Wednesday, June 19, 2013

What do the Bushell's eat? She must be a hippie

This post is about my nutritional lifestyle for myself and my family. Everything I believe in I am in the minority and it really makes things harder. Things I do are "hippie" or "new age" or too "radial." I guess people who don't feed their kids junk, and play baby mozart and sing songs, use natural medicine, and teach their children about christ, co-sleep, breastfeed exclusively are super radical and out there. And I'll take it because that is what I do and it works for me.
Something that bothers me is when I tell people I feed my kids "healthy," They are like "Oh, so you don't eat meat and only eat organic vegetables?"......The word "Healthy" means different things to different people and I don't like it when people assume they know what my diet is like and what I feed my kids. If anyone cared then I would tell them what we do, but no one has even bothered to ask.

In case you were wondering I will tell you what goes on at my house.
Everything we eat has to be a REAL food. Fruits, vegetables, nuts/legumes, whole grains, meat and dairy are in moderation and avoid processed meat. (There are many other herbs/ingredients that we use)
Things we avoid are anything processed or use artificial flavors or in boxes. I try to make everything fresh as possible. I know it is more convenient to buy boxed things when we are so busy but I have made it a priority in my life. There is a reason why we eat so much during the day, it is our fuel and our energy and it is very important what we put in our bodies.
I am not as strict as some people think. I wish I was even stricter! My mom has a hard time with my lifestyle and I have tried to compromise so I will tell you some alternatives that I have seen that works. 



Annie's Brand Organic foods

Kraft has to have a label on the back that says "May cause hyperactivity in some children." This is because of the food dyes they use because their "cheese culture" does not look like cheese. They also use illegal GMO wheat for their noodles. There is very little nutritional value in this food.

if your kids love mac and cheese there are very easy recipes to make your own but if you want a box I let my mom use Annie's brand. I like her because all of the ingredients you can pronounce, there is no preservatives, and they use wheat noodles. It does have processed cheese but it doesn't have the food dyes that cause hyperactivity. (its not sugar that causes it it is toxic chemicals in food) it is also pennies more and not expensive. It tastes very similar to regular mac and cheese too.
Annie's brand fruit snacks are another good grab and go but they are more expensive. They are made from juice and not all the other ingredients in other brands. Sometimes for church or day trips it is easy to have some snacks. Sage also loves the "bunnies."

Meat/Dairy products have to be "organic/hormone free" or alternatives. We typically use almond milk. Some alternative dairy products aren't good so you have to do some research. I like silk so far. my kids also love Rice Dream (ice cream). It is made from rice and I love it too!
If you choose other brands I strongly suggest that you look at the ingredients with everything that is in a box.

The reason why I do this is because small children under 5 are developing radically and they need nutrients for their development and growth. Processed, preservatives, and artificial ingredients can hurt their cell tissue and cause long term problems. I've heard before, "I feed my kids junk in moderation and they aren't obese and they seem to be fine." That may be true but the fact remains that you could slowly be clogging arteries, killing brain cells, and slowing their digestive system. Even if you kids aren't overweight there could still be damage. so why risk it?
 My rule is if there is a question as to what vitamins, minerals, or other nutrients are in the drink or food then it is not good for you. Also if you could not make it at home then you definitely shouldn't be eating it. (fruit drinks, cheetos, oreos, M&Ms)


I realize that there are times where the American culture has required that children eat candy. My kids can participate in Halloween, Easter, Birthdays and Christmas but that is about it. I do not give candy to my kids regularly and it is not because of sugar. I love to bake and I make cookies with either stevia or raw sugar. Sugar is only bad if it is in excess and can cause weight gain and faster aging. But we eat ONLY raw sugar or other natural sweeteners. Candy has processed sugar that has no nutritional value as well as all the other horrible ingredients for your kids.
There has been times where people have given my kids candy after I told them no. I have also had issues with parents that tell me that they don't want to tell my children no so they give in.
Well, its NOT your children.
When it is me that is telling them no I have NEVER had my kids fit or cry. I know that day will come and I will deal with it when that comes. People assume my kids will cry if they can't have candy because they know their kids would. Zion has always asked me if he can have something. As he gets older he is going to be places where I can not monitor what he eats. My goal is to teach my children healthy eating habits and when they are in the world they can make those decisions for themselves. but when their complete nutrition is dependent on me I will always make sure they get what they need.

