Love Comes First
Harvest Your Family’s Health with Ebooks!
I know that many of you are not just learning about real food and non-toxic living for yourself. You are also learning because you are a parent or want to be a parent or even because of your pets. This Harvest Your Health Bundle of Books has plenty of information for you too. Even if you aren’t on a grain free diet and don’t want to be this bundle may have a lot of valuable resource for you. I decided to become an author for this bundle after I had a chance to see a list of some of the other books in it. I knew that I would want to have my book associated with so many other great books. I also knew that I would feel really good about recommending these books to you, my readers. If you would like to learn about which books in this bundle I thought were the best for the GAPS diet and the Low Oxalate Diet in addition to my own book about broth go read this post. Harvest Your Health Ebook Bundle! So for those of you who are parents or want to be parents there are some books in this bundle for you. I’m going to start out with telling you about the books that help you to take charge of your fertility. Birth Control Unlocked ($14) This book discusses various birth control methods available to women and the advantages and disadvantages of each including the impact on overall health from the hormonal methods and how to support/recover from that. This book tries to be an impartial source of information about the different choices and I think it did a good job. It does not include information about surgical options, nor does it cover the injectable birth control options. Otherwise for those who want to have options with their fertility I thought that this was a good comprehensive resource. Fertilize Yourself ($19.95) and Eat Your Way to Parenthood ($35) are both books about using nutritional approaches to improve your overall health and specifically your reproductive health. We know that traditional peoples in the societies who seemed to have the best health and fertility emphasized certain foods for women in the childbearing years and would go to great lengths to procure it if necessary. Our society has not emulated them and our fertility as a society is declining pretty significantly. While nutritional approaches will not correct all forms of infertility it can make a significant difference for many men and women. Fertilize Yourself talks exclusively about whole foods so supplements do not come up. Eat Your Way to Parenthood does talk about vitamins and supplements but does not discuss MTHFR and the importance of activated b-vitamins for those who supplement them. Since that is an issue that impacts at least half of all Americans I’m pretty surprised it did not make it into this book. Otherwise the information seems good and helpful for those who are seeking ways to boost their fertility and have optimally nourished bodies to nourish the children that they conceive. Fertility Yoga ($9.99) A complete yoga practice aimed at enhancing a woman’s fertility and supporting the reproductive system. Many of these poses would also be helpful for people suffering from illnesses and imbalances centered...
read moreLoving Our Guts on Vacation in Colorado!
My family took a vacation to the mountains of Colorado and we had a great time. Vacation when you are on a special diet or have significant health issues doesn’t tend to be very spontaneous and traveling light is not in the vocabulary but we made it work and had a great time. We rented a 29 foot motorhome for the trip and our experience with it was excellent. The company that we used is a local one here in the St. Louis area. This company purchases new motor homes to rent out each year and then sells them off after one year of use is up. This means that we had no fears of our motorhome breaking down on the road and also it was not plastered all over with those advertisement that let everyone know you rented it. It made it easier to blend. Well as much as you can blend in a vehicle that is 29 feet long and 10 feet high. We spent some time in Rocky Mountain National Park and near Cripple Creek. We went up the cog railway to the top of Pike’s Peak and 1000 ft down into the Mollie Kathleen Gold mine. We also visited the Manitou Cliff Dweller’s Museum and learned about the Native Americans who had made that their home. We even had time for one my my favorite past times. Fishing! I didn’t even get an nibble but it sure was fun to use my new pole for the first time. I’m going to have to figure out how to go fishing more often. It certainly was a vacation to remember. My girls had a great time and really thrive camping and getting to spend most of their days outside experiencing nature. Below I want to share a few of my favorite photos from our trip. Rocky Mountain National Park lake where we went fishing. Catching her first fish! View from our campsite. Elk stopping traffic. Sleeping in the RV Cooking up breakfast in the RV Farmer’s Market every week near Cripple Creek. I could live here! Going down into the Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine Going up on Pikes Peak! At the top of Pikes Peak. The haze is from all the wildfire smoke in the area. The girls favorite thing about Pikes Peak. This was called Prop Rock. Cooking hot dogs over a grill our camping neighbors brought. It was too dry and windy for a campfire that night. The supermoon over our campground outside Cripple Creek. It is red because of the smoke from wildfires. Adobe Dwelling that was a home for Native Americans until 1989 and is now a museum and gift shop. I think this was her highlight of the trip. Petting a wolf. This is from the day we left Colorado. Our nice camping neighbors offered to take our photo at this beautiful spot. Now that I am home again I can tell that our vacation took a lot out of me. I have been home for nearly 2 weeks and am still not back to where I was before we left. I still think it was worth it but I wish I could have recovered faster than I am. How about you? I know that many of my readers have chronic conditions...
