the teeth tell the tale

When I first heard about the connection between nutritional status and dental health I wept.

Dr. Weston A. Price said that the “teeth tell the tale”— the story of our health and wellness. Crooked, crowded and decaying teeth are most often a symptom of a modern diet (as compared with a traditional diet) where eating “displacing foods” like white flour and sugar, pasteurized and skimmed milk, refined and hydrogenated vegetable oils, jams and canned and processed foods is common.

I’m re-reading his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration from 1939, a book that recounts his experience time and again of discovering that when the “displacing foods of modern commerce” were introduced into a healthy population group that there was a CORRESPONDING IMPACT ON THEIR TEETH.

Providing nourishing foods is vital in the early years to help with proper bone and jaw development, well-spaced teeth, a wide dental palate and for teeth to come in straight and free of decay.

It is also vital for the period leading up to conception and during pregnancy + lactation. This is where I went terribly wrong. In the early years, I was eating low-fat, including lots of grains, and craved sweets daily. I was way off base. 

So, which foods and nutrients will help to nourish a growing body? Key nutrients include fat-soluble Vitamins A, D and K, Choline, DHA, Zinc, Tryptophan and Cholesterol. Most of them are found in foods like: 

+ cod liver oil

+ real (raw) milk 

+ high quality dairy

+ liver

+ butter from grazing cows 

+ egg yolks from pastured chickens 

+ fresh seafood

+ meat from grass-fed animals

The struggle is real— our family feels it. Providing nutrient dense foods to young children is not easy. It helps to start young— many families choose liver as a first food for their baby! Don’t despair if you are a mama of older children and want to add in some nourishing foods— it’s never too late!

Over the last 3.5 years I have been seeing a holistic dentist to repair the damage that was done from not preparing my body for pregnancy and for not prioritizing (true) nutrient dense foods during pregnancy + lactation.

Looking for a good starting point to learn about traditional, nutrient dense foods? This list will help👇🏼👇🏼

+ The Weston A Price Foundation 

+ Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A Price

+ Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon

+ The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Child Care by Sally Fallon Morell and Dr. Thomas Cowan

+ Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel

+ find a holistic dentist at https://iaomt.org/

+ find raw milk at realmilk.com

+ find local farms at eatwild.com

yourself!

Please do your own research! Do question modern dental and nutritional practices! Be the gatekeeper of your home mama💪🏼You are the decision maker for what comes into your home, your body and your children’s body. It is worth the time to read and educate 

can I just say— + vacations are exhilarating + vacations are exhausting + you never know which kid is going to be the type to take all of the shampoos and soaps from each hotel + someone is always gonna forget their toothbrush and start surveying who’s mouth so the cleanest so they can borrow theirs + it’s always a good idea to locate the closest urgent care each time you check into a hotel + there will be a point during the trip when you question why you came on the trip (or why you didn’t make it a couples vacation) + feeding a big family is expensive— like a huge portion of the budget goes here so doing lose your mind when you get that bill for the first dinner + it’s a good idea to get outdoors as much as possible but not too close to the edge of a cliff + finding the closest Trader Joe’s will be something you should do + vacations bring out the hyperactivity in your hyper kid, the sullenness in your melancholy kid and the shrieking in your shrieking child— making peace with these realities as soon as possible is best + there may be a point at which you’re begging your kids to “put on a nature show or something” when you’re feeling at your whit’s end + remember that you are making memories and that’s what counts!!! .

Often times, when someone thinks of living minimally they think of a home or a life with less THINGS. While this is true, and also a key to living simply, there is so much more to it. Living simply means living with less overall. For children, this might look like less toys, less clothing (which means less options and overwhelm when choosing), repairing or pitching broken toys, less media consumption, less exposure to the adult world and simpler foods (aka— whole, nourishing foods without “ingredient lists”). For me, as a mother and wife, this means owning one set of sheets for each bed, one pair of boots, making mindful purchases (quality over quantity, asking myself if we truly have a need for the item), having minimal decorations and wall hangings, cancelling cable (which we did over a decade ago), making much of our food from scratch and keeping my wardrobe paired down. Minimalism is such a trend right now— but really it’s nothing new. It’s a return to a simpler way of life and really honing in on what matters most to your family. Creating a simple home doesn’t mean you have to dial back to an old-fashioned era or mimic a lifestyle based on depression-era survival. A paired down home can still be beautiful and welcoming and inviting. It’s something I’ve been working on for over a decade and I feel like I’m still taking baby steps in each of these areas. I’m a work in progress— but I love the direction we’re heading in👌🏼🙌🏽

I AM ANTI VACATION Well, not really— let me explain. I think that the concept of taking a vacation from one’s home life and job can be quite refreshing. However, for me, it felt quite odd last week to be without responsibility, housework, and any concentrated purpose other than having fun and exploring. I felt eager to do something useful in the hotel room— make the beds, wipe down the counters— anything to make me feel useful! Getting to do a load of laundry one of the nights was a delight to me— it felt good to be doing something purposeful. Some may call this the “Puritan work ethic” or an addiction to being “productive”, but I’m not sure it’s either. Do you revel in the freedom of vacation or are you like me and have trouble settling into a routine of pure pleasure!?