I have had issues with the nursery at church. they have not been willing to talk to me or work things out with their diet. but what do they do with kids with allergies? well I provided snacks for Zion EVERY Sunday that we attended and every time they would return his snacks full in his bag and he would just eat them on the car ride home. I totally gave up and thought it was very unfair. Until one person talked to me about it and it was Zion's last week in nursery. They actually gave Zion his snacks and guess what? All the other kids wanted what Zion had and he shared with the whole class. It wasn't as traumatic as they thought it would be. but now I am hesitating putting Sage in. 
I have heard this before, "The kids that don't get junk food go to other people houses and just pig out." Well either those parents aren't doing it right or it isn't true. Kids who are raised with healthy foods crave those healthy foods. My kids are more comfortable with foods that they know. If they ate junk food somewhere it is probably because that is what is available.
And it sounds ridiculous to me because you can teach your children not to drink and drive or do drugs, or go to church and be helpful to others. If you taught them that then that means that they are going to be out harassing people and won't go to church and do drugs? Maybe. but I don't think so.
The only reason my kids ever want something it is because someone else has it and not the actual food itself. Just like with toys or anything else. If we teach our children that we can have our own things and be grateful for them, that stage of life of wanting what others want will disappear. I certainly don't want my kids to feel "left out" so that is why I try hard to make healthy alternatives for them.

I do not care what other people do with their children because it is every mothers right to do what want with their kids. I feel like I am always defending myself and making people understand me. And I will tell you that it is very stressful and hard. Nothing that we are supposed to be doing is easy. but I know that my children will thank me later and appreciate what I do for them everyday.

Here are a few things we eat throughout the day.

Breakfast
Whole wheat pancakes with bananas/apples/chocolate chips 100% syrup
Oatmeal with raisins/cranberries/almonds/peanuts
granola cereal
scrambled eggs and turkey bacon
Whole wheat bread with peanut butter and honey and many others......

Snacks and sides
banana
apple slices
granola
carrots
cucumbers
strawberries
tomatoes
Blue corn chips
annie's brand cookies/ snacks
corn
smoothies and more......

Lunch
turkey sandwich/wrap
soup
PB and J (fresh peanut butter no other stuff and home made jelly)
leftover dinner
salad and many others..........

Dinner
sweet n sour chicken and rice
shepherds pie
bean and rice casserole
potato curry and rice
chili or soup
spinach quiche
corn tomato pie
 chicken quesadilla and many others....

these are not the only things we eat but a few ideas. If you still think we are radical then so be it. but we aren't crazy or feed our children weird tofu crackers and kale chips. I am also not claiming to be a perfect mom. I am just trying the best I can with the knowledge that I have and doing what makes me happy.

I could write a lot more things but I will end with anyone who has a desire to feed their kids healthy and don't know where to start I can help! it has been a long process to find a diet that works for us, and I have gathered recipes over 10 years and have a good selection. I wrote a cookbook that I need to update but if you want it just ask and I can email it to you.

my next venture is to learn how to make homemade deodorant and toothpaste. I will also be sharing those as well soon. I am officially a DOTERRA essential oils distributor so let me know if you are interested!

love you all! PEACE, LOVE, LIGHT I'm a hippie

Saturday, June 1, 2013

Brigham Young quote on doctors and birth

     My last post was about my decision to have a home birth. The reason is because I had horrible experiences at the hospital and I left out a lot of  details because I wanted to get to the point. For example, when I was in labor with Zion I went to the hospital when I was contracting because I had no idea when I should go in. They turned me down twice because they said I wasn't dialating. I went home and walked and tried to get things moving. When I went in for the third time I was throwing up and I was so scared they would turn me down again. Without any kind of warning or telling me what she was doing, the nurse stuck a needle in my butt and afterwards she said this will help you sleep. Five minutes later I felt like I could not see and could not concentrate. I couldn't focus on where I was and kept trying to make sure Cody was there. The next thing I knew I was at home. I wouldn't ask that for my worst enemy because when you are already terrified of what could happen during birth, and being "high" on top of that, it was so terrifying. When I woke up at home I was in horrible labor and got back just in time at the hospital. I can't even remember the name of the drug they gave me but I KNOW I didn't need it and it caused more fear and anxiety which is not a safe environment for the baby. Unfortunately, everything they had administered was without my consent. When I went in I had faith that they were doing everything they needed to take care of me. I found out later I was wrong. So the question is why do doctors do these things if they are dangerous? They do know they are dangerous that is why they hook you up to machines and IVs and exceptional monitoring because they are planning for these events to happen.