read moreGuest Post: Love Comes First: Finding Time For Ourselves
Today’s post is a guest post from Sarah of Nourished and Nurtured. It is another one in my ongoing series about the importance of love for yourself and your family in the midst of the hard work of healing. Today is focused on how can mama get her needs met while caring for young children. I love her idea for playing hide and seek. I may need to do that one soon with my own two children. -PattyLA Many of my blog posts contain affiliate links. Purchasing through an affiliate link allows me to keep blogging and sharing what I learn with you. It is a bit like leaving a tip for service and is very much appreciated. Thank You! -PattyLA As a stay-at-home mother of two young children, I often find it hard to make any time for myself. It can be easy for me to go about my day-to-day life making no time for reflection, meditation, relaxation, or even my own health. After all, there is always more to do with the kids, around the house, in the kitchen, or on the blog. I find that if I fail to find any time for myself, I am setting myself up to burn-out, lose my temper, and feel dissatisfied. This doesn’t help out anyone in the house! By giving some time to myself, I am able to recharge my energy, my compassion, my kindness, and my passion for life. Some techniques that have worked well for me in finding time for myself are: Make it a priority to give some time to myself: I try to make it a habit to find some time for myself. As the seasons come and go, sometimes I do better at finding time for myself than other times. Sometimes it helps to plan it out by writing it on my to-do list for the day, and other times I naturally find time with the ebb and flow of the day. Either way, it has to be a priority for me to find some time for myself, else I will not be as good of a mother and wife as I could be. Daily quiet time: Every afternoon, we have quiet time for about 2 hours. This is a time for everyone in the house to unwind, and it really helps us all to have some quiet time each day. I plan to keep having quiet time even as the kids grow older. Each kid goes to a separate room with some quiet toys to play with, and I have time to de-stress through meditation, prayer, yoga, reading, or even folding laundry in blessed solitude. My 3-year-old can usually last 30-45 minutes playing on his own during this time, and then I help him settle in for his afternoon nap (and take a quick snooze myself since he still wakes during the night). My 6-year-old daughter spends her quiet time reading, playing, coloring, or listening to music/audio books. Since quiet time is a daily habit in our home, there is generally no struggle to get the kids to do it. They expect that each afternoon, we will do a quick toy clean-up and then go to quiet time. This time is essential for all of us to recharge and relax. Get up early: Getting up...
read moreLove Comes First: Mindful Parenting Special Offer
This blog post may contain affiliate links. Purchasing through an affiliate link allows me to keep blogging and sharing what I learn with you. It is a bit like leaving a tip for service that doesn’t cost you anything and is very much appreciated. Thank You! -PattyLA I know that many of my readers are parents. Today’s Love Comes First post is for those of you who have children in your home. So many of you are working very hard to help your children heal with special diets, therapies, and other approaches. It can be hard in the middle of all that to spend much time thinking about your parenting style. I know that the stress of all of it can make it hard to parent the way that you want. That is why I am excited about this bundle of parenting resources. They offer an opportunity to reconnect with the kind of parent you want to be. I love that they are in some different forms so even if you don’t have time to read a book you can learn from this bundle. I’ll let you know what sounds particularly good from the bundle to me. There are several resources focused on stress relief including a relaxation meditation, Getting Back on Track! Why we Explode and What We Can Do About It, Mindset for Moms and Mommy Overwhelm. I am also intrigued by the Sleep Talking. In addition I have a 9 year old girl so Coming of Age, which is about having “the talk” with your pre adolescent girl is right on time. There are more that look good to me but those are the ones I plan to read first. I have really been feeling the need to reconnect with being the kind of parent I want to be and this collection came along at just the right time for me. I’m pleased to be able to share it with you as well. It is my hope that these resources can help you to connect more deeply with your children and help you keep your perspective of Love being the motivating force in your life with your children. Patty Welcome to the Mindful Parenting eBundle Sale, organized by Jennifer from Hybrid Rasta Mama, Lauren from Hobo Mama, and Laura from Authentic Parenting! The Mindful Parenting eBundle is 22 titles by esteemed parenting authors. This is a handpicked selection of e-books, workshops, e-magazines, and audio, with themes such as creativity and play, peaceful guidance, mindfulness for mothers, children and food, self-care and relaxation, and more. That’s a total value of $274 USD for the humble price of $24.95 USD! Are you as excited as I am? Let me share the list of contributors: Parenting for Social Change by Teresa Graham Brett A Unique 7-Step Parenting Tool: Sleep talking by Marcy Axness Relaxation Meditation, audio by Amy Phoenix of Presence Parenting Newbie’s Guide to Positive Parenting by Rebecca Eanes of Positive Parents Issue three of the Play Grow Learn magazine by Christie Burnett of Childhood 101 Getting Back on Track! Why We Explode and What We Can Do About it, audio by Genevieve Simperingham of Peaceful Parent Institute Stress Relief for parents, audio by Genevieve Simperingham of Peaceful Parent Institute Creative Play Workshop, email course by Gina Kimmel of Connecting...
