As a child who suffered with headaches from birth trauma, it is my personal mission to help all people feel their best!  This includes newborns and children because they are afflicted with many types of conditions, need support for growth and optimal brain health, and thrive with improved quality of life!  The best part is, the entire family can benefit from NCR!  Please join me as Dr Hillary has  a one hour webinar on this unique structural therapy that the newborn and child in your life could benefit from!

March 26, 2013 6:00-7:00 pm PST

After a long week of work in the wide open spaces of Montana, not only 15 hours later, I find myself eating a croissant and drinking cappuccino in the Charles De Gaul Paris International Airport, Paris.   Today (well, yesterday) is the beginning of my three week European Wellness Adventure. It all started with my trip to Aspen, as my partners and I begin to roll out the Wild River Lodge and Wellness Spa in Washington. (Read my last blog to learn more about this)  Being invited to visit Britain, Scotland, France, and Austria to explore the oldest and newest therapies using the age old healing of water, mud, sound, light, and color, as well as share my knowledge about NCR and Naturopathic Medicine,  makes this not just a work trip, but a trip of a lifetime!

 Russia: The beginning of my medical wellness journey.

 I have only been to Europe once, on my way home from Russia where I did an internship in a sanatorium on the Black Sea for a summer.  There we witnessed entire sanitoriums run  with only mud, water, sun, massage, electrical, heat, and needle therapies prescribed by doctors from all over Russia.   In the States we call this "alternative", but in many parts of the world, that is REAL medicine.  It's cheaper, more sustainable, low force, and improves quality of life, not just relieving symptoms, and it's the basis of our Naturopathic Principles.  And, it's cheaper than expensive drugs and surgery.  

 EUROPE: Time to learn and learn some more

 With our current project we are looking to create a welllness center unlike anything in Washington, and it's now my job to figure out what it's going to entail, how big, what, etc etc.  It's a big job but after months of planning, I am leaving my layover at Paris for my first destination, Nottingham, Great Britain.  

 There lives Sarah Camilleri, the editor and publisher of European Spa Magazine (europeanspamagazine.com) who has so graciously invited me to spend my first  four days with her exploring central UK and the wellness retreats and treatments it has to offer.

I will then be traveling to middle France to visit a friends amazing countryside chateau, Paris, and then my wellness destination of Austria.  There I have been invited for a week of touring the most unbelievable wellness facilities in the world. From Salzburg I will be traveling back to Scotland to meet with another friend that I met in Aspen who is going to tour me around to some spas and the sights, and mostly to consult with him and his wife regarding NCR and their youngest daughter.  Then back to England, a trip to London and high tea and a possible chance to get a write up regarding NCR and our project in European Spa Magazine.  It will then be time to fly back over the pond to Miami to witness the launch of GFC's (my brokerage company) new product- Youth H20 (youthh2o.com).  

I can say that after 5 hours of driving, 2 hours of waiting, and 16 hours of flying, I'm waiting for the "crash", but the fact that yesterday I was driving through the great plains of Montana, and today I flew over the Eiffel Tower, my excitement is hard to hold back.  Stay tuned each day for an updates, pictures, and videos, it's bound to get interesting!  Now I have to finish the last episode of Dontown Abbey before the plane lands....

 Cheers, 

 Dr Hillary :)

“What you eat today, walks and talks tomorrow.”

-Babe the Pig 

This is from the movie "Babe" my daughters favorite movie at the current time, and even though you could interpret it a number of different ways, there is no doubt that what you eat controls each and every cell in your body. Since eating is something we all do, it seems like a good idea to put the conversation forward: Are your genetics influenced by the foods you eat, and even more importantly, do you have the power to control how your genes are turned on or off through nutrition?

 The answer is: YES.  The new future of medicine is known as Epigenetics- looking at how the genetic code is affected by environmental influences, and how we have the real ability to turn wellness or illness genes on or off through the foods we chose to put in our bodies. If you were to hear someone say, "it's all in my genes" it's true, but what you don't hear people say is, "but I have the power to control them."  Now I'm not talking about hair color, eye color, skin color etc, these things are in the genetic code and make up your physical appearance.  But lets say someone is meant to be 6 foot 5, but they were fed a horrible diet as a child- malnourished and under exercised.  It's likely they wouldn't make it to that height due to the genetic code being altered by deficiency states.