     That is just one example, I may share more throughout my pregnancy but I have nightmares about some of them. Over the past few years after these things have happened to me I have done lots of research and found out so many things that they do that I don't agree with. What I find most intriguing is when I can find scriptures or church doctrine to help support my ideas. I do not only believe in church related resources. I use anything that will support me, but I when I told my mom about my decision she told me that there was a quote by Brigham Young that talked about women giving birth and they would have fear to have it without a doctor. I have been on the search for this doctrine and I finally found it on someone else's blog. This quote is also on babycenter and there were over 200 comments. It definitely caused a controversy and I think it is mostly because it can easily be misinterpreted. So I'd like to share it and give you some of my thoughts on it.

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Journal_of_Discourses/Volume_15/The_Order_of_Enoch

If you have time I invite you to read the whole thing it has a lot of other information as well. He first talks about how the city of Zion would be in the order of Enoch. He says that people wouldn't complain about their jobs and they would all just go to work where they are needed and are capable. I actually find some of the things he says humerous because he doesn't speak very well and he is very blunt with his words. He thinks that the LDS people are wasting their rags and disrespecting their belongings. . He also says he would not allow wasting time reading novels. I think that relates to todays music, movies, tv, and media that we waste ourselves with. He says that he would not allow lawyers in their society because we should be forgiving and not sue each other. He even says women should be using their own silk worms! It is actually funny.
However, this is what I was attracted to


Would you want doctors? Yes, to set bones. We should want a good surgeon for that, or to cut off a limb. But do you want doctors? For not much of anything else, let me tell you, only the traditions of the people lead them to think so; and here is a growing evil in our midst. It will be so in a little time that not a woman in all Israel will dare to have a baby unless she can have a doctor by her. I will tell you what to do, you ladies, when you find you are going to have an increase, go off into some country where you cannot call for a doctor, and see if you can keep it. I guess you will have it, and I guess it will be all right, too. Now the cry is, "Send for a doctor." If you have a pain in the head, "Send for a doctor;" if your heel aches, "I want a doctor;" "my back aches, and I want a doctor." The study and practice of anatomy and surgery are very good; they are mechanical, and are frequently needed. Do you not think it is necessary to give medicine sometimes? Yes, but I would rather have a wife of mine that knows what medicine to give me when I am sick, than all the professional doctors in the world. Now let me tell you about doctoring, because I am acquainted with it, and know just exactly what constitutes a good doctor in physic. It is that man or woman who, by revelation, or we may call it intuitive inspiration, is capable of administering medicine to assist the human system when it is besieged by the enemy called Disease; but if they have not that manifestation, they had better let the sick person alone. I will tell you why: I can see the faces of this congregation, but I do not see two alike; and if I could look into your nervous systems and behold the operations of disease, from the crowns of your heads to the soles of your feet, I should behold the same difference that I see in your physiognomy —there would be no two precisely alike. Doctors make experiments, and if they find a medicine that will have the desired effect on one person, they set it down that it is good for everybody, but it is not so, for upon the second person that medicine is administered to, seemingly with the same disease, it might produce death. If you do not know this, you have not had the experience that I have. I say that unless a man or woman who administers medicine to assist the human system to overcome disease, understands, and has that intuitive knowledge, by the Spirit, that such an article is good for that individual at that very time, they had better let him alone. Let the sick do without eating, take a little of something to cleanse the stomach, bowels and blood, and wait patiently, and let Nature have time to gain the advantage over the disease. Suppose, for illustration, we draw a line page 226 through this congregation, and place those on this side where they cannot get a doctor, without it is a surgeon, for thirty or fifty years to come; and put the other side in a country full of doctors, and they think they ought to have them, and this side of the house that has no doctor will be able to buy the inheritance of those who have doctors, and overrun them, outreach them, and buy them up, and finally obliterate them, and they will be lost in the masses of those who have no doctors. I know what some say when they look at such things, but that is the fact. Ladies and gentlemen, you may take any country in the world, I do not care where you go, and if they do not employ doctors, you will find they will beat communities that employ them, all the time. Who is the real doctor? That man who knows by the Spirit of revelation what ails an individual, and by the same Spirit knows what medicine to administer. That is the real doctor, the others are quacks.