read moreLove Comes First: If Mama ain’t Playful: 5 Ways to Play with Your Day
Today’s Love Comes First post is a guest post by Barb Hoyer all about ways that parents can incorporate more play into our lives. The point of this series is to help us healers reconnect with love and relationships. So if you are working hard to heal yourself or working hard to heal someone else you need to also remember that love is your motivation and that love is a good thing. I know that when I can help myself to feel more playful and have more fun everything goes better. I’ve picked up some new ideas from this post to try out myself. Let us know in the comments how you keep play in your life. ~PattyLA Remember what it was like to glory in summertime as a kid? To play all day long - riding bikes, skipping stones, catching fireflies in the dusk? The truth is, we don’t need to go away somewhere for a vacation to have fun. Play can be part of our everyday routine if we look for ways to feed our senses and have fun. In ev’ry job that must be done There is an element of fun you find the fun and snap! The job’s a game. - Mary Poppins My teenage son has been telling for over a year now to relax, to have fun. It’s not been easy for me. I’ve had a personal issue to deal with for way too many years, and even though the issue has gone, the effect the issue had on our lives as a family is still there. I’m also a bit of a Type A personality. Though having 5 kids has knocked the edges off of my Type A personality. While I may never be the playful mom, I can bring more play into my daily tasks and lighten the atmosphere in my home. My Favorite Ways to Play Play upbeat music while doing chores. This is so simple! My kids love it when I turn on a Genesis concert album or a Beatles album. I like to queue up 5 albums and run through them while working around the house. I also love to sing along with the radio in the car. There’s a few local stations that play the 70’s and 80’s songs I grew up with. I don’t care if the kids are with me or not; I drive and belt out the tunes. Bring color into my world. I love to surround myself with ccolor whether it’s a purple pen for writing notes or my white and purple Otter box for the iPhone. When I take pictures, I think about the colors along with the composition of the photo. I’ve slowly been moving my wardrobe away from the limited palette of white, black, khaki green, and dark colors to oranges, pinks, and yellows. Go trail running. Running over rocks and logs, dancing through the woods, gets me back to the freedom of being a kid. I started racing again last year, too, focusing mostly on trail races or fun ones like a local Pickle Race. Use a fun, colorful mug for my morning coffee. It’s a small thing, and a good thing. My Pier One mug with its colorful folk art design makes me smile every time I see it in the morning. I’m always bummed when my favorite mug is in the dishwasher, and I’m stuck using another one. Pursue photography as a...
read moreLove Comes First: Finding the Joy
Today is my second installment of my Love Come’s First series. I’m exploring love in many different ways with this series and am open to guest posts for it as well. Today I’m exploring a way to keep the joy in your day to day life no matter what your circumstances each day. Do you find yourself bogged down in the day to day of life? Perhaps you suffer with a chronic illness or you care for someone who does. If you are doing a complicated dietary intervention you may find that the weight of it is heavy on your shoulders day by day. It may seem like you need to choose between being happy and being well/healing. I have been there. I still end up there far more often than I would like. I want to encourage you to make a list right now of things that bring you joy. Everything, big or little that brings you joy. Put it up on your fridge with a pen handy to add to it. If you are in a bad spot the only thing that may seem like it will bring you joy is a fancy resort on a tropical island. That’s ok just write that down and plan to add to it later. . . . Ok is your list started? Leave room at the bottom for adding new things as they come to you. You want a good list of the things that bring you joy. No one else can make this list since no one else will find joy in all the places you do. This morning I was inspired to listen to a favorite musician from my college days. I was instantly transported back to an easier and less complicated time in my life. I realized that it set a tone for my morning of joy and lightness. When my daughter got up and immediately started complaining I was ready for her because I was in a good spot already. Music does that for me and probably should be a part of my morning routine most of the time. Listening to music is a quick and easy way for me to get in touch with myself and my joy. I know I’m not the same as anyone else. Your joy may come in very different ways. Here are some ideas: You may be renewed by silence. Or by prayer. Or going for a run. Or by drinking some morning coffee out in nature. Or hugging your children and snuggling together. Or by seeing something silly or nostalgic among your possessions. Once you have your list you can use it on a bad day. Let it remind you of the ways that you can find your joy again. Because joy, like love, is a choice as much as an emotion. It may feel like your joy is out of reach but we can be content in all circumstances. (Philippians 4:11). This list is a tool for you to use as a reminder of the joy that is lurking around every corner. So what sorts of things do you do to bring more joy into your life day by day? I would love for you to share it in the comments to inspire the rest of us with...
