The Difference Between Homeopathic Remedies and other Natural Remedies

Many people ask if there is a difference between homeopathic remedies and other natural remedies (herbs, vitamins, etc). And although they are all in the realm of alternative medicine, homeopathy is very different from other natural remedies.

Homeopathy is its own system of medicine, there are many homeopaths in the world who only prescribe homeopathic remedies, while other practitioners prescribe any combination of natural therapies and/or remedies.

Classical homeopathy is based on the law of similars. This law shows that disease is cured by a medicine that creates symptoms similar to those the patient is experiencing in a healthy person. Every homeopathic medicine is proven - meaning a healthy person takes the medicine and writes down all of the symptoms they experience from that medicine. That remedy will then cure those same symptoms in someone who is ill (like cures like).

An example of this: a person comes into the office and feels restless, nervous, anxious. They can't sleep at night. They experience heart palpitations. Does this state sound familiar? What do you think creates this state in a healthy individual? It's a beverage many know and love so well.

Coffee.

The homeopathic remedy Coffee will help a person that experiences the above symptoms (the same symptoms that coffee causes).

Homeopathy is also based on the principle of a single medicine. A classical homeopath only gives one remedy at a time - a remedy that matches the totality of the patient. A patient doesn't leave the office with a bag full of supplements. The one remedy is considered the person's constitutional remedy. It covers the mental, emotional, and physical state of the patient. A good homeopath won't prescribe one remedy for a headache, another for constipation, but instead, the one remedy covers both of these things.

Minimum dose is another principle of homeopathy. Homeopathic remedies come from the plant, mineral and animal kingdom and very rarely contain the crude substance. Instead, a mother tincture is made from the substance. The remedy is then taken and diluted and succussed (shaken) until there is little to no substance left. This principle is confusing for many people since they can't believe that homeopathic remedies would do anything if they don't contain any crude substance. But, homeopaths have discovered that the effects of homeopathic remedies are strengthened upon dilution and as long as the medicines have been shaken between each dilution. They become very deep acting and powerful medicines (although very safe and non-toxic). This is why they are safe for babies - and everyone for that matter.

Herbal remedies contain the crude substance with active molecules. Many remedies cannot be given to pregnant women, nursing women, or babies because they contain elements that many be harmful.  You have to be very careful in what you give your baby in the herbal realm. This, again, is why we prefer the use of homeopathy for babies.

Vitamins also fall in the realm of natural remedies. Vitamins can be given through breast milk - so they are something that mommy can take. But, if you aren't breastfeeding it's difficult to give a vitamin supplement directly to baby. It's better to give this kind of nourishment through food and diet. Children can eat smoothies that are loaded with nutrients as well as fruits and veggies. Babies, on the other hand, are more difficult to get good nourishment to if they aren't breastfeeding.  This is a topic for another time, but I just wanted to show that homeopathy is also different from vitamin supplementation. Vitamins are given to support the body, but not necessarily to cure chronic ailments.

You can find homeopathic remedies from online pharmacies and local homeopathic pharmacies. Many Whole Food stores carry homeopathic remedies as well as health food stores. This is what a homeopathic remedy may look like:

There are also different potencies for homeopathic remedies. What you take yourself or give to your child depends on how sensitive they are. If you have a question, then consult a homeopath. A good potency to start with is 30C. As you can see in the picture, it says 6C. This is the potency. This is a very low potency.





A couple interesting facts about homeopathy:

• Samuel Hahnemann is the founder of homeopathy. In Washington D.C. there is a  memorial of Samuel Hahnemann. It is the only non-war statue in Washington D.C. I think that's pretty amazing! Someone was impressed with homeopathy. 

•  The British Royal Family has publicly used homeopathy for many years. Today, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has her own personal homeopath - Dr. Peter Fisher who is both a medical doctor and homeopath. 

Obviously, I am a strong advocate of homeopathy. To me it has been the most effective medicine - treating many complaints I had with much success.
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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. Her Montreal Natural Fertility site can be found here. 

