breathed in the steam. Close your eyes and mouth though! Then, the next morning, I did the steam again. Well, that was Monday, and today, I feel 100% better. I encourage everyone to try a few apple cider vinegar steams if you have a cold. I don't know why, but I believe it really worked. The steam got waaaay up into my sinuses, and cleared everything out. No more hoarse voice, sore throat, yucky mucus. Try it and see if it works for you too!

I am saving this idea for later! So glad you shared.

[Xerxella]

nak We're unvaxed and i admit we don't do anything special and knock on wood, my kids basically never get sick. my 2 1/2yo even does preschool 1 day a week for 2 hours. i dont hand wash as much as we should and i'm sure our diet is closer to typical then ideal. we're outside alot and i tend to think the natural germs of nature and dirt are actually good for us overall.

i just figure, live your life. with vaccines, youre darned if u do and darned if you dont. i figutr youre just a little more darned if u do...