read moreLove Comes First: The Meaning of “Loving Our Guts” and A Request
The very first thing that you have to do when you begin a blog is choose a name. It is often the last thing that I do when writing a blog post or a book but in order to just get set up I had to select a name. I found it difficult to find a name when I wasn’t really sure what I would end up saying in my blog. I have many passions in my life and I wasn’t sure how many of them would make their way here or which one(s) would be my main focus. I wanted a name that could encompass those passions or at least many of them and help to explain in a tiny part what I hoped to do here. I knew that diet and it’s impact on our health would be a big part of what I wrote about, but I never thought it would or should be everything. I also think that language and names can be powerful things and I wanted to have a name that inspired me to be the best that I could be. “Healing our guts” was a phrase I found myself using a lot already in my interactions with others, but that implies sickness and a focus on that. I did not want to be ill forever or give our illness that much focus. I know that while health is incredibly important, it is not everything. While I thought about a name, I remembered a friend saying that in ancient Egypt it was believed that the seat of the emotions was the gut/stomach.*(see below) I also thought of the phrase “I hate your guts!” I wanted to turn it around and on it’s head. Mostly though, I thought about love. Love for my family and for my God motivates me and helps me to find my focus when I get off track. I want to focus my energy on love and expressing love for everyone I encounter. It is because of my love for my family that I pursue health for them no matter how difficult that pursuit is at times. When I forget the love everything becomes a drudgery and an obligation. When I remember love it is a joy to serve my family members in this way. So my blogs name came from those musings. Loving comes first because I want to constantly remind myself and my readers that love comes first. Without it everything else is futile, a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal as the scriptures say. “It (love) always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Cor 13:7-8a). Putting the word Loving first in my blog name is an attempt to keep me always thinking of love first because it can help everything else fall into place when I do. I got to thinking about what I originally intended for my blog and realized that I have not really been giving the love part as much attention as I should. I am going to be more intentional about sharing love on here. I am starting now with a series I’m calling Love Comes First. I am looking for submissions from others to add to this series. If you have a story or a thought about love to share,...
read moreTwists in Our Path Toward Healing
Hello friends. I am humbled by how many are out there reading this blog. Many of you I do not know and will never know. Yet, since I feel like you are along with us for this journey, I call you friends. As many of you know I took a break from blogging a few weeks ago because of a health crisis in my family. I am still not at liberty to share about that, but I will thank you for your prayers and ask you to keep them coming. It is not over, I’m just coming to a place of acceptance and am ready to get back to work. My family has been on a healing journey since before my first child was born. I spent much of 2002 using a wheelchair because of the pain I was in following minor surgery. I have written about that experience as a chapter in a book that will be released later this year. It seems like my family has gone from one issue to another here despite my best efforts and lots of prayer. I am an eternal optimist and I continue to have faith that we will get to a place of vibrant health for all of my family member. At the same time I am disappointed at how long and difficult the path is proving to be. Health always seems to be right around the next bend for us. Bit by bit we peel the onion and discover new challenges to tackle. I have encountered those along the way who think that I just need to have a more positive attitude and worry less about the details. If I would just trust God more our health would fall into place. I have encountered others who think that I should simply accept that this is how our life is and stop searching for answers. Find the best drugs to manage our symtoms and move on. Neither of those are what I am called to for my family right now. I can accept that this is how life is right now and still look for answers for myself and my family members. I won’t lie. The events of this past winter have really shaken me. After 3+ years on GAPS one of my family members developed a condition that GAPS is often prescribed to address! I have met people along the way who have had this condition disappear on the GAPS diet, and yet here we are facing a new diagnosis and a scary future. I never thought that we could be faced with something like this while strictly following the GAPS protocol and yet it is a fact of our life at this point. It is hard to know what to think when something like this happens despite your best efforts to achieve health for your family. It feels so unfair! But as I remind my children. Life is not fair. When we first started GAPS we stopped nearly everything else we were doing to pursue GAPS with all that we had. I had read some pretty amazing stories of people healing all kinds of conditions on GAPS and we were inspired to join them. One remarkable story was about a boy with severe life threatening issues. His mother started...
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