Paleo Diet Challenge: Day 3, 4, 5, 6- Not so successful

Day 3:

Breakfast: 
Omelet with spinach and tomatoes
Salad with olive oil & vinegar

Lunch:
Salad with almonds, carrots, cucumbers, tahini

Dinner:
Salad (whoa I'm eating a lot of salad - but it's good) with chicken
Tahini dressing

Beverages: 
Water

Day 3 Cravings: None
Day 3 Report: I ate more often today. I didn't feel any blood sugar dip. I need more of a variety in my diet. I'm eating a lot of salad with the same veggies, but not much variety throughout the day.

Day 4:

Breakfast:
Roasted almonds and apple slices

Lunch: 
Sunflower patties with salad
veggie soup

Dinner:
Pizza... (cheat meal.... )
Chicken soup

Beverages: Green smoothie, water

Day 4 Cravings: After dinner I was craving...... SUGAR! The pizza (carbs) made me crave sugar around an hour after eating. No surprise there. I also have some womanly monthly cravings at the moment... CHOCOLATE, please?!

Day 4 Report: It's really hard to "diet" when having stressful moments. It's also really hard to eat totally healthy when you don't feel well.  And, I can see how easy it is to 'fall of the bandwagon' for some people. Honestly, dieting is tough business. And that's why lifestyle change is more effective.

Day 5:

Breakfast:
Pizza (OOH I'M A BAD GIRL!!!!)
Kale, swiss chard, broccoli soup (does that make up for the pizza? lol)

Lunch:
Salad with meat sauce (tomatoes, organic grass-fed beef) and tahini

Dinner:
Salad with meat sauce
Chicken soup

Beverages: 
Water

Day 5 Cravings: Still craving chocolate.... :)

Day 5 Reports: I got a horrible headache after breakfast. Again,  not surprised. The headache subsided after I had lunch and stabilized my blood sugar with protein and veggies. No more pizza for me...

Day 6:

Breakfast: 
Boiled egg

Lunch: Skipped

Dinner:  
Salad with almonds

Beverages: 
Water

Day 6 Cravings: None, really (see note below).

Day 6 Report: I spent the night in the emergency room last night helping a loved one. I was awake all night and was exhausted. I slept for most of the day (skipped lunch). I think I was too tired to have any cravings.

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. 

Day 1 & 2 of Paleo Diet Challenge

Day 1 was an epic fail on the paleo diet. It was an emotionally stressful day at home and I have to admit - I ate almost an entire box of gluten-free "love" cookies. I was craving carbs and ate grains with every meal. Yup, I failed day one.

So, I'm calling the original day one 1a. The next day was 1b - which I am going to consider the first day of the diet challenge.

Day 1b on the Paleo Diet Challenge:

Breakfast: 
Spinach/tomato omelet
Garden Salad
Broccoli Soup

Lunch: 
Salad with sliced chicken
Dressing: Tahini

Dinner:
Sweet potato (apparently you can eat sweet potatoes but not regular potatoes so I took advantage)
Salad with sliced chicken (leftovers from lunch)
Dressing: Tahini

Snacks throughout the day: apple
Beverages throughout the day: Water

Day 1 Cravings: Not many until nighttime. I started craving sugary snacks - probably from my cookie binge the day before (I often notice if I eat sugar that I crave sugar for 1-2 days after). I was disciplined and didn't indulge though.

Reports from Day 1: I felt good today. No complaints. I realized today that I need to eat more often. When I'm busy I let myself get really hungry before eating. This is not a good habit to get into.

Day 2 of Paleo Diet Challenge

Breakfast: Millet cereal, rice milk and banana. (NOT PALEO! Did I mention that you get 3 cheat meals per week? I already banked on one of mine... not because I love cereal but only because I was staying at someone else's house and it's all they had for breakfast food!)

Lunch: Salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, roasted almonds, tahini, olive oil and lemon juice

Dinner: Pea soup with tomatoes.

Snacks: Green smoothie (made with a handful of organic lettuce, 1/2 banana, blueberries and a bit or orange juice), roasted almonds, a banana

Beverages: Water, dandy blend (yummy!)

Day 2 Cravings: none

Reports from Day 2: Same thing as day 1. I felt good today. I didn't eat often enough again. Dieting is difficult when on the road! But, I still feel good. :-)

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. 