It's the same with many of today's epidemic diseases in the modern world like heart disease, diabetes, cancers, and obesity.  In a family where both parents have diabetes type 2, some will argue there is a genetic link for their child to get diabetes type 2 when they are older.  In truth, if the child was fed a healthy diet devoid of simple carbohydrates and bad fats, and full of vegetables, whole grains, healthy fats, and lean proteins (with adequate exercise) it is very unlikely that this grown adult will get diabetes, for if the gene existed, it wouldn't be turned on.  However in today's world we see children getting type 2 diabetes, a sure sign that if we continue to eat (and stay sedentary) the way we do, gene destruction will happen at an alarming rate.  

The bright side to all this is that you have the power over what you put in your body and even though you don't know every "bad" gene in your body, you do have the say in what your genes can do.  Many will disagree with me here, but I have seen all to many times that when people improve their nutritional status, their bodies become efficient, leaner, and free of disease, while their minds are calmed and bright.  Even those who are what we considered "diseased, can benefit from a clean whole foods diet, sometimes even reversing their conditions and/or optimizing their current states. Take this month to educate yourself and others about the importance of healthy food, and remember you aren't helpless to your genes.

 Just in time for National Nutrition Month, a landmark study published in the Lancet, found that 64% of ADHD diagnosed and medicated children benefited MORE from removing food allergies and sensitivities than taking drugs.  Simply put, diet is more effective than medicating children with ADHD.  Dr Lidy Pelsser of the ADHD Research Centre in the Netherlands found that many of the children who are diagnosed with ADHD actually have food hypersensitivities that are influencing their behaviors, and when a stricter, and healthier diet is imposed, these children become "normal".  With around 10% of US children being diagnosed with ADHD (which is an enormous percentage- anyone else shaking their head?), and over 3 million of those children on drugs such as Ritalin, Adderall, and other stimulant medications, there is no doubt ADHD diagnosis is big business. 

If your child is exhibiting symptoms such as hyperactivity, poor focus, temper tantrums, separation anxiety, or is one of the three million medicated children, this study proves that diet should be your first line of treatment.  Also, a majority of the ADHD/Autism spectrum children that I run biochemical tests on, have food allergies plus significant nutrient deficiencies such as low Vit D, B vitamins, Vit C, and minerals- all of which are essential for optimal cell function.

Nutritional biochemistry is the cornerstone of Naturopathic care, so if you are looking to improve your child's health and reduce their dependence on stimulant medications, I highly encourage you to seek out Naturopathic care and nutritional counseling.  Overall care is inexpensive and could not just transform your child, but your entire family.  Refer to my past blog to find out other ways to help your ADHD child without drugs.  The key is education, take control of your health, and you will transform the lives of generations that come after you!

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Pop Tarts, apple juice, a bowl of Fruit Loops with milk, maybe a banana for breakfast. Jiff peanut butter (which contains high fructose corn syrup) and jelly on "wheat" bread, fruit roll-up, an apple and Cheetos or crackers for lunch. Top Raman and a coke as an after school snack and Mac n Cheese for dinner with canned green beans or take out. If this doesn't resemble your child's food intake then good for you, however at school there are plenty of sugary, processed foods with lots of artificial additives available for them to choose from.

Even more so than adults, children need whole fresh foods filled with nutrients, Phytochemicals and essential fats for proper brain and body development. The nutrients in whole foods help their bodies mature optimally, the Phytochemicals protect their growing cells from premature damage and the essential fats are crucial for learning, attention and memory. If we look to our grocery stores they have more processed foods, which lack these components and have ample amount of artificial ingredients, than whole fresh foods.

One explanation for the increasing number of children with ADD and hyperactivity are these additives... they are in everything... except whole unprocessed foods. If your child has ADD/ADHD I challenger you do an experiment. For three weeks take them off everything processed and replace it with only fresh veggies, fruits, meats, un-milled or sprouted grains, legumes, seafood and healthy fats like nuts and seeds, avocado and olives... see how they do. If this alone doesn't solve most of the problem add extra omega 3's to their diet like wild salmon, ground flax seeds or oil, sardines (mix it up just like tuna) or consider a high quality supplement from Nordic Naturals or Designs for Health.

"But, my child won't eat that...." Only because they are not used to it! Start slowly introducing new foods or incorporating them into the routine and eliminating the processed foods. Do this over a few months and they will adapt, the younger this happens the easier and better.

Remember, children are even more sensitive to food additives, sugars and refined grains and fats than adults and they need a wide range of nutrients for all cells of the body, including the brain, to function properly and optimally. Don't trust the health of your child to packaging and advertising; get advice from a qualified source. Together we can work to get the two million children that are on drugs for ADD/ADHD, drug free!

Cheri Soraparu is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist and Certified Personal Trainer.