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Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Teething

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It’s another of those weeks when thankfulness seems hard – but really, it isn’t all week. If I could think beyond the fog of the past two days, I know there are plenty of wonderful things that it would be easy to thank God for.

But the past couple of days have not been particularly pleasant. If I’d have known Tirzah Mae’s nap on Tuesday afternoon would last ten minutes, I wouldn’t have started scrubbing the bathtub. If I’d have known the next one (after I’d nursed her back to sleep) would last 12 – well, I don’t know exactly what I’d have done if I’d have known this was coming.

THIS, of course, is teething. Her second tooth broke gums yesterday, but she is apparently not done yet. She slept with me the last two nights, by which I mean that she slept in five to ten minute segments on top of me while I moved my head back and forth desperately trying to get comfortable before she awoke with another desperate scream and started scrabbling for the breast.

I didn’t get dressed yesterday. I didn’t have opportunity to take a shower. She was eating at least every 15 minutes, with only catnaps in between.

It doesn’t feel like I have anything to be thankful for.

But I must apply correct theology to teething and recognize that even a sleep-deprived mother has plenty to be thankful for.

Today I am thankful that God is infinitely more patient with me, His child, than I could ever be with my daughter.

Today I am thankful that God’s grace to my daughter is infinitely deeper than I could ever extend to her.

Today I am thankful that God sustains mothers and comforts children.

And I begin to repeat myself in my mind and as I type: Today I am thankful that God is patient.

I hear Tirzah Mae fuss from the bed where she has been sleeping for the past half hour (why, oh, why did she decide to make that longest stretch after I’d already had my morning coffee?) and I no longer have opportunity to think up new thankfulnesses.

So I repeat those again and again.

Thank you, God, that you are patient. Thank you, God, that you are gracious. Thank you God that you sustain me and comfort my daughter.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: How to Survive Your Baby’s First Year by Hundreds of Heads

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Once upon a time, when I was young and before I had children, I read a book in which parents shared their best parenting tips. I thought it was fascinating – seeing all the different parenting styles, all the little tips and tricks for staying sane and organized, for getting past diapering or potty-training troubles, for dealing with picky eaters and supermarket tantrums.

So I figured I’d probably like the Hundreds of Heads Survival Guide: How to Survive Your Baby’s First Year “by hundreds of happy moms and dads who did”.

I was wrong.

Perhaps the types of tips and quality of advice has changed in the years between the two books’ publications (this one was published in 2005). Or perhaps I’ve become more dogmatic about my own parenting philosophies. Perhaps it’s both. But the advice in this book generally struck me as same-old-same-old millenial parenting advice that, in my opinion, hasn’t worked out so well. Okay, maybe the parents survived the first year, but the kids grown up on this sort of advice have issues.

Perhaps I remember wrongly, but it seems the book I remember reading was filled with tips – different ideas for organizing the changing table or for repurposing those wipes containers or for household items that make great toys for an infant or whatever.

The advice in this book is more like: “Breastfeeding is the best thing you’ll ever experience”, “Don’t breastfeed, it sucks”. “Spanking is the absolute worst thing you can do to your child”; “A pop on the butt is all it takes”. Or it’ll be mom ratting dad out for how he doesn’t know that a child should only be left in time out for as many minutes as he is years old (a 3-year-old for 3 minutes). Oh, really? Since when did that become an unbreakable rule? (Note: if a mom said, “I generally give my kids a timeout corresponding to their age – I find it suits their attention spans and gives them enough time to calm down without making them get impatient”, I’d be “Oh, neat tip.”)

Of course, all this dogmatic side-taking doesn’t stop the steady stream of “do what works for you” language. Which reminds me of a recent PJTV Parenting Round Table in which the contributers were asked “What’s the Best (and Worst) Parenting Advice You’ve Ever Received?”

Leslie Loftis gave the best answer (in my opinion):

“The Best advice came from my college mentor and mother of two: Aim for the kind of person you want them to be at 35, not what you want for them tomorrow.

The worst advice was also the most common advice: Just do what works for you and your family. In practice, it is the reverse of the best advice. It encourages short term thinking. What is right is what works right now. Sometimes necessity must have her way, but usually doing what works right now means avoiding little problems and letting them fester until they become big problems that are much harder to solve.”

And that, in short, is why I didn’t like How to Survive Your Baby’s First Year. It’s full of dogmaticism about pretty much anything (most of which are non-essentials) – combined with a total lack of long-range thinking.