Diet Challenge - Paleo Diet Trial

I am not a big fan of popular diet fads. It seems like they come and they go. A lot of people try them - some with great success and some with little success. I have always been a proponent of eating healthy - having enough protein, plenty of fruits and veggies and limited grains. I always feel good when I eat this way.

But, lately life has been busy and I have found myself eating a lot more grains than usual. I haven't eaten enough protein and I have been able to feel my blood sugar dipping throughout the day. Some of the symptoms of hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) are: headaches, fatigue, dizziness, shakiness, weakness, hunger, nausea, inability to focus or concentrate. So, when I began experiencing some of these symptoms, I decided to try a popular diet fad... the Paleo diet.

Yup, I said it - I'm trying a diet fad. Not to lose weight, but to feel better in my body. Over the next two weeks I am going to do the Paleo Diet Challenge here on my blog. I'll report what I'm eating and how I'm feeling.

A little more about the Paleo diet (taken from www.thepaleodiet.com)

The Paleo Dietis based upon eating wholesome, contemporary foods from the food groups our hunter-gatherer ancestors would have thrived on during the Paleolithic era, the time period from about 2.6 million years ago to the beginning of the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago. These foods include fresh meats (preferably grass-produced or free-ranging beef, pork, lamb, poultry, and game meat, if you can get it), fish, seafood, fresh fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, and healthful oils (olive, coconut, avocado, macadamia, walnut and flaxseed). Dairy products, cereal grains, legumes, refined sugars and processed foods were not part of our ancestral menu.

• What to eat:
• Grass-produced meats
• Fish/seafood
• Fresh fruits and veggies
• Eggs
• Nuts and seeds
• Healthful oils (Olive, walnut, flaxseed, macadamia, avocado, coconut)

• What to avoid:
• Cereal grains
• Legumes (including peanuts)
• Dairy
• Refined sugar
• Potatoes
• Processed foods
• Salt
• Refined vegetable oils 

I don't think this diet will be so difficult for me. I usually eat MOSTLY this way ... until lately, anyway. The only thing that will be different from what we eat at home is cutting out grains entirely. I still love spelt bread. And potatoes too.

Over the next two weeks check out my diet diaries and updates on the Paleo diet.

Until next time. :-)
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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. 

Beautiful Belize

Winters in Quebec are REALLY, REALLY rough. Temperatures fall to -20 to -30 degrees Celsius (and even colder sometimes!!). Don't get me wrong, I love the beauty and serenity of winter and the many outdoor sports it has to offer, but this year we decided to chase the sun.

We hopped on a plane and took off to Belize - "Mother Nature's Best Kept Secret." The description says it all - it hasn't fully become a tourist location where an island is an island is an island. Belize is full of untouched beauty. The jungle is amazing - another blessing of God's creation. After we booked our trip we realized we would be there for the much anticipated December 21st, 2012. Intimidating? A little. An adventure? FOR SURE! Belize is full of Mayan ruins as well as many Mayan descendants. As I'm sure you know, the media portrayed December 21st to be the end of the world. There were tons of documentaries and articles that included "evidence" of why the world was going to end.

But, what did the Mayan people say about this date?

Well, to our surprise, nothing really. Apparently all along, the Mayan people knew that it wasn't the end of the calendar (as in the end of the world), but instead it was the beginning of another. We went to an incredible Mayan ruin on December 21st (apropos). We enjoyed the powerful energy there (although while I was at the top I thought - "This temple could sink into the ground at any moment if the prediction is correct" - a little scary, but so very cool at the same time).

Cahal Pech, Mayan Ruin December 20,2012

Needless to say, we survived and are now back in our very snowy home. So you ask, why am I writing this article on my health blog? A good question indeed.

While we were in Belize I had some very interesting awarenesses.

