I have healthy kids.  Many of us do.  As my weewomen have gotten older, I’ve realized just how healthy they are.  My oldest is almost 4 and a half and my youngest 3 and I can count the number of times they have been sick on one hand.  We have never taken medications or any prescriptions so when they are “sick” it is processed through their bodies quickly and efficiently.

Here are 5 things you can do starting tomorrow to keep your kiddos healthy as well.  I am not a doctor, in fact my children have not been to the doctor in over a year (or two?), not even for a well baby check up, so of course this advice is contingent on your own beliefs and best judgment when caring for your own children.

1)    Let them sleep!  I let my kids sleep in as long as they want and if I can’t because we have school or work, I make sure I balance it out at the end of the day. 

Example:  If they have to get up an hour earlier than their body normally wakes them up because we have a commitment, and bedtime is at 8, we start bedtime routine earlier and they are in bed by 7.  Yes, this means that I do not jam pack our days full of obligations and commitments.  We do less with more attention and go slower.  Zenhabits.net is a great resource for learning to do less with more meaning.  Our health is my number one priority as Mama Bear and that sometimes means missing out on events that others make time for.  It totally worth it!

2)   Eat organic whole foods and green things!

If you do not know by reading the ingredients what is in your food put it back!  Check out www.ewg.org for some awesome resources on how to by food products and much much more!  Here is a link to the Dirty Dozen list if you haven’t’ heard of it yet.  Also find ways to get greens in your kids.  Mine tend to eat little bits raw, sometimes in smoothies and I know other Mamas that bake them into brownies.  I put an array for fruits and vegetables out at most meals so they can choose and try different things when they are ready.  Let your kids pick a weird looking vegetable or fruit at the grocery store to try.  Today my girls picked a red cabbage and a turnip.  We got a thumbs up for the red cabbage and none of us were too fond of the turnip so I’ll chop it up with our garlic.

Full transparency for those on a budget or state benefits:  When I was on the State’s health insurance and nutritional assistance program with my second child, I STILL bought mostly organic milk, meat and produce.  When things were tight, I bought quality not quantity to make sure we were getting the food with the most nourishment.  In our state you can also use nutritional assistance and WIC at local farmer’s markets.  If this is your status…DO IT!  It is the health of your family you are investing in and don’t worry about the looks people might give you for “indulging” in organic products!  Think about all the money you’ll be saving everyone in the long run, including you, by having a healthy immune system and family!

3)    Ignore the “it’s that time of the year” talk!

The biggest hurdle I have found to creating healthy bodies for my little family is the deeply entrenched beliefs and mindset we have about…allergy season, cold season, flu season, back-to-school sickness, holiday illness…. YOU NAME IT…and the list goes on!  I even hear parents repeatedly say, “oh, well, it’s about time we get sick again, we’ve been well for 2, 3 4 weeks!”  WTF?!!!   If beliefs are your biggest hurdle to health, let me know and I’ll hook you up with some resources to get on that! 

Nevermind that we bond over our ailments because hey, it’s something we can all relate to, right?!  Wrong!  I leave conversations that are focused on illness and commiserating about symptoms and dismiss the belief that, well, that’s just life!  No, I choose health over building relationships based on sickness.  Oh goodness, don’t get me started! :)

 When my children come home having ingested some of these beliefs I just remind them, that although many people get sick, we take very good care of our bodies by eating right, sleeping and exercising/playing to stay healthy.  That does the trick so far!

4)   Drop the sugar!  (take a spoon full of honey during “__” season!)

There is absolutely no reason to feed your children sugary snacks on a regular basis.  Teach your children that sugar makes your body weak (because it does).  It lowers your immune system and makes every system weaker…and I’m not talking huge amounts of sugar.  Set limits and educate yourself and your children.  Teach them that fruit is sweet and with all the natural sugar alternatives out there now this does not have to be hard. 

We eat cookies and cakes and ice cream.  We indulge sometimes in brownies and suckers AND we talk about how our bodies feel before, during and after so that they (and always a good reminder for me as well) are aware of how certain things feel.  Instead of making sugar a daily reality, turn it into a science experiment and observe and discuss.  Today my eldest told me when we went to the grocery store where she is sometimes allowed to use her Kids Club card to get a free cookie, “Mom, I think I just want one cookie because one I feel fine and two makes me crazy!”  I’m glad she has this wisdom in her body at a young age.  Oh and a spoonful of local raw honey in the morning and before bed.

5)   Allow your children to express their emotions!

 

What do emotions have to do with keeping my children healthy, you ask?  More and more research is being done on the direct link between how we process our emotions and the types of illnesses we create in our bodies.  There are many books written about this topic.  Check out one of Dr. Carolyn Myss’s books from your local library or find a B.E.S.T. practitioner in your area and ask questions.  That’s where I started but, there are many other resources out there.

Now speaking practically, our children’s emotions, especially negative emotions, and especially in young children who are less able to regulate their own emotions, usually cause one of two reaction in parents:

1)    Fix it, relieve it, soothe it to make it stop because,e let’s be honest, it sucks and hurts our bodies sometimes to see our children upset, angry, sad, frustrated (we call these “yuckies” in our house)

2)    Cut it off, squelch it, silence it, forcefully with words or actions bring the behavior and related emotion to a sudden halt because it triggers something in us that is uncomfortable to be with.