Rating: 1 star
Category: Parenting – Baby Care
Synopsis: Parents give dogmatic advice on the major first year parenting questions – while constantly proclaiming “do what works for you”.
Recommendation: I don’t recommend it.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: Thank You, Dr. Lamaze by Marjorie Karmel

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Marjorie Karmel had no intention of reading Grantley Dick-Reed’s Childbirth without Fear, which a friend had pressed into her hands at a dinner party. Marjorie wasn’t afraid of childbirth. She’d be out, after all.

But when she was desperately seasick on her trip back from New York to France, she picked up the book and started reading, fascinated. The book brought up all sorts of repressed memories (a terrible story of her mom’s delivery of her, a friend who’d told her about her own not-so-pleasant delivery, all previously forgotten) but also gave her hope for another way.

She asked around in Paris, searching for a doctor who’d be willing to let her try a natural childbirth – and found Dr. Lamaze.

Dr. Lamaze practiced a form of “Pavlovian childbirth”, based on Ivan Pavlov’s conditioned reflexes. Apparently, this form of childbirth was popular in the Soviet Union – but Lamaze advanced the technique, adding certain breathing methods and whatnot.

In Thank You, Dr. Lamaze, Marjorie Karmel writes of the wonderful experience she had giving birth to her first child in a Parisian hospital with a monitrice (doula) who’d taught her the Lamaze techniques and Dr. Lamaze attending – and she tells of using that same technique to give birth naturally in a New York hospital with much less natural-childbirth-friendly practices (and practitioners.)

I raced through this memoir, finding it absolutely fascinating.

Why? What was so interesting?

Well, the first is obvious. I love the process of birthing, love learning about the process of birthing. I wanted to be a midwife when I was a kid. I’d still love to be a midwife. It’s amazing.

But beyond that, it was interesting because it was a story of birthing practices at a certain point in time – and was a story that sparked significant changes in how birthing is done in America. It is through Karmel’s “ASPO” (American Society for Psychoprophylaxis in Obstetrics), now called “Lamaze International”, that things like having your husband present during labor and delivery became mainstream in America. Yet some of the aspects of how Karmel gave birth have been rejected by modern natural childbirth organizations, including Lamaze International.

Another interesting aspect was hearing about Karmel’s experience trying out a “natural childbirth course” at an American hospital. The class was led by a facilitator rather than a teacher – and the facilitator kept pointing out how every woman is different (and therefore there aren’t any general principles for women to learn to help them understand the process) and how medications will always be available if needed. The bulk of the class ended up being women talking about their past experiences or expected experiences – with very little learning about the actual process of birth or of ways to deal with it. I thought Karmel’s description was fascinating, because I feel like I’ve heard about that same class – except taught in these days :-)

It’s a short book, an easy read, and interesting to people like me. :-)

Rating:4 stars
Category: Birth Memoir
Synopsis: Karmel shares her story of giving birth naturally in a Paris hospital with Dr. Lamaze’s techniques – and of applying the same techniques in a New York hospital with less aware attendants.
Recommendation: Definitely worth reading for those who enjoy this sort of thing

Categories B3RD, Book Reviews

Book Review: The Baby Food Bible by Eileen Behan

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Face it, feeding a baby is hard work. Whether at the breast, from a bottle, or at the table, infant feeding takes time, energy, and savvy. (And don’t even get me started on the cleanup!)

For the health savvy mom, feeding a baby can be even harder – there’s so much conflicting information, so much advice, so many different ways to go. Start at four months or six? Rice cereal or avocado as a first food? Wait 3-5 days between foods or introduce mixtures at will? Cut grapes into quarters or sixteenths? Jarred or homemade baby foods? Or maybe baby-led weaning is the way to go? Should I choose organic foods or are conventionally grown foods okay? Should my baby eat salt? Sugar? Dairy foods? Soy foods? Wheat? Peanuts? The list of potential questions goes on and on.

I wish there were a good quality book that addressed all these issues (and addressed them the way I do – because, of course, I know it all :-P), but unfortunately, to my knowledge, no such book exists.

Eileen Behan’s The Baby Food Bible does a pretty good job though as a basic resource for moms. Behan, a dietitian who works with families, does a decent job summarizing general infant feeding recommendations as of 2008 when The Baby Food Bible was published.

The largest section of the book is a list of healthy food items (from all the food groups), discussing how moms can make them into purees for their infants and how they can incorporate those foods into family meals. She gives easy “recipes” for the purees, including how much water to use per unit of food and both stovetop and microwave cooking times. For the mom who’s going the puree route (which you don’t have to, by the way – Tirzah Mae ate purees maybe twice), it’s a good resource. The next largest section is a collection of multi-ingredient recipes that can be pureed to be fed to babies, as well as to the rest of the family. Again, if you’re going the puree route, it’s a good resource.