• I love the sun ... oh wait ... I already knew that. 
• The diets of Belizeans aren't so great. We saw young children walking around drinking Coca-Cola and other sugary drinks. This isn't much different from the United States, but I was shocked at how young the children were. 
• Most of the bottled water in Belize is filled with Fluoride. Although they say fluoride is good for dental decay - it's also responsible for crippling bone diseases (1), lowered IQ (2), bone cancer (3) and many more symptoms (4). It was really difficult to find water that wasn't fluoridated.
• Many Belizeans also have a marking in their eye that is a gel-like substance in the white part. Young Belizeans and old Belizeans have this marking. I remembered coming across this marking while reading a sclerology book once. *Sclerology is the study of the white part of the eye showing tissue weakness, etc.* When we got home I found the book (Sclerology: A New View of an Ancient Art). The marking is called a Pinguicula and, according to Leonard Mehlmauer, "...it refers to liver/gall bladder problems in dealing with saturated fats, especially superheated fats and oils, and usually of animal origin." This makes a lot of sense because the Belizean diet is mostly animal products (high in fat) and rice. It's rare to see someone eating a salad (or any vegetable for that matter).
• We heard a lot of stories about young people suffering from diabetes and not having proper access to medical care. We met a beautiful wood carver who lost his toes from diabetes. He spent a lot of time in the states receiving medical treatment and therefore had a lot of debt to pay off.

I wish I could open a Homeopathic Clinic in Belize. It would really benefit the beautiful Belizean people that have such a special place in my heart.

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. 

You Really Are What You Eat

This blog is an article I wrote for a local newspaper a few years ago. Thought I would share it with you. Enjoy :-)


“Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine shall be thy food.” –
Hippocrates.


Think about that for a moment.
Then think a moment longer about your diet. Do you ever really use your food as a medicine? Most of our normal daily diets consist of soft drinks, coffee, refined grains, refined sugars with very few fruits and vegetables. Yet, we complain of being tired and dragged out. At the end of the day we just want to sit down and relax.

Now think about how it would feel to go through an entire day with high energy, enthusiasm, joy and a great feeling of health. I am here to tell you that this is entirely possible – all through diet, exercise and emotional well-being.

Start by analyzing your diet. How often do you eat fruits and vegetables? A basic guideline is to consume at least two fruits and six vegetables per day. Also determine the source of these fruits and vegetables. If you are eating them out of a can you can bet that you aren’t getting any vitamins or minerals, they were destroyed in the processing. Raw produce is best, frozen comes in second place, while canned food comes in dead last.

How much of your diet comes out of a box? Foods we prepare from a box have an extremely long shelf life yet they are not alive and cannot keep us alive. When you shop, read the ingredient label. If you cannot pronounce an ingredient, or if you do not know what it is, you probably shouldn’t be eating it. At all costs avoid high fructose corn syrup. This ingredient, used as a sweetener in many foods, is causing tremendous weight gain within our society. Try more natural sweeteners – honey, maple syrup and stevia are great substitutes. And remember, coffee and doughnuts do not build healthy tissues. Instead they build dry and chapped skin, cracked nails, and a starved body. If you really want to start feeling better, feed your body the foods that the Earth naturally provides for it!

Next, figure out how much water you drink each day. Do not follow the old eight-glasses-a-day guideline. A woman who weighs 100-pounds requires a much different water intake than a man who weighs 250. A good guideline to go by: drink one half of your body weight in ounces of quality water daily. So, a woman who weighs 120 pounds should be consuming 60 ounces of water per day. Remember, at least three-quarters of your body is made of water – so feed your cells good water so they can cleanse and rebuild. And don’t count soft drinks, coffee or alcoholic beverages toward your fluid intake.

Then determine how much exercise you get in a typical day. Clicking the buttons on the remote control does not count toward exercise – for that you need to get up and move. Our bodies have been designed to walk, to run, to dance and to play! The more you sit around, the more your muscles break down and become weak. Find something that you love to do and do it daily. Start out with 20 minutes of continuous exercise every day, working yourself up to an hour. Walking, running, biking, and hiking are all great activities and allow you to get fresh air as well. Find a friend who wants to exercise and do so together. It is much easier to commit when you have somebody to do it with. Plan exercise into your weekly schedule. You don’t forget to eat, so you should not forget to exercise.

Finally, how are you?

No, really, how are you mentally and emotionally? You can eat healthy and exercise daily but still be tired and sick if you are constantly in an intense emotional state. Stress comes from many different avenues: family, relationships, work, money. No matter the source, stress wreaks havoc within the body. If you are feeling stressed try some stress-relief techniques. Among the many methods available, Yoga, with its three structures of exercise, deep breathing and meditation, is said to be extremely beneficial in relieving stress. Through different poses and breathing technique, Yoga works on the union of the body, mind and spirit. Many people experience great benefits when practicing Yoga, including increased circulation, increased flexibility, weight loss and a greater amount of energy.

