The month of September was just so sunny and beautiful in my area. I was basking in the sun and enjoying every minute of it knowing that it was short lived. Last week the weather changed and the clouds rolled in and stole the wonderful sun away and brought with it the rain. That is when I found out that I could hardly get up from bed. I also could not stop crying and for no reason at all. It was extremely hard just to get my kids of too school and getting through the days was all I could do. It was getting worse and worse every day. This definitely was not normal!

I don’t know how it can happen so quickly – that one day I just can’t get out of bed anymore. I was feeling emotionally beaten up and had no fight left in me.

Four days of this was enough for me to go out and splurge on some vitamins. Usually I make a great effort to get sun on my skin everyday and take Cod Liver Oil all for the Vitamin D. However I picked up some Vit. D pills just to get me through the winter. I also picked up a Multi B vitamin as it is generally known to fight depression and good for adrenals and stress management.

I took my supplements that night which consists of:

• Vitamin C 1000mg
• Multi Vitamin B 100s
• Vitamin D up to 4000iu depending on sun exposure
• Vitamin E mixed Tocopherol 400 IU
• Cod Liver Oil
• Handful of Dulse for iodine
• Magnesium Powder

After adding the Vitamin D and B vitamins I feel like a whole NEW person. The sun did not shine for days but it did not matter anymore. The tears went away and the energy came back.

One thing that I was also looking to buy was full spectrum lighting to put in my kitchen as this is the place in my house that I spend a lot of time. I don’t need that right now but as the fall and winter season arrives I will probably have my husband install the new lights.

Absorbing Nutrients

I am eating a healthy and nutritious diet and getting lots of Vitamin B through my food as well as getting Sunshine. Why is it that adding these two “pills” would make such a difference. Why can’t I get the same effect from eating liver which is rich in those vitamins?

I am assuming that the food has to get digested and broken down by the digestive bacteria and fed to the cells and a vitamin pill is a lot easier to absorb.

A healthy gut is the KEY to optimal health.

Food digestion is critical to health and that is why I blog so much about my Candida Yeast issues. I am also an advocate for fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, beet kvass, kefir which replenishes the gut with healthy bacteria and fight yeast and pathogens. Fermented foods also aid with digestion problems like diarrhea, constipation, acid reflux, gas, bloating and food allergies.

Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety

My OCD normally gets worse when we start burning the wood stove for heat. So far it has not been so bad. I check the stove before leaving the house or going to bed like I always do but the anxiety around it is not there. My anxiety in general has gone down. Not totally gone away but I am able to fall asleep without worrying about the house burning down, my kids dying or someone breaking in.

This is a breakthrough! It is absolutely horrible to feel afraid to sleep.

As I wear my heart on my sleeve I hope that someone may be helped with my battles and breakthroughs. Instead of reaching for medication I try to find out what nutritional needs might not be getting met and then try to remedy it. This is the long way to healing but at the moment it is the only one I got. Hiring a holistic doctor is not affordable at this time.

My History Note: When I was battling suicidal depression as a teenager my father sent me to an Iridologist. This Iridologist put me on vitamins and I pulled out of the depression rather quickly. Vitamin D and Multi Bs were part of my vitamin cocktail. I thought that I was just growing out of the teenage hormones change and did not give much credit to those vitamins. Eventually I stopped taking them.
Right now I feel a lot better than when I was taking St. Johns Wort and Sam-E. Those are natural anti-depressants and supposedly work as well as medications prescribed by doctors for mild depression.

At this point I give the credit for my well being to the vitamins.

An exciting update: after I wrote this post I talked to my father and spoke of my health issues. He was witness to what I went through as a teenage kid so he understands greatly what it is to be “unbalanced”. So he has offered to pay for me to go to an alternative doctor! I am absolutely ecstatic!!!

This post is part of Fight Back Fridays hosted by Food Renegade

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I love cooking from scratch and yesterday I made lard.  Watch this quick video on how easy it is to make it.

Lard is a very healthy oil to cook with and makes food taste fantastic. It is my secret ingredient in a lot of my meals! I had a dinner party last week and the guests were just raving about my roasted potatoes and wanted my recipe (unfortunately I only had a very small piece). The recipe was absolutely delicious – thanks to the LARD! Sure you can substitute butter, but lard gives a very light and crisp texture to food that makes it so wonderful. This is why pastries are made with lard.

Lard is very healthy! It is a traditional fat that many grandmothers used to make and cook with. It is very heat stable, does not burn and does not oxidize easily. This is the reason lard will NOT give you heart disease.  Lard also contains vitamins D and E (Alpha Tocopherol).  Eating foods with healthy fats like lard will also help the body absorb fat soluble vitamins. And since Lard is fat, eating it will suppress hunger and appetite.