Now, every so often, Behan says something about a specific food that reflects traditional infant feeding biases that I don’t agree with (and that don’t have research to back them up) – like when she says that cucumbers are “not recommended for infants”, but are “a good snack food for older toddlers.” It’s true that cucumbers do not puree well, but I don’t see any reason why an infant eating stage 3 or 4 foods shouldn’t have little chunks of the inner portion of a cucumber (Tirzah Mae does whenever we’re eating cucumbers). Likewise, Behan writes that “onions are not a baby food” and suggests only that they can be included in recipes for older children because they add flavor. I’ve never seen any reason to avoid onions with babies (except cultural biases against it) – and we eat sauteed onions (or sauteed onions and zucchini or onions and peppers or…) rather frequently.

Other recommendations Behan makes are outdated – the most notable being that she gives the (then current) recommendation to avoid potentially allergenic foods in the first year. Pediatricians and dietitians had been giving that advice for years based on a “better safe than sorry” principle while research was being conducted to determine whether it made a difference. Well, in the past 2 (maybe 3?) years, the research has come out and indicates that holding off on potentially allergy-causing food has the exact opposite effect than the one we’d hoped for. We now know that introducing potential allergens between the ages of 4 and 6 months has a protective effect against the development of food allergies.

And then there are the philosophical questions that don’t necessarily have scientific evidence on their side – organic foods, local foods, humane foods, etc. Behan generally jumps on the bandwagon with each of these, although she does acknowledge to some degree that parents may have different priorities.

So… now for the difficult part. Do I recommend The Baby Food Bible?

If you’re a mom with a baby younger than 8 months, you intend to go the puree route, and you want to learn how to make your own baby food, this is a great resource. If you’ve got a baby older than 8 months, you should be working on introducing textures (which Behan doesn’t talk a whole lot about but which I consider a very important step in ensuring healthy eating patterns into adulthood – something I believe the research supports). If you intend to skip purees – hey, I did too – wanna compare notes? If you intend to just buy staged baby food from the store, the bulk of this book won’t apply to you.

Rating: 3 stars
Category: Infant feeding
Synopsis: Behan discusses then-current recommendations for infant feeding and gives a giant list of foods and how to prepare and puree them for your baby.
Recommendation: Worthwhile if your baby is under 8 months, you intend to feed your baby purees, and you want to learn how to make your own baby food.

Categories Recap

Recap (2015/08/15)

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In my spirit:

  • Continuing to think about (and act upon) how correct doctrine (orthodoxy) leads to correct behavior (orthopraxy) as I finish up the book of Titus.
  • Thankful for a good first day in the three-year-old Sunday School today

In the living room:

  • Listening to Read Aloud Revival while cleaning this week. This is a fantastic podcast – all about creating a culture of reading in your home.

In the kitchen:

  • Bourbon Molasses Chicken, Green Onion Mashed Potatoes (I leave the peels on and used plain yogurt instead of butter or milk to “thin” these out), Sourdough Battered Fried Zucchini (An experiment that turned out quite nicely, if I do say so myself), and Garden-Fresh Tomatoes. A killer meal.
  • In Kansas, the buns are round and they’re called Bierocks. In Nebraska, the buns are oblong and they’re called Runzas. Whatever you call them, I love to have some of these cabbage and meat filled rolls in the freezer for a rainy day – and since it’s been a while since I’ve made them, we had them for supper as well

  • I’m continuing to experiment with adding additional vegetables to practically every recipe I make. The Kahari chicken was pretty good with green beans, tomatoes, and cauliflower added.
  • And sometimes you just need to make a big crockpot of burrito beans. Which is what I did Thursday – we’ll be eating them for a while.

In the nursery:

  • Tirzah Mae bit me the first time with her new tooth. Ouch! But I followed my mom’s advice and am hoping that’ll quickly teach her that biting isn’t fun.
  • We had our nine-month checkup this week – Tirzah Mae’s up to the 55th percentile for length (essentially where she started) and the 30th percentile for weight (the heaviest she’s ever been). This puts her weight compared to her length (which is much more important as a single indicator, the other two are really only valuable for trending purposes) at a very respectable 23%ile (better than the 2%ile she was used to hanging out in.)

In the library:
aka “Books added to TBR list”

In the garden:

  • We’re enjoying tomatoes and cucumbers – and the peppers are starting to go crazy (although not quite ripe yet).

On the land:

  • We closed on our construction loan Friday – which means we should be surveying, staking, and maybe even breaking ground next week!
  • It also meant we were out on the land yesterday morning making sure everything was clean and ready to go.

