Pertussis and Vitamin C

Well, this week I'm a-dither again over pertussis.  Omaha has a high incidence at the current time, including cases at schools within a mile of our home.  Our family has been blessed, yet a third time, with exceptional health care providers who are interested and open to alternatives to allopathic (standard Western pharmeceutical) treatment of health issues. 

I was freaking out this week because my kids all contracted some really nasty virus involving spiking fevers and a whooping  cough.  But not whooping cough.  Thank the Lord.

Anyhoo, I came across this article:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC536087/pdf/canmedaj00183-0060.pdf

Naturally, this article will be received by many with great skepticism.  However, I am very interested in medical journals from about 1880 through about 1940 because they represent the end of the accumulation of alternative medical wisdom in Western medicine.  At the time, of course, it wasn't alternative, and most medicines were made in-house by 'chemists', aka pharmacists.  Most medicines were made from natural substances, aka plants.  While ascorbic acid is not (the subject of the article), neither is ascorbic acid a pharmeceutical.

Unfortunately, in the thirties and forties, medicine became big business, homeopathic information was yanked from medical textbooks, and pharmacists became pill dispensers instead of pill MAKERs.  In the 1970s, Adelle Davis (nutritionist, writer and medical researcher), tried to find out why a reputable study on vitamion C for the common cold was refused publication, she was told by the editor of a big-time medical journal that he'd be run out of business if he dared print information on a cheap, readily available treatment for the common cold.

Personally, I have used the technique described in the article (I thought I made up the term "Vitamin C loading", but maybe not?).  It's a fascinating phenomenon.  On a regular day my body only absorbs about 3 grams of Vitamin C, but as soon as I'm ill I can take 10-12 grams before reaching tolerance.  (As described in the article, you find out how much your body can absorb by noting when your bowels get loose, then you back off a gram or two the next day.)

Once, when I was pregnant with Rosie, I had a terrible virus and my temperature kept creeping up till it was hanging out around 104- not a pretty picture with a 20 week old baby in utero.  Under my doctor and midwife's directions, I took 25 grams of Vitamin C per day for 5 days straight to fight the infection.  It also kept that fever down in a safer range.  If you think this all sounds like nonsense, go ahead, take 12 grams of Vitamin C and see what happens!  Then take 12 grams of Vitamin C when you have a cold and see what heppens.  (Actually, don't do that.  You need to have a small amount of Vitamin C supplemented every day when you feel fine for it to work well without messing up your system when you are sick.)

If this still all sounds ridiculous to you, consider that many mammals, rats for one, make their own Vitamin C.  They don't need to get it from thier diet.  When rats are stressed or sick, they make about 20 times more Vitamin C as usual.  Don't take my word for any of this, though.  By all means, find somewhere to read about it for yourself.

And ya, google is fine.  I recently had a doctor friend confide in me that he uses google about equally as he uses the books lining his office wall.  Go figure.

Ok, that was longer than intended.  I'm off to bottle a fresh quart of elderberry syrup for my scratchy little throats upstairs.


Half the modern drugs could well be thrown out the window except that the birds might eat them.  ~Martin H. Fischer, Fischerisms

In the 1960s, people took acid to make the world weird.  Now the world is weird, and people take Prozac to make it normal.  ~Author Unknown

I don't like people who take drugs.  Customs agents, for example.  ~Author Unknown

Pinkalicious Pie

Another dessert, a cream cheese pie, ready in a few minutes, plus a few in the freezer.  A dairy-licious trecipe for my many friends who eat dairy.  Everyone loved this pie.  Loved it so much we had to nickname it.  (Pinkalicious Pie.  Pinkalicious.  Ugh.  I hate that book.) 

It made us all sick.  Really sick.  We all have dairy allergies.  But hey, sometimes you crave cream cheese and you have to live a little... and accept the consequences!

Pinkalicious Pie
1 block cream cheese ( you can substitute extra soft silken tofu PLUS 1 oz coconut oil), room temp
1 bag frozen berry blend, 12 -16 oz., room temp
1/4c raw honey, or to taste
1T fresh lemon juice (DO NOT skip the lemon juice if you make the tofu version!!!)
1 crust (gluten-free, spelt, granola, or regular graham cracker from the store)

Blend first 3 ingredients and pour into your crust. 

Freeze until set, or freeze as long as needed and partially thaw before serving.

Yum.  Ed has asked me to make it again, but next time I'll slip him the tofu version.  Still yum, but I can admit... there'll never be any real substitute for cream cheese.


"Be happy while you're living, for you're a long time dead." 
~Scottish Proverb
"Use your health, even to the point of wearing it out.  That is what it is for.  Spend all you have before you die; do not outlive yourself."
~George Bernard Shaw

Guiltless Peanut Butter Cups

Well, BreadwithHoney did another little disappearing act, didn't we now?

I know you've all been on the edge of your seats, chewing your finger nails, desperate for a recipe, an anecdote, a book review.  I know I mean so much to you... who elase can you count on to get you all excited about vegetables?

You need me.

But sorry, dear reader, no veggies will you find here today.  Now, you could sneak some freeze-dried kale or some Trader Joe's Greens powder into this recipe.  You could.  And I'm the sort of person who does that.

But this recipe has become kind of sacred to my post-partum self.  So I refuse to screw up the indulgence trying to make it healthier.  And ask my husband- I ruin a lot of good food that way.  All in the name of recipe development, of course.  But still, I've forced a lot of green meatloaf on my family.  So the least I can do is offer the occasional, unmitigated, healthy and delicious treat.

It's not my recipe; my sister Christine invented it- thanks, Teen.  So hats off to her, because it has prevented me from grabbing and devouring entire cheesecakes in my currently stressed, sleep-deprived, postpartum state.  Technically this can be a 'paleo' recipe, which is good for indulging without adding to the remaining belly flab, but all the same, I'm pretty sure our ancient ancestors had other things on their mind than gourmet desserts.  Paleo.  Sorry, it's a joke, folks.  A tasty, but silly, diet trend.  Ahem.  Moving on.

Guiltless Peanut Butter Cups
No exact measurements here, but:
a scoop of coconut oil
a slightly larger scoop of peanut or almond butter (peanut butter is technically non-paleo, if you care)
1-3 Tablespoons cocoa powder (raw cacao powder is MUCH MORE nutritious than dutched cocoa powder form the grocery store, fyi) make it as dark as you like
sweetener to taste (maple sugar or syrup, raw honey, agave, stevia powder or liquid)

Gently melt all that if your coconut oil is solid, or just mix well if it is liquid.

Add:
shredded, unsweetened coconut
rolled oats (not paleo)
sunflower seeds
etc.
to make the mixture moderatelt stiff- just eyeball this- coconut is divine, oatmeal will make it more cookie-ish, sunflower seeds make it really crunchy

Spoon into muffin cups and freeze till set. 

Sorry for the crappy picture, but I think you get the delicious idea, right?  Start to finish in about 10 minutes.

Talk about instant gratification.

(Mentally insert cute pics here of my big kids smiling with chocolate smeared all over their faces, ok?)

And the real reason for my recent absence from the web:

Yep, it's pretty much me, Ivy, and my brown chair.  Snuggles, stories, chocolate, and coffee.  Because you don't see sleep on that list, do you now?

This too, shall pass.  And then I'll miss it.  Because I'm just like that.

"And though she be but little, she is fierce."

-Shakespeare