If you really want to feel better, think holistically when it comes to health. Exercise, nutrition, and emotional health all work with each other and while all are good, you can’t have complete health when you are missing one.

Hippocrates was the greatest physician of his time and he strongly believed in treatment
of the whole person. By making small and simple changes often, you will find yourself
on a path to wellness – and you will feel great every day!

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. Her Montreal Natural Fertility site can be found here. 

Caffeine & Anxiety

Many of my readers know that I like to write some of my health blogs from personal experiences. It makes my blog filled with...well...more ME :) So, on to my caffeine story.

A few weeks ago my husband and I bought a delicious decaf Chai tea that we could brew at home. Those of you that know us, know that we are both very sensitive to caffeine, and we normally don't have any caffeine in our diet (besides the occasional dark chocolate fix that I MUST have). But, we both kind of "forgot" that decaf black tea still contains caffeine.

Needless to say, after drinking the "decaffeinated" chai tea for ONE DAY, I started to wake up in the morning with anxiety. This anxiety upon waking isn't normal for me by any means. I blamed the anxiety on an upcoming trip we were making. But, every morning I had Chai tea and the next morning I woke up with anxiety. After making the connection I stopped drinking the yummy tea, and guess what?? The anxiety went away!

How many of you wake up with anxiety? Go to bed with anxiety? Have anxiety throughout the day?

How much caffeine are you drinking? Remember, decaf coffee also contains caffeine. If this tiny amount of caffeine can cause me to have anxiety, think about what a fully caffeinated beverage is doing to you. There are multiple studies done to prove that caffeine causes anxiety.

Is this you with your coffee??

People tell me that they must have caffeine to have energy throughout the day. Those people often crash in the afternoon and have to consume more caffeine to bounce back. Many people who stop consuming caffeine have incredible boosts of energy levels they never thought they could have without caffeine (once their body has detoxed from the caffeine).

Just a small snippet of health conscious advice: examine what effect caffeine is really having on you. Be honest with yourself. As a recovering caffeine addict (going on 5 years now) I know how difficult it can be to discontinue your most treasured beverage. But to me, my health is more important than a tasty beverage.

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. 

Common Medical Errors & Interventions That Could Be Life Threatening

I am writing this blog article out of sheer frustration with the medical model in the United States and Canada. This article is my personal story and recent experiences with two people that I love dearly.

The medical system (conventional medicine) is there for a reason. Emergency medicine is great. Trauma surgeons are amazing. It's amazing that we live in a time where you survive even though you may have a severe wound. But, my frustration is with the model of conventional medicine that treats disease with toxic drugs.

Recently a family member went into the hospital for a minor surgery. She was supposed to be out within four days and at home doing rehab. They had her on pain killers every four hours, even though she wasn't complaining of pain. They had her on a morphine drip - even though she rarely used it. Her blood pressure dropped but they didn't consider changing her blood pressure medication dosage. They decided she was too weak to go home and put her into a rehabilitation center. She couldn't sleep so they gave her a sleeping pill. She woke up in the middle of the night to use the washroom and slipped and fell (she was totally out of it from the sleeping pill). She complained of pain immediately in her back so they gave her oxycodone twice in one day. I haven't mentioned it yet, but this person has never really taken any drugs in her life and is very sensitive to any drugs. After the oxycodone, she became extremely nauseous. They sent her to the hospital. The hospital took an EKG and thought she may have had a minor heart attack but admitted that they weren't totally sure. Two cardiologists came into her room and said that her chart said she had a previous heart attack and had coronary artery disease. Never in her life had she had chest pain, let alone a heart attack. She has a perfectly healthy heart. She was out of it from all the drugs they put her on and wasn't mentally stable. But, instead of asking family members, the doctor asked her and decided that she had a heart problem (based totally off misinformation). They put her on Lipitor and a blood thinner immediately (despite the fact that she was still extremely nauseous and couldn't keep anything down - they gave it to her through an IV instead. The family requested no more drugs and while they were out, the nurse slipped in and gave another injection of blood thinner. She became even more sick. But, when asked, the doctors still couldn't conclude that she even had a heart problem.