On the web:

  • How to Talk to the Experts – A great article about sharing your faith with someone who knows more than you do
  • ‘The System is Too Broken’ is not a good excuse – A wonderful article about foster care – and one that got to me at just the right time. We’re interested in adopting from the foster system, but I was recently reading through the foster care regulations for Kansas and was becoming discouraged because of how those regulations could potentially limit our ability to parent our children the way we want to parent them – this article reminded me again of why exactly we want to adopt.
  • Parent’s Guide to Packing Successful School Lunches – A great article about how communication can help you reduce lunchbox waste and help your child eat more healthfully.
Categories Parenting

Unavoidable tantrums

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In the past several years, I’ve seen not a few web articles focused on preventing temper tantrums. The gist of each of these articles is that temper tantrums are generally the result of a child’s unmet need, often biological.

A temper tantrum happens, the expert mother-blogger writes, because your child is hungry or tired or hasn’t been told what to expect. If a mother can just make sure her child is never hungry, never tired, and never unprepared, she can prevent temper tantrums.

I never gave much thought to these articles until recently, when Tirzah Mae started throwing temper tantrums – full-fledged, beat-on-the-floor-with-her-fists, angry temper tantrums. I observed that these did indeed generally occur when she was tired or hungry.

I wondered – are the mommy bloggers right? Are Tirzah Mae’s temper tantrums biological necessities? Are they a result of poor parenting? Are they God’s fault? Are they my fault? Or does she hold some responsibility for her actions?

Then, I found myself having a temper tantrum.

I generally forget about my temper tantrums until they’re upon me.

The thing that has been bothering me all through the month, that I’ve been patting myself on the back for handling so well? Suddenly it’s too much and my blood is boiling.

I don’t need to check my calendar to know what time of the month it is. This temper tantrum – these temper tantrums – the seemingly uncontrollable frustration and anger and disappointment and rage happens like clockwork once a month.

It feels like I don’t have a choice in it, feels like my biology insists upon this temper tantrum. I try to resolve to control myself, to fight against myself. But month after month, I lose the battle.

It’s my hormones. I don’t have a choice.

I can tell myself that, but it’s not true.

Sure, my biology contributes to my tantrum – but my sin contributes more.

It’s my sin that seeks its own, that refuses to see another perspective. It’s my sin that pouts instead of presenting my requests to God. It’s my sin that rages instead of seeking resolution, that harbors grudges instead of forgiving.

So what does this teach me about parenting my daughter?

I think it teaches me several things:

First, I must pray for my daughter.

When the flesh tries to control the flesh, it fails. It is only by the Spirit of God that anyone truly develops patience, kindness, and self-control. If I, a regenerated believer who has been walking with the Lord for over 25 years, still struggle so much with my temper, how much harder must it be for my daughter? Tirzah Mae’s temper tantrums should remind me that she, that we all, are sinners at the core and in need of salvation through Christ. As a parent, I should be regularly be bringing my daughter before the Lord, pleading with Him for her salvation.

Second, I must not excuse her behavior.

Just as I cannot excuse my own temper tantrums. I cannot excuse hers. Temper tantrums must be dealt with. Simply giving in to the demands she makes will not teach her anything – it won’t teach her to control her temper or teach her to go to the Lord for help to control her temper. It will teach her that temper tantrums get her what she wants – and she will continue to have them regularly. As a parent, I need to be teaching my daughter what is and is not appropriate behavior and what will and will not produce desirable results.

Third, I must not provoke my daughter to anger.

Ephesians 6:4 warns fathers not to provoke their children to anger – but I think it applies to mothers as well. While I can not prevent all of her temper tantrums, I can learn how to gently guard my daughter from situations where she feels that a temper tantrum is her only recourse. I can, to the best of my ability, make sure she is fed before she’s ravenous by establishing regular meal and snack times. I can, to the best of my ability, pay attention to her cues and put her to bed before she becomes over-tired. I can pull her out of crowds for a time out when I see that she’s getting overstimulated.

Finally, I must trust the Lord with my daughter.

It’s so easy to think that everything our children do reflects directly on us or to think that somehow we should be able to change our children’s behavior. But it doesn’t and we aren’t. Our children are their own people – and the only One who can change their hearts (far more important than changing their behavior) is God. So we must continue to entrust our children to His keeping.

Categories Thankful Thursday

Thankful Thursday: Routines, New and Old

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Thankful Thursday banner

After the busyness of last week, it’s been wonderful to ease back into some normal routines – except that I’m not just going back to normal. I’ve begun to feel that I spend a lot of my day purposelessly on the computer – and then feel rushed in caring for Tirzah Mae and for our home. Yet as a younger woman, I have certain responsibilities, certain things to which God has called me: “to love [my husband and child], to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to [my] own husband, that the word of God may not be reviled.” (Titus 2:4-5 ESV) When I let computer time eat away at my time, I am not exercising self-control. Depending on what I’m reading (some of the “gossipy” stuff can be a real temptation), it can lead me to not be pure in mind. It keeps me from working at home. It inhibits my ability to love my husband and my daughter well.

