stop enforced vaccination

You may be aware that the government is considering making vaccination compulsory in order for our children to attend UK schools & to claim child benefit. This link will take you to a Downing Street petition if you want to record your opposition to it. This will only take a minute. More and more parents are looking into the safety and effectiveness of vaccinations. Greater knowledge enables parents to have the confidence to exercise their right to an informed choice. To be forced into vaccinating our children so that they can attend school or that we can receive child benefit would be ridiculous.

A useful starting point for parents keen to find out more about vaccinations is The Informed Parent website and newsletters. My children are not vaccinated because I believe that inoculations can cause more harm than good. I think that bolstering their immune system with a healthy diet, plenty of fresh air, dirt and a little homeopathy when they need it is a better course for us in achieving complete health.

buy nothing month: day thirteen

It's been nearly two weeks and we have not succumbed to any of the temptations of acquiring more stuff - yet! As I mentioned previously this is chiefly to do with the fact that we live in the sticks but we have had to brave the lure of internet shopping daily! I have run out of tape and am feeling a bit under the weather. Dosing myself up on lots of honey and lemon drinks and wearing lots of scarfs! So I thought I'd use today's post to write about health.

The average person spends £137 on medicine a year in the UK. Although some of this is necessary all too often we seek quick fixes from pills so that we can 'get on' with our lives.

BE AWARE OF THOUGHTS - Being aware of your thoughts and how you react to things can have a profound effect on your health. Positive thinking instantly lifts our spirits and gives us more space to seek out an alternative.

TRY AN ALTERNATIVE There are a growing number of alternative practitioners in many different fields. Ask friends for recommendations and notice what form of treatment you feel drawn to. I would advise building up a bank of alternative practitioners that can support your family's health and wellbeing. You might want to consider homeopathy, reflexology, traditional Chinese medicine, herbalism or cranial sacral therapy for example.

BE YOUR OWN DOCTOR Our bodies are incredible organisms that strive to create health - they are always working in that direction, to be healthy. If you are unwell and you sit quietly with your thoughts, you can find out what is the problem and what your body needs in order to effectively heal. Just be willing to dialogue with the disease or the part of the body that is suffering.

LOOK OUTSIDE YOUR FRONT DOOR Many herbalists believe that the plants that a family needs for health are growing around the house or in the local environment. What is growing outside your front door? Mint is good for digestive troubles, lavender for aiding relaxation, sage to soothe a sore throat.

HYDRATE YOURSELF Many headaches are caused by dehydration. Ty to drink around 2 litres of water a day. A glass of water with lemon juice first thing in the morning is a cleansing start to the day. Every time you walk past the kitchen tap, fill a small glass and drink it.

To your good health!

mast business

Mast Sanity is a campaign group in the UK working towards raising awareness of the health hazards caused by mobile phone masts and the safe siting of masts. We have chosen not to have a mobile phone in The Green Parent office because we are unsure what effect the radiation could have on the human body and also for reasons of peace! There are times when no-one can reach us because we are deep in the woods or out with the kids and that feels pretty wonderful. Very occasionally I imagine that our lives might be easier or smoother if we had mobile phones but that thought soon passes. I don't meet many other phone-less folk these days.

Growing in number There are now over 50,000 mobile phones masts in the UK and they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. So how to spot them? Well, they can look like big towers that seem similar to pylons but don't have wires attached. Or they can be tall poles that look like lamp posts but don't have a light on top. Confusingly masts can also be what look like sticks or long grey or white boxes put at the top of buildings such as schools, hospitals, colleges, flats and offices. And they can even just be small boxes the size of burglar alarms, placed on the sides of shops. Unfortunately avoiding masts is almost impossible. What's wrong with masts? According to Mast Sanity "cancer clusters" have been found around mobile phone masts, up to 400 metres from a mast. People living near each other and close to a mast have ended up with rare cancers at nearly the same time as each other. These people live where they are getting the strongest signal from the nearby mast(s). This has been the case in Devon, Lincolnshire and Staffordshire. Other people living in these areas find they get many common symptoms including heart palpitations (flutters), lots of headaches, nose bleeds, problems sleeping, itchy burning skin and feel really depressed.

Mobile phone masts give out the same sort of microwave radiation in their signals as microwave ovens use to cook food but the signals also carry data sent along in packets or 'pulses'. 

Other problems noticed by European doctors, particularly in Germany where petitions have been launched to halt the use of some mobile technology, are: • Learning problems • Trouble concentrating • Behavioural disorders such as Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) • Extremely high and extremely low Blood Pressure - and swapping between the 2 • Medicines stop working as well, so prescriptions have to increase • Heart Rhythms get upset • Sudden Heart Attacks and Strokes happening in younger and younger people • More Brain diseases such as Alzheimer‘s, Parkinson's, Motor Neurone Disease and Epilepsy • More Cancers, Leukaemia and Brain Tumours • More and worse Headaches and Migraines • Constantly being tired, getting sleepless and being sleepy during the day • People feeling anxious all the time • Ringing in the ears (Tinnitus) • People more likely to get infections, colds, allergies and viruses • People feeling pains in their nerves and bodies for no apparent cause Medical tests When doctors in a town in Germany (West Kempten) decided to prove that it was the mobile phone mast that was causing these problems they took blood samples from people before and after a new mast was put up and turned on. The people also stopped using their mobiles, cordless phones, wireless internet and other wireless/mobile gadgets too. The results were very clear. The levels of two vital chemicals serotonin and melatonin found in the blood were found to be seriously altered once the mast was turned on.