Making it at home is far superior to buying it in the store.  You can choose your source of fat and make sure that it is organic and raised in the fresh air and pasture.  Store bought lard is most likely hydrogenated so make sure to read the list of ingredients. It will probably not contain Vitamin D if the pigs have been deprived of sunshine.

Making organic lard is cheaper than butter. I can’t tell you how much I paid for this fat because it came with the half a pig that I purchased but I know that organic butter costs 9.50 per pound.  Using this lard is a great way to make my butter stretch a bit further as I substitute it in my recipes.

Comment and share your thoughts!

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It is fall and with the weather change our family is fighting the common cold. And we have so far done this successfully.  We have had nothing more serious than a day of mild sniffles while most colds carry the symptoms of sore throat, cough, congestion, runny nose, sneezing. The common cold is annoying and most of us can catch it up to three times a year.

So here are the tips to fight cold bug.

1. Rest

Getting enough sleep is crucial for the body to heal and repair itself.

2. Nutrition

Homemade chicken stock has a lot of essential vitamins and minerals like calcium, magnesium and potassium. The gelatin that is created when you make homemade stock is great for healing digestive disorder. One of the best benefits of bone broths are that they are very flavourful, satisfying and taste great when you are sick.

Garlic has great antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral properties. I eat a clove of garlic per day (in the evening) sliced up on a piece of cheese. I find that dairy takes away the spiciness of the garlic. My kids don’t touch this but if your baby is nursing it will get all the benefits without the strong taste.

3. Vitamin D

It can be found in Cod Liver Oil, organ meats, egg yolks, raw and supplemented milk, sunshine and supplements. Vitamin D is an antibiotic. When the body has the proper amount of Vitamin D it is able to produce proteins called antimicrobial peptides. These antimicrobial peptides fight and destroy the cells of bacteria, fungus and viruses.

4. Moisture

We heat our home by burning wood so in the winter the air is very dry in our house. Humidifying the air in the home will “moisturize” the mucous membranes and protect them from viruses. This can also relieve the symptoms of cough and breathing problems. Drinking lots of fluids will also moisturize the throat.

5. Oil of Oregano

I love oil of oregano for treating colds. It works fast and is very effective. I take it at as a preventative for colds and to treat colds. It is not recommended for babies and toddlers.  Taking it in milk will reduce the heat of the oil of oregano.  This works so great that even my daughter is able to take it this way.

To your health and wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

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Multiple Sclerosis is a diagnosis that someone in my family is dealing with. My mom had called me in a distressed tone of voice and grievance in her heart. Multiple Sclerosis has stricken my family twice. I have also seen a friend’s mom go through M.S. symptoms. It is debilitating and heart breaking.  Some of the symptoms of MS are loss of balance, vision problems, tingling in the limbs, slurring of speech, coordination problems, difficulty of walking because of muscle weakness. As horrible as these symptoms are, there is one thing that my mom mentioned and that is that MS has been shown to be preventable by higher Vitamin D levels.

Prevention

Vitamin D seems to be the new miracle vitamin. There are studies that show that it can help treat and prevent cancer, that it can increase immunity and prevent colds and flu’s (German’s were marketing vitamin D to prevent bird flu outbreak), it is essential for bone and muscle strength, preventing dental caries, regulating hormones such as insulin and estrogen, as well as healing depression.

Low Vitamin D Diseases

Studies have shown that Vitamin D levels were low in patients that had Sjogren’s Syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroiditis, Crohn’s disease, Osteoporisis, Infertility, Cancers such as breast, colon, skin and prostate cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimers.
Wow!  This little vitamin can affect our health greatly.

Sources

The optimal source of Vitamin D is the direct sunshine on the skin but other sources are fish, Cod Liver Oil, pork lard, all types of liver, fresh egg yolk and butter. Notice that vitamin D is found in fatty food. It is an essential vitamin stored in fat. Hence Vitamin D is fat soluble and can only be utilized and assimilated by fat.  These are foods that we are told to avoid and yet we see a new wave of disease afflicting our nation.

Dosage

The Recommended Daily Allowance for an adult has been traditionally set for 400iu. That is good if you are trying to avoid rickets but not good enough for optimal health.  Today health professionals are recommending supplementing for children 2000iu and for adults 4000-10,000iu of vitamin D. So we need 10-25x the amount of vitamin D than the RDA!!  It is important  to note that you need to test your levels of vitamin D before starting to supplement with it in high doses. 

This video thoroughly explains the importance of knowing your Vitamin D levels to increase your health and prevent disease.

Tell me your thoughts. Have you been touched by Vitamin D deficiency?

To Your Health and Wellness,

Catherine Osthaus

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