So I’ve been working to intentionally prioritize the things I ought to be doing – instead of letting the computer distract me from my real job. And since routines are how I roll, I’ve set specific routines in place to help me do what I ought to – and to provide structured and productive computer time.

This week I’m thankful…

…for getting up earlier
Daniel had been in the habit of bringing me breakfast in bed around 7 – which has been wonderful. But Tirzah Mae is often awake at that time and we had been breastfeeding in bed around that time, which means she wants to strew my eggs all over the bedsheets – which is not so wonderful. This, combined with a desire to be more productive in the mornings, has compelled me to start getting up in the mornings so we can sit at the table for breakfast. This week, I’ve been getting up at 6 or 6:30, helping Daniel pour the coffee or toast the bread, and then sitting down with him (and Tirzah Mae if she’s up) for breakfast. Then, rather than my previous habit of lingering over my coffee in front of the computer, I’ve been staying at the table with my Bible, spending time in personal devotions then in Sunday school preparation.

…for getting back into exercising
It’s hard to return to an exercise routine after I’ve been gone for a while (even just those five days off mean renewed muscle soreness and being more out-of-breath.) But it feels good to be moving again. And with the jump-start that getting up a little earlier (and getting moving earlier) provides, I’ve been able to get both the exercise and my hygiene routines in while Tirzah Mae takes her morning nap.

…for intentional playtime
Perhaps the biggest thing to suffer because of my aimless computer time has been time just playing with my daughter. Now, I believe (strongly) in the power of undirected play for children – but children also need their parents’ undivided attention every so often throughout the day. Not having the computer be my default (or trying to cram all my household chores into the wee bit of time left over once I’m done at the computer) means that I’m making time to walk with Tirzah Mae around the living room a couple times a day, that I’m getting on the floor and just letting her climb over me while we laugh together, that I’m reading to her more.

…for a clean kitchen
It used to be that I’d let the dishes slide until I was already in the kitchen preparing dinner. Then I’d go through the house and get all the dishes and wash them and dry them and put them away and wipe the counters – and just as soon as that was done, I’d set the table so we could make the next round of dishes (that would then sit on the table or the countertops) until I was in the midst of preparing dinner the next day. Now, I’m working to get the dishes done right after lunch, which means I can have clean countertops from lunch to dinner prep – and have dry dishes in the drainer to put away just before dinner so that I can clean the dinner dishes right after dinner – and have clean counters again until lunch. It’s great.

…for afternoon naps
Rachel at the Purposeful Wife shared about power naps this Tuesday – and I put it into practice starting that very day. The early morning Monday did leave me feeling pretty fatigued by the end of the day – and I didn’t want to burn out. Seeing that article, I purposed to make a power nap the first thing I did after I put Tirzah Mae down for her afternoon nap (even if I was in the middle of dishes!) And I have, Tuesday and yesterday. I didn’t actually sleep either time, but just the 20 minutes of rest gave me sufficient energy to finish the day out and to do so with a good attitude (that’s the REALLY important thing!)

…for enjoying non-computer forms of enrichment
I already mentioned playing with Tirzah Mae. What fun it is! But now that I’m back to exercising, I get some reading in (while marching for warm-up and cool-down). And now that my bathtime coincides with Tirzah Mae’s nap, I can get some more reading in during her nap. And when I’m doing dishes? I’m listening to podcasts, a couple new ones that I’m really enjoying. Then, when I do sit down at the computer, whether while Tirzah Mae is nursing or during my dedicated time in the afternoon, I can enjoy computer tasks and entertainment without guilt.

…for the hymns at the end of the day
It’s one of those old routines, but one I’ve not always been faithful with. When I put Tirzah Mae to sleep, I change her, I feed her, I read her a story from the Jesus Storybook Bible, and I sing the next hymn I know in the hymnal. (Now that she’s got teeth, toothbrushing goes at the end there!) And this week, I sang hymn #259: “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted”.

“Stricken, smitten, and afflicted,
See Him dying on the tree!
‘Tis the Christ by man rejected;
Yes, my soul, ’tis He, ’tis He!
‘Tis the long expected prophet,
David’s Son, yet David’s Lord;
Proofs I see sufficient of it:
‘Tis a true and faithful Word.