This is blunt and not so sensitive, but I must say  I LOVE IT. Most importantly he is not saying that we do not need doctors. There are certain times when the care is beyond what we are capable of to require a doctor. If I broke my leg I would go to a doctor, but for everyday ailments and colds there are home remedies that we should administer with the faith, intuition and spiritual healers. Brigham Young says that we ask for a doctor for a "back ache" or "heel ache." What he means is that not every ail needs to be administered by a doctor. I love that he says he would rather have a wife who knows what medicine to give him than all the professional doctors in the world. I believe as mothers and wives it is one of the many roles that we have been blessed with on this earth is to be in charge of the health of our family. We need to trust our intuition and use preventative medicine with food and regular exercise, and to use remedies when we have diseases. When our ill is beyond our care we are blessed to have educated doctors that are willing to help. We want doctors to use spiritual intuition with physical medicine to help the body heal itself and not give everyone the same medicine. We are not all alike and it is important that we take each body individually and treat it as a body.  I have been a massage therapist for 7 years and I can say that at times of healing the body I can get intuitive thoughts or feelings that could be spiritual or physical and I can help assess(not diagnose) certain problems with people. It is very rewarding and I love to help people learn how to heal themselves.

       I laughed when he said, " I will tell you what to do, you ladies, when you find you are going to have an increase, go off into some country where you cannot call for a doctor, and see if you can keep it. I guess you will have it, and I guess it will be all right, too." I think he is exaggerating when he says to go out into the country, but he is making the point that if you are far enough away that there is no aid for giving birth, that he guesses you will keep the baby and you will be alright. We should not underestimate the power of women's intuition and our instincts to take over. There is some controversy about this article because it's "outdated" or its not of a prophet. I believe in Brigham Young as a man of god and trust his word, and I also think it all can be related today. This also was spoken in General Conference in 1872. he says, "It will be so in a little time that not a woman in all Israel will dare to have a baby unless she can have a doctor by her." the key words is in a little time, which I think that has happened today. Doctors have made women believe that there are many problems that come with birth and they are required to be there and then they charge over 20,000 to catch your baby, or inflict unnecessary interventions which in my case were the only problems. Now there are many women who are going to tell me or think "I had a doctor deliver and my interventions were absolutely necessary." or "I was induced and had an epidural and everything was fine." Well I will just say you are very lucky and should feel blessed because not all women have that same experience. And most women these days do have hospital births and they are going in and out quickly and are not allowed time to labor in natural time for convenience for the doctor. The reason why women lay on their back is so it is easy for the doctor. The natural position for labor is squatting to help gravity bring the baby down. You are not allowed any other position at the hospital. Also episiotomies were allowed when they started putting women under for giving birth. They were not awake for pushing and so it was required, and now it has come a very common intervention and do not let women naturally "tear." When I went into have Sage I researched and interviewed the doctors. The ones who said, "I only perform episiotomies when it is absolutely necessary," were the ones who had a higher rate for them.
     I am also not neglecting that unfortunate things can happen, and a doctor is required but it is far more rare than society believes. I said in the other post that 70% of births in las vegas area are c- section. I refuse to believe that all of those were life and death situations, and were even necessary. What also makes me mad is places like vegas do not allow midwives to deliver at the hospital. And in some states it is illegal for women to have home births with a midwife present so people are doing it unassisted. My insurance is not going to pay for this home birth and I am okay with that but I think it is not fair that women can't choose for themselves how and where they want to give birth. If insurances actually did research and looked at statistics the mortality rate and emergencies are far less at home than the hospital.

      I have been doing lots of research for my own education and knowledge. I am sharing these with you so I can simply inspire or help people think differently. What I think is more insulting than someone telling me my beliefs are wrong is someone accusing me of "preaching" or "anti" the other option. I have never used "anti" in my vocabulary because I am PRO natural birth and if someone else decides otherwise that is their decision. I am glad that I had the experiences I had to so that I could be educated for this coming baby. And I hope I can be an example for women who want to do home birth but are "scared." And just give a little more information to empower women. And I want to say that I am not "brave" or "crazy" to do this at home. It is rare for women to give birth at home and I hope that more people will do it so that it becomes more regulated and insurance will cover midwives and we can have it not be so radical. I am ready to do it and I am so grateful to have Cody's support. Everyday I am going to educate myself in every way possible to be ready for a safe natural birth.
(on a side note the order of Enoch kinda sounds like communism, and I kinda like it)