The most frustrating part of this story is that the doctors were too busy to really check to make sure there was a problem before they put her on a protocol of toxic drugs because they thought it was possible that she could have a heart problem (she is 90 years old!!).  The family finally stood up to the doctors and said no more medication - and WALAAA!!! she started to feel better....

This story makes me sick. It makes me angry to think that people are in the hospital because they are sick, but the hospital is making them even more sick (and most of the time they don't realize it). Families are not aware of what is happening and they often don't know what to do.

This system needs to change, that's for sure. The hospital should be a place where people can go to get better (and it is for some - emergency and trauma cases) - and not come out with a handful of toxic drugs that just make them more sick over time.

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. 

Sugar Makes You Crave...... MORE SUGAR

If you are trying to lose weight or change your eating habits it might not be as easy as you think if you are still eating sugary treats.

I was quickly reminded of this myself. Last week we bought our groceries and the grocery store was giving away free chocolate bars. If you know me, you know that I cannot turn down chocolate - especially the yummy Toblerone bars they were giving away.  My husband and I sometimes splurge and buy dark chocolate (90-95%) with only a tiny bit of processed sugar, but that's about the extent of our processed sugar intake. My body isn't used to eating such sugary treats like toblerone, but I just couldn't resist. I had a couple of small squares each day for three days. On the third day I realized that I was craving more toblerone - something that isn't common to my personality or food habits. On top of that, I wasn't only craving Toblerone, I was craving anything and everything else that had sugar (including foods high in carbs and calories). I felt like a drug addict. Fortunately, we didn't have any other sugary treats in the house - otherwise I think I may have eaten every last crumb.

I decided to do a sugar detox the next day - I stayed away from all foods that had carbs (including fruit) and instead ate vegetables and protein. That broke the small sugar addiction I had developed from three days of sugary chocolate.

During the three days of my sugar 'addiction' I also paid attention to my mood. Twenty minutes after I ate the toblerone, I felt a sugar-high... like I could bounce off the walls if I wanted to. After a couple hours I felt myself coming down off the high and that was when I started craving more sugar.

I can see why the stuff is so addictive!!!! If I wasn't so conscious about my health I think I would seriously be addicted to sugar.

And for those of you who need more scientific proof, I have compiled a bit of data from scientific journals (*note - there are thousands of articles out there that show the same evidence) See below.

• One study reported: Preclinical studies, beginning in Bart Hoebel's laboratory at Princeton University, have shown that rats overeating a sugar solution develop many behaviors and changes in the brain that are similar to the effects of some drugs of abuse. Further, preclinical studies suggest that overeating sugar produces different addiction-like behaviors compared with overeating fat. (Very interesting!! I found this article after I wrote this blog - totally confirms what I felt about the sugary treat)

• Another study reported: Sugar is noteworthy as a substance that releases opioids and dopamine and thus might be expected to have addictive potential... The evidence supports the hypothesis that under certain circumstances rats can become sugar dependent.
• A third study showed: Bingeing on sugar may activate neural pathways in a manner similar to taking drugs of abuse, resulting in related signs of dependence...The findings suggest that a diet of bingeing on sucrose and chow followed by fasting creates a state that involves anxiety and altered accumbens dopamine and acetylcholine balance. This is similar to the effects of naloxone, suggesting opiate-like withdrawal. 

 Sugar should be classified as a drug. And we wonder why our children can't sit still in school!!!

**When I use the word sugar I am not referring to natural sweeteners like honey or maple syrup. I am referring to the processed and refined sugar that is in most processed foods and sugary treats.**

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here. Her Montreal Natural Fertility site can be found here. 

You Are What You Eat? A Note on Genetically Modified Foods

We have so often heard the quote, "You are what you eat."

Technically speaking, this isn't true - if we eat an apple, we don't turn into an apple. But, in some regards it is true. If we only eat doughnuts, then we will most likely gain weight around our midsection. If we eat only fruits and vegetables, we become very thin and healthy like a fruit or vegetable.