Tell me, ye who hear Him groaning,
Was there ever grief like His?
Friends through fear His cause disowning,
Foes insulting his distress:
Many hands were raised to wound Him,
None would interpose to save;
But the deepest stroke that pierced Him
Was the stroke that Justice gave.

Ye who think of sin but lightly,
Nor suppose the evil great,
Here may view its nature rightly,
Here its guilt may estimate.
Mark the Sacrifice appointed!
See Who bears the awful load!
‘Tis the Word, the Lord’s Anointed,
Son of Man, and Son of God.

Here we have a firm foundation,
Here the refuge of the lost.
Christ the Rock of our salvation,
Christ the Name of which we boast.
Lamb of God for sinners wounded!
Sacrifice to cancel guilt!
None shall ever be confounded
Who on Him their hope have built.”

What delight have I, to open and close each day gazing upon the Lamb – stricken, smitten, and afflicted for me!

Categories Book Reviews

Essential Oil Books

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Yesterday, I posted a very long review of the current state of research on essential oils. My conclusion was that

“There’s a lot of buzz about essential oils these days – and essential oils show some promise for enhancing health. But, the current state of research is such that an evidence-based practitioner should be extremely cautious about making any recommendations regarding essential oils. We simply don’t know enough.”

Those who read yesterday’s post will likely be unsuprised to find that my reviews of the following books about essential oils tend to be critical, especially of the health claims made within.

Even while I am skeptical regarding supposed health benefits of essential oil use, I tend to think that most essential oils, when diluted minutely and administered either topically or by inhalation (such as being diffused into a room), are unlikely to be dangerous. There are few documented adverse effects of essential oils in their usual uses, so I would feel much more comfortable using them in the “usual ways” than in some novel dilution or route. (I would be extremely cautious of using essential oils internally, as this is NOT a common use and therefore more of an unknown as far as potential toxicity goes.)

The Essential Oils Book: Creating Personal Blends for Mind & Body by Colleen K. Dodt

This is the first book I read on using essential oils – and the subtitle accurately represents what you’ll find within. The bulk of the book is “recipes” for essential oil blends to be used as cosmetics, bath blends, cleaning solutions, and the like. There are a wide variety of recipes, some using specific oils (particularly the ones for use on the body) and others simply giving direction to add “15 drops essential oils” (generally the cleaning or room freshening recipes).

The author is clearly fond of aromas and she shares her enthusiasm not only by encouraging the use of essential oils but also the use of fresh and dried flowers and herbs. That was fun. On the other hand, the author also seems pretty flaky and frequently mentions pseudo-scientific things (which might just be the state of aromatherapy at this point) like detoxifying for weight loss.

The third chapter describes around 30 essential oils, giving its information in loose headings: “Nature”, “Benefits”, “Suggested Uses”, “Blending”, and “Cautions”. Some oils contain all these headings, others only a few. Often information that seems to best fit under one heading appears under another. Sometimes cautions that I read of other places aren’t given here. And, of course, very few of the claims can be supported by scientific literature.

Nevertheless, I found this to be a useful introduction into how essential oils can be (and are) used in a variety of ways both in personal care and in the home.

Essential Energy: A guide to aromatherapy and essential oils by Nikki Goldstein

This full-color “artsy” book ended up being a fascinating blend of historical and practical information about aromatherapy. The first chapters describe the use of aroma throughout history (and throughout the world) and how smell and touch work together to accomplish aromatherapy’s magic. This book too describes a list of around 30 essential oils, giving historical information, “benefits”, “safe use”, and “cautions” for each one in addition to giving the common name, the botanical name, the source of the essence, where the plant is cultivated, what the aroma is like, and which perfume note the essential oil has. Finally, the author describes multiple ways to use essential oils (massage, aromatherapy baths, infusions, compresses, etc.) and lists a variety of ailments along with the essential oils that are purported to treat them.

If you haven’t figured it out by now, I’m skeptical of many of aromatherapy’s claims, feeling that there simply isn’t sufficient scientific evidence to encourage (or discourage) the use of aromatherapy. The “practical” portions of this book tend to make me more skeptical, as they give wildly improbable and unscientific potential mechanisms for aromatherapy’s action (smells don’t purify the blood, the liver does.) Furthermore, I struggle with all the contradictory results – oils that are both stimulating and relaxing? But that says more about the state of the science on aromatherapy than it does about this particular book.

For those interested in learning about the history of aromatics or in the steps to do a full-body aromatherapeutic massage, this would be a good resource. I enjoyed reading it.

Categories Health

Essential Oils: Worth the Buzz?

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I think you’d have to be living under a rock to have not heard of the powers of essential oils (popularly abbreviated “EOs” on natural living blogs). DoTerra or Young Living are the next Tupperware – parties where you can receive demonstrations of the amazing powers of essential oils and where you can plunk down cash for your very own starter kit.