Happy hormone reduced Serotonin levels were halved. Serotonin controls your mood, anger, aggression, body temperature, sleep, sexuality, appetite and metabolism. Many of the people found themselves feeling moody, depressed, tired, and lethargic. Some also felt agitated and had lost their appetites. Nearly all felt really down.

Immune system affected The results showed melatonin levels that were too high during the day and much too low at night. Melatonin is a hormone that is important in boosting the immune system and fighting cancer. It protects DNA from damage. Since it also helps regulate sleep it's important to have high levels at night otherwise restlessness occurs. If the immune system isn't boosted people become ill easier, stay ill longer and can't fight cancer so well. The Doctors requested that the mobile phone mast be turned off again.

So what can we do? • Find out where your nearest mobile phone mast is.

• Cancel the mobile phone contract if you have one (If you are worried about emergencies swap to "pay as you go" until you are happy to do without.) • If you must keep your phone, use it as little as possible and just stick to talking and texting - ignore all other functions and activities. • Realise that every call or text needs a mast, and that more calls or texts mean more masts nearby. • Read up on the science, facts and shielding materials and tell others. • Write to your MP to tell them that you too are concerned about the health issues. • Take action by joining support groups such as Mast Sanity • If you already live near a mast you should consider shielding your home from the microwaves. 

If you are interested in this from a personal perspective there's a piece on this in the next edition of The Green Parent, about the campaign launched by the people of Glastonbury to stop a WiFi mast being erected in their town. 

love your heart

In recognition of World Heart Day on 28th Sept I thought I would post about having a healthy heart. Our hearts are the organ of emotion and stress management and are just as important and require the same level of care as other more visible parts of our body to ensure good health and wellbeing. 

Hugging for Health

According to herbalist, James Green, boys are hugged 60-80% less than girls when growing up and this cultural inheritance plays into adulthood with many men being more emotionally reserved and less spontaneously affectionate than women. But the good news is that hugging and communicating through physical touch nourishes the heart muscle. And childhood wounds can be healed through lots of physical affection in adulthood.

Ambrosia of the heart

Tears are shed a s a health response to life's stimulations and are to be encouraged. Too many of us ( and especially men, though I don't wish to generalise) subscribe to the belief that it's weak to cry. Crying helps us to release held emotions and stress. In fact studies have suggested that suppressing tears can cause illness and diseases of the heart. Cardiac disease statistics show that cultural expectations of men have taken their toll; this now needs to change and crying in response to stress, grief, joy and empathy must be embraced as a manly response. 

What you eat

In addition to reclaiming emotions, diet plays an important part in heart health. Eat unadulterated, whole foods whenever possible. Plenty of fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables and lots of water are vital. Avoid excess salt, sugars, additives and processed foods. But rather than cutting things from your diet, which can aggravate our pleasure-seeking monkey minds, try adding good stuff to your life instead. Want to give up coffee/smoking/alcohol? Indulge in something that's good for alongside and make it part of your daily routine. Always have a drink when you get home from work? Have a fresh fruit smoothie and a drink aswell. Keep adding the good stuff at the rate of about one new thing a week. Think a daily walk, cycle ride, time to read a book/meditate, hot bath etc. Eventually unwanted habits will start to drop off the radar and you'll be a more healthful, energetic, happier version of yourself.

Go for garlic

And lastly, garlic and other alliums, such as onions, support heart health - try and include them in every meal. Except perhaps breakfast, unless you're a bit weird, like me.

By the way, I wrote this with a bar of chocolate besides me on one side and a pint of water and lemon juice on the other. Am hoping that if I practice what I preach, the chocolate might slip off into the ether. Maybe I'll replace it with a little bowl of sprouts or something - mmm!

natural nutrition for children

Bit sad that I am going to miss this workshop on Natural Nutrition for Children, starting at 6pm, at Cornerstone Community Centre in Hove, which I planned to attend on Friday. It will be held by Kirsten Chick, a nutritionist who has trained with Barbara Wren at the College of Natural Nutrition. Kirsten has her own recipe site as well with some fine ideas for family meals, full of health giving foods. I am hoping to do a course in Natural Nutrition starting in September, as I find Barbara's teaching highly intuitive. Events that might be of interest are the series of seminars on child health entitled "Are we really offering the best care to our children" taking place in Bristol on 26th July, London on 30th August and Glasgow on 27th Sept.