Many people have also heard about the Doctrine of Signatures for plants and foods. Kidney beans are good for our kidneys because they are shaped like a kidney. Walnuts are good for our brain because they look like  our brain. The food that we eat definitely leaves its print in our body and provides nourishment (especially for the parts it promises with the doctrine of signatures).

Knowing this, what do you think about a food that has been genetically modified so that it can no longer reproduce itself? It no longer has any seeds. It is infertile.

These genetically modified foods are common in our world today. We so often think "The seeds in this watermelon are so annoying. I have to keep spitting them out while I'm eating." Because of this, watermelons have been modified by removing their seeds. Cucumbers in the market rarely have seeds either, since this common food has been genetically modified too.  Do you know what foods you are eating that have been genetically modified?

Probably not.  Labelling of genetically modified foods/organisms (GMOs) is NOT required in the United States or Canada. You don't really have a choice whether or not you want to eat them.

Knowing this, what do you think GMO foods do to your body? Have you seen the dramatic increase in the number of women who are trying to conceive unsuccessfully? Studies have linked GMO foods to the increasing rates of infertility (which can be found by clicking here).

It is so important to inform everyone you know about genetically modified foods. The big claim of these companies is that they are saving the world by providing it with crops that can withstand anything. The very sad part is that, because of the genetic modification and outrageous use of herbicides/pesticides, and the depleted soil, we are being starved in a different way. Genetically modified crops are usually grown on fields that are totally deficient in minerals, and so toxic that nothing else can grow. And, if they're not totally deficient in minerals, they are sprayed with glyphosates (aka ROUND UP), which totally bind all minerals so no "weeds" can grow. Farmers must then purchase their seeds from a GMO manufacturer (aka Monsanto). These companies (Monsanto) have gotten smart - the seeds won't 'activate' or grow until they have been sprayed with Round-Up. Farmers are not only forced to purchase the seeds, but they must purchase the activator too, which is a highly toxic compound found to cause serious health complaints in humans.

Genetically modified organisms are not saviours to starving people. In fact, in many countries that have a high population of starving humans, genetically modified crops are abundant. Well, they used to be at least - when the farmers could actually afford to buy the seed and herbicides/pesticides every year. The farmers in these countries are now starving too. They cannot plant any other crops in the fields that have been sprayed. Nothing will grow.

Some countries have banned GMOs altogether, while others have banned certain products or limited the distribution in their country. Hungary has totally banned and burned all GMO crops and seeds, while other countries have banned certain GMO crops.

In the U.S., we are certainly behind in health consciousness. In 2011, the United States ranked 37th in life expectancy. That means there are 36 countries that live longer than we do, despite the fact that we spend more money per capita than any other nation. This is shocking.

What you can do now to better your health: avoid GMO foods as much as possible. The top foods to avoid are:

• Soy

• Corn

• Sugar (made from sugar beets - which is the majority of all sugar)

• Canola

• Aspartame (artificial sweetener in DIET products - manufactured with the aid of genetically modified E. coli bacteria)
• Papaya 
• And now, farm raised salmon

In the U.S., over 90% of all canola grown is GM Roundup Ready canola, as is about 90% of soybeans, and about 70% of all corn and cotton. These crops also cross-pollinate with other crops that haven't been genetically modified and create something else entirely. Something that nature hasn't designed itself.

It can be very difficult to eliminate these foods at first, especially since I probably just named about 95% of your diet. But, I promise, you will feel better without these foods. If you are struggling with infertility please make an effort to stop eating these foods. If you know someone who is, pass this information along.

There are many petitions out there that you can sign about GMO crops. Many states in the U.S. are trying to pass a law that all GMO foods are labelled (as well as other countries worldwide). Other states are trying to ban GMOs altogether. If you would like to become better informed, there are many beautiful documentaries out there. Life According to Monsanto, The Future of Food, and One Man One Cow One Planet all have an incredible amount of information on GMOs. There are so many resources and books out there too. Inform yourself.

Since we are what we eat, I surely don't want to become a genetically modified organism. I was made in the "image and likeness of God" and that is not as a genetically modified being.

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Svea Lynn is a traditional Naturopath, classical homeopath and holistic doula. Her private doula practice can be found here.