I tend to live under rocks and managed to not notice or ignore the trend for, well, I’m not sure how long it’s been a buzz – but I first started looking into them at the beginning of this year when a friend recommended Young Living’s Thieves oil as a cold preventative. Then I talked briefly with a sibling who uses oils internally. Since then, I’ve browsed a few online articles, primarily linked from Pinterest; I’ve attended a Young Living party (where I bought nothing); I’ve read two books about essential oils and aromatherapy (I’ll post my mini-reviews tomorrow).

And I’ve spent somewhere between 20 and 80 hours exploring PubMed’s database for research on different essential oils and reading the most recent research regarding essential oils.

While I’d originally intended to simply write a brief introduction summarizing my thoughts regarding essential oils prior to my short reviews of the books I read, I scrapped that idea once I realized how LONG that would make my review post. Instead, you get two full-length posts (Oh joy!)

I think it’s important that you realize that I am a skeptic regarding complementary and alternative medicines. I don’t have any special affinity for “natural” (or, for that matter, for “artificial”) things. Rather, I am a practitioner of Western Medicine (inasmuch as dietetics is medicine) – and believe strongly in evidence-based medicine. Furthermore, while I believe anecdotal evidence is worthwhile as a spur for further research, it is NOT appropriate as a source of practice recommendations. (For example, a supercentenarian attributes her long life to 3 beers and a whiskey daily – but that doesn’t mean we should start recommending 3 beers and a whiskey daily.) So, recognize that I am much less likely than the average “all-natural” mom to recommend the use of, well, anything for treatment of disease or health-enhancing properties.

As I’ve conducted extensive reviews of the existing literature regarding essential oils, I’ve seen that the study of essential oils (from a scientific standpoint) is in its infancy. A few essential oils have been studied in detail but most have four to five studies altogether – and each study might be looking at a different proposed property for the essential oil. Many of the most rigorously designed studies have been conducted with petri dishes or animal models – which have inherent difficulties with translating to human use. And of the studies that are done with humans? The study designs tend to be quasi-experimental and involve a small sample size (not many people in the study). In other words, in most cases, there simply isn’t enough information to make evidence-based practice recommendations for the use of essential oils.

That said, there are a number of areas of research regarding essential oils that show promise:

  • Many EOs have antimicrobial properties. This is where those petri dish studies come in. Some essential oils kill bacteria, some kill fungi, some kill fly larvae, etc. This is exciting. EOs show promise for reducing antibiotic dependence and offer new options for things like food safety. The majority of applications that are being studied so far involve using EOs in animal feed (chicken feed, especially) rather than antibiotics to promote animal health in confinement and using EOs as rinses or sprays on cut fruits and vegetables to keep them from going bad before you get a chance to eat them. It’s important to note that, while this research shows promise and while some applications have been developed that may be effective, we do not have any information so far about whether a few drops of an essential oil in a household cleaner will prevent germs. Nor do we have any information about oils rubbed on the skin or diffused through the air. Almost all antimicrobials have specific effective doses – and unless that concentration is reached (usually for a certain length of time), there is little or no antimicrobial effect. Also, if something is powerful enough and concentrated enough to kill bad bugs, there’s no guarantee that it isn’t powerful enough and concentrated enough to also have potentially damaging effects to human cells. Until we’ve got research on humans, we just don’t know what might happen.
  • Some essential oils have an effect on the central nervous system (CNS). Inhaled lavender oil seems to be a CNS depressant – lowering blood pressure, decreasing basal metabolic rate, and slowing brain activity. Inhaled grapefruit oil seems to be a CNS stimulant – raising blood pressure and basal metabolic rate, and increasing alertness. As such, these have potential to treat conditions such as insomnia, anxiety, ADHD, panic attacks, or narcolepsy. Except that they haven’t necessarily been studied for the treatment of those conditions – they have POTENTIAL to treat, since we know that the central nervous system is involved in those particular disorders, but we don’t know whether they actually WILL treat those conditions.
  • Odors can affect mood. This is something we’ve known for a long time. It’s nothing new. We know that smelling fresh-baked bread or chocolate chip cookies sells houses because people generally have positive associations with those odors and therefore feel that a home that smells like that is more “homey”. The difficulty is that everyone has different associations with different odors. If your grandma wore lavender, you might associate the smell of lavender with trips to the children’s museum with your grandma, or you might associate it with the smell of a dying woman. The highly individual nature of odor associations means that, if we want to use EOs to affect mood, we won’t necessarily be able to just look up a use in a book. On the other hand, it’s certainly possible that you might find a smell that calms you or that makes you hungry or… well, all sorts of things.