Sound familiar?

Do this instead.

How to deal with strong uncomfortable emotions with your children for maximum health:

1)    Don’t give a shit what other people think. :)

2)    Breathe…..and again breathe to literally relax your own nervous system so that you can actually do steps 3-5.

3)    Acknowledge your own feeling in the moment

"I feel sad or pissed, etc"

4)    Acknowledge your child’s feeling whether you agree with it (the behavior or feeling) or not.

“You look upset.  I see you throwing your toys on the floor.”

5)    Then BE.  Just imagine yourself creating a space, a bubble if you will, from your very own heart and this bubble encapsulates you and your child and inside is a feeling of safety and unconditional love.  No words or actions are necessary (unless safety is a concern).  I’ve done this in the middle of the store during a tantrum. Allow your child to be held and accepted, crazy tantrum and all, in this energetic space until, yes…the emotion let’s go of your child.  Most emotions pass in a minute and a half if left to be processed through the body rather than fixed or pushed down.   Allow it to do it’s job so that it doesn’t’ get stuck and make your child sick.  We have all experienced the results of suppressed emotions in our adult life, aware or not, it is not a pretty sight when they finally surface.   Allow your child to feel and then be free. <3

Of course articles and books have been written about all these topics so I cannot do them justice in one blog post, but it felt important to get at least a little bit of information out to those who may need it right now.

And of course all these safe, holistic practices also work wonders for grown-up kids too! ;)

For lifetime upon lifetime I was nurtured, grown, groomed, prompted, forced, beaten, raped and tortured, encouraged and demanded, patronized and cohered into being a very strong and powerful woman.  In THIS lifetime, being a strong and powerful woman has meant fitting into the masculine archetype, structure, idea and reality of what strong and powerful mean.  My body is beginning to violently reject the generations of control and even the subtle (cordial) manipulations of our current time and space.

 

I forgot my indigenous and tribal roots!  My natural and animalistic blueprint that burns from the depth of my being… “You have given life to ALL!”

 

Today I remember.

 

I let my rage, anger and fear teach me.  I allow it to come to the surface, be expressed!  I have felt remorse and become curious…

 

Curious about “why” it was even there and “how” to tame it (NO MORE TAMING)!

 

And I felt, really felt and I remembered…and I lived….and I learned  ...am learning.

 

In this lifetime I am again made to be a strong and powerful, influential leader!  Yet there are no maidens waiting to brush and braid my hair, bath my body and anoint my feet.  There is no one to tighten my corset and arrange my features in a statuesque manner as to please the men and masses.

 

It is up to me to care, to take extreme and luscious care of myself.

 

This is my work.

 

I have ruled over souls and kingdoms.  I have been the muse and master.  I have been the willing courtisane and confidant of many through which my hidden voice made it to the ears that mattered. 

 

Yet I have never ruled over my own body. 

 

This is my work.

 

I have held meetings in public and in secret, led counsels, kept schedules and agendas to meet the expectations of armies and royalty.  I have had time and space handed to me on an elusive golden platter that dictated my comings and goings to the good of all! 

 

And now my body yearns for timelessness.

 

My body desires to feel safe enough to relax, receive and return to it the compassion that sustained empires.

 

And that is my work.

 

To dispel the illusion of my own mind and practice – every day and every moment caring immaculately for my own body, mind and soul. 

 

To relax into my reality to allow the show to go on…because it must.

 

It must go on and I am the river, trees, mountains, caves and fields of wildflowers through which it lives.

 

My body, my sacred system cared for exquisitely can and will contain the illusion as it undoes itself.

 

No more fighting.  No more rage.

 

Only unwinding…

 

 and peace.

I’m often asked, how did you do it?  Do what, I think to myself, before I remember that the vast majority of people living on this planet are STILL not doing what they love!!! 

My response, once I remember I’m living a life that most people still think is not possible, is always, I got pregnant! 

Yep!

 I am recommending that ya’ll get pregnant! 

But really, I was reflecting on, when the Universe (okay and a couple beers, a hookah pipe and my handsome willing baby daddy) conspired to help me become “with child,”

WHY was this the time I decided to strike out on my own creating my own business?

To some that might seem like the craziest time to take such a big risk!

We’ll it was and it wasn’t.  My life was the most unstable it a had ever been having NOT chosen a traditional way to start a family

AND I was taking better care of my body, mind and soul than I ever had in my whole life!

Did you hear that?!  I was making myself….body, mind and soul a PRIORITY!!!

I knew how important it was to create an environment for this little one growing inside of me that was nurturing, healthy and loving and so I became grounded in myself for the first time!

Granted, I was doing for someone else (thank you, Louisa!) but I was doing it and that’s when I was able to hear. 

This is when I felt and heard the call to something much bigger than myself!

I had always known I had something bigger to offer but this time the feeling in my body gave me no choice but to act on creating the pathway to more love and greatness!

Did you hear that women (and you self sacrificing, over-giving men)!!!  The more care I showed myself the louder the calling to do my heart work in the world became!!!

So if you’re ready to figure out what your heart work really is and you have no idea where to start…get pregnant!

Or don’t and just go

drink a green smoothie,

meditate,

think positive loving thoughts towards yourself and your body,

indulge in relaxation,

go to bed early,

drink lots of water

allow others to take care of you and

open up to the possibility of birthing your own “heart work” into the world!