good to great

It’s been nearly two decades of reading Mother Goose, Beatrix Potter, Aesop and Grimm and I’m so happy I have. These “good books”, in addition to songs, finger plays, poems and the like lay the foundation for later learning and delving into the “Great Books” of civilization. Once a year I go back and listen to the talk by the late Dr. James Taylor (founder of St. Raphael Orthodox Online School) entitled Good to Great: Teaching Literature from Grammar to Rhetoric and today was that day. He shares that “The good books cultivate the language, the situations of song, rhythm and meter that we will find in the great books”.  So basically Mother Goose lays the foundation for approaching Shakespeare. Fairy tales prepare the soil of the heart and mind for grasping the greater truths of life.  He also makes the point that education is rooted in reality, particularly the reality of the natural world. Many children have not been exposed to things like the stars— so how will they even begin to comprehend the simple rhymes like “Twinkle twinkle little star, How I wonder what you are.”  What is wonder? Do the children of today wonder about the natural world? There is no rushing this process. We know that education is an atmosphere, a discipline, a life. Ensuring that the atmosphere of the home is one in which mama is singing rhymes, exposing her children to beautiful art, ideas and music, taking the children out-of-doors for unstructured play time and reading the Good Books—perhaps starting when her children are in the womb— will give the most beautiful foundation for future educational experiences.  I have linked the talk by Dr. James Taylor in my bio… pour yourself a cup of tea one of these nights, grab a notebook and take a listen to it🕯📖

my great awakening: a true help meet (part three)

This realization was not merely a mental awakening. At the same time I began to feel a tug on my spirit, a call to start a new season of life. I had been, mostly, at home for the last eighteen years, raising, feeding, rocking, washing, reading to and educating my six "babies" (they range from ages 3 to 18 as I write this post) and it felt like living the most beautiful and fulfilling life. But, my children began to grow and become more independent. There were no more babies to rock and my children were blossoming into capable and responsible humans. There were times I wondered if the older children needed me in any capacity at all anymore (this was soul crushing as meeting their needs was all I knew).

I could feel the margins of my life widening. Pretty soon, my afternoons were filled with hours of free time. My evenings felt gloriously open and full of possibilities. Most of my children were tucking themselves into bed. They were bathing themselves and certainly didn't need mama to wash behind their ears. A few of them were even out of the home working at their job. I felt a tug, a call, to fill them with something meaningful.

At first, I thought perhaps a "new hobby" would do. Yes, that was it! Something crafty and useful. But no, that was not enough. Perhaps I could return to blogging full time. Now this was thrilling prospect. But no. I knew there was a need to meet and that the meeting of that need- helping to provide financially for my family- was something I was set on. I could see that the ripple effects of having a bank account that could weather a (even a small) storm and the possibility of that felt too enticing to ignore.

As I sit here today, nearly a year after my "great awakening" I know that God's hand was present in all of this. I can clearly look back on that day when I thought life as I know it was being taken from me and know that God allowed that experience as a catalyst for change. I have to chuckle as I sit here typing, knowing how many beautiful, surprising and humbling things have unfolded since that time.

A few weeks ago were were able to indulge in a magnificent seafood feast at the edge of the water in a coastal town in our state. Walking up to the window at the marina to order our lunch felt different than it ever had before. Being able to order all of that beautiful food- the fried clams and lobster rolls and clam chowder- for our entire family felt like the most glorious prize. As the servers carried the three, overflowing trays of fresh food to our table I could see the smile on my husband's face. As my boys enjoyed their sumptuous lobster rolls, one of them leaned over to me and said, "Mom, this must have cost a fortune". I smiled as I delighted in another bite of my shoestring onion rings and simply smiled.  It was such a simple lunch, perhaps routine- one that most families experience regularly. But for our family, it was the most humbling and joyful of experiences. That lunch meant so much to me- it meant that a gap had been filled; a wanting need met. I had realized what it felt like to be a true help meet to my husband after all these years. And this was a role that I delighted in.

my great awakening: metamorphosis (part two)

I began to wake up to a reality that had been staring me in the face for nearly two decades. I experienced an enormous disillusionment regarding our family's finances. I suppose if the phrase hadn't already been coined I might be the one to have invented it- "Ignorance is bliss". This seemed to be my motto. For years, I knew we were living on less and that this brought my husband immense physical and mental strain to the point of him experiencing severe insomnia due to the weight of it all. I had felt embarrassed at many points during my adult life when asked about the cost of our town's taxes, our mortgage, of this and that. I never knew the answer. I didn't know because I didn't want to know.

Growing up in a family where daily disputes revolving around money and the spending of it are etched into my consciousness, money was the proverbial elephant in the room. It was the toy buried in the back of the closet that I never wanted to play with. Perhaps it was too spooky or strange. Either way, I knew I was the one to hide it there.

Year and years of living aloof was my "happy place". Being unencumbered by the weight of our family's finances made me feel so carefree. I have searched my soul and I think I can honestly say that I didn't even feel guilty about it. I was responsible in every other area of my life, perhaps every good adult had one area where they were "checked out" I secretly thought.

I suppose I went into some sort of protective cocoon where I was cushioned and protected from the stress of it all. My sacred silky space was where I liked living best.

It took an immense amount of courage for me to unravel myself and emerge to my present circumstances. Ironically, I has always preached the slogan "embrace your reality", yet I myself was too much of a coward to do so. I had obviously gone into some sort of protective cocoon where I was cushioned and protected from the stress of it all. My sacred silky space was where I liked living best.

Once my eyes were opened I knew I could never unsee what I did. Never again would I be able to return to the safety of my blissful cocoon because, well, I was a responsible human and now I was met with something that called me up to higher ground. I was faced with something that I had perfected meeting over and over and over again during my years as a mother. Something that I instinctively knew how to solve. I was met with a need.

Waking up to a truth can be a scary thing. I felt the fear, but I also felt the freedom and joy of stepping into the light. I was an expert at meeting needs. This felt comfortable.