In conclusion, there’s a lot of buzz about essential oils these days – and essential oils show some promise for enhancing health. But, the current state of research is such that an evidence-based practitioner should be extremely cautious about making any recommendations regarding essential oils. We simply don’t know enough.

Categories Book Reviews

Book Review: Almost Green by James Glave

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I found it amongst the library’s construction-related books, so I must have known, when I picked it up, that James Glave’s Almost Green: How I Saved 1/6th of a Billionth of the Planet was about building. But by the time I got around to reading it, I had forgotten.

By that time, I thought maybe it was a generic “how I learned to be green” book. Which I don’t mind – it’s always fun to see what other people do to be green (the more potentially ridiculous, the better – solar cookers, composting toilets, peeing on your garden…)

The prologue, in which the author waxes eloquent about how he hates that he drives an SUV (but still does it anyway), had a paragraph explaining what the book was actually going to be about – so I did get some warning. I also learned, by the end of the prologue, that I dislike the author.

Why?

Because in the prologue, the author reveals that

  • He cusses. I consider cussing to be a sign of lack of intelligence – and that cussing in writing, where you have time and opportunity to choose your words carefully, is a sign of lack of writing ability.
  • He is apocalyptic. He believes in anthropogenic global warming (I am skeptical about the “anthropogenic” part) – but I expected that. What I have a hard time tolerating (whether by environmentalists or by Christians) is apocalytic thinking: “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.” Glave writes: “You probably already know that global warming presents the single greatest threat to humanity in all of history and the most profound challenge we face as a civilization.” Let’s just say I don’t know that and I can think of much greater threats and much more profound challenges.
  • He’s an eco-consumer. He states he was predisposed against “Eco Chic” (buying cool new “green” things) – but then clearly buys into, well, buying things. My own brand of environmentalism is all about avoiding waste – and Glave already reveals that he’s drunk the consumer-mentality Koolaid.

The body of the book got a little more interesting (to me) because the author was talking about his building process, about building materials, about home positioning and insulation and window e-values. And since Daniel and I are in the process of building our own home, that sort of thing is interesting to me.

But even as the body of the book became more interesting, my dislike for Glave remained.

Why?

  • He makes excuses. He says that global warming presents “the single greatest threat to humanity in all of history”, but then he makes all sorts of excuses for why he can’t possibly do the things that he knows would be best for avoiding that threat (for instance, live in a smaller space.) Now, I know there are plenty of things I could do to be more green – and I’ve made choices that aren’t the greenest. But I don’t think the world is ending because of my choices. I’m not weighing “keeping my kids occupied with lots of plastic and electronics in a too-large house” versus “the end of humanity” and choosing keeping my kids occupied with lots of plastic and electronics in a too-large house.
  • He makes poor trade-offs. Okay, so Glave is committed to making his studio very eco-friendly – and that’s great. He knows that trade-offs will have to be made. Unfortunately, the trade-offs he makes are not pulling his weight with family finances (he was supposed to bring in a certain amount of business with his writing, but slacked on that as he became consumed with his building project) and spending money that he and his wife had budgeted for other things (telling his wife after the decision had already been made). In my opinion, a green studio isn’t worth that price. (But…but…we discover at the end that he has found himself! And surely, self-discovery is worth failing to provide for your family, going back on your word, and being silently deceptive with your wife. Surely!)
  • He’s a chronological snob. He claims that heritage-style homes (made with old-timey features) are the ruination of the earth, stating that “Victorians had different priorities” and implying that historical building is by nature non-green. But he obviously never bothered to study the history of architecture or why homes have been built the way they were in the past. Yes, olden-days homes didn’t have styrofoam insulation or double-pane argon-filled glass – but they were built with local (often sustainable) materials, were designed to maximize heat retention in the winter and coolness in the summer, and were generally designed on a much smaller scale than we build today. (Yes, we see the big houses that remain – but even those were often not as big as we think, especially once we calculate how many people were living in each of those big houses.)
  • He calls those of us who prefer to minimize waste (and avoid the consumer race) “sanctimonious” – as in, “the more sanctimonious greens love to crow about the energy and emissions that go into manufacturing a new vehicle.” And after he’s spent an entire book looking down on his neighbors, his father-in-law (who gave his family the SUV mentioned in the prologue), and pretty much everyone as being not as green as he is – that feels like a slap in the face.

No. I don’t recommend this book. I think the author is a jerk.

Rating: 1 star
Category: Green building Memoir
Synopsis: The author describes the process of building a “green” studio in his yard.
Recommendation: I don’t recommend this. The author is a jerk.