Written By: Kalea Christman
Pull up a chair and settle in for a cup of tea. I personally just had popcorn sprinkled with nutritional yeast and if you were sitting with me having this chat I would share it with you. That is, if I hadn't just eaten the entire honkin' huge bowl. Today I have the privilege of telling you about one of our Products, the “Focus Herbal Mix” which also happens to be the mix for May in our, “Herb of the Month Club”. The people that will most be interested in this particular mix are people who either have these challenges themselves or have children who:
“I have always had a hard time sitting still though school church or at home. I blundered my way through grade, middle and high school. I went to college and able to be more focused there because I wanted to be there. I found out my IQ accidentally and was shocked at how high it was because I always thought of myself as not very bright because I had such a hard time focusing in a school room setting. Time goes on and we have children. I took care of them, sleeping at night because of sheer exhaustion, but still having a hard time sitting still during church, and easily distracted having a zillion things happening at once. One of my friends went to a conference in SLC about children with ADD because they were having such a hard time with their son and trying to find some answers. She called me and said, 'I figured out how come you have so much energy and get so much done, you make everyone around you tired because you never stop moving.' I had no idea she thought I did that, she went on to walk me through this list of 15 items of behaviors. I had all of them. Over the years I had learned how to manage a lot of the behaviors. Some are still a challenge - that is why I set a buzzer to get me back on task every 10 minutes as I clean our house! The positive side of things is that I am able to accomplish a lot, my mind is always creating and figuring things out as well as other behaviors. If I had been born 30 years later I would have been a primary Ritalin candidate. I'm so grateful I have never used chemical meds to take care of these issues. Because I haven't I have learned how to manage instead of mask them and good things in my life have happened because of learning skills and making them work to my benefit.” My mom also wondered if I had this issue because I displayed so many of the same behaviors but she refused to have me tested because she didn't want to give me a label. I'm very grateful for that. I finally figured out that I had it when I was an adult when I was doing research about it for my own kids. Personally, medication has never been an option for myself or for my children. Medication can be a blessing in certain circumstances but it is something that I have tried to avoid. I recently came across this article which is great and had so many good references that I had to share them here as well: “No one explains where this disease came from, why it didn’t exist 50 years ago. No one is able to diagnose it with objective tests. It is diagnosed by a complaining teacher or a complaining parent. People are referring to the fact that they don’t like misbehaving children, mainly boys, in the schools. The diagnosis helps tranquilize the parent, tranquilize the school system. It offers them the sense that they are doing something about the problem; that they are dealing with it in a rational, scientific way. It’s a kind of pharmacological magic.” [Thomas Szasz, Former President of the American Psychological Association and Professor at New York University; From and interview in Reason, July 2000, p. 32] “If a parent forced a child to take alcohol, a depressant, in the mistaken belief that he was curing a “chemical imbalance” in the child’s brain, we would not hesitate to have the child removed from the home. Yet millions of children are forced to take mind-altering drugs in the equally mistaken belief that depression and other mental illnesses are biologically caused, for which there is not a shred of scientific evidence.” Keith Hoeller, editor in chief, Review of Existential Psychology and Psychiatry, 1997. “There is either a strange plague of hyperactivity in the U.S., or we’ve got a lot of folks prescribing Ritalin as a psycho-pharmacological nanny.” Arthur Caplan, director, Center for Bioethics, U of Pennsylvania. To me, those are some powerful quotes from powerful people. I am not here to tell you whether or not you should put yourself or your child on medication or judge you if you do or don't. I'm just here to show you another side of the issue and offer some alternatives. Through some trial and error, my sisters and I (who also exhibit and have children with similar behaviors) have come across some ways that have really benefited our family and are excited to see them benefit yours as well. One of them is the Focus Herbal Mix. I will go over each ingredient one by one to introduce you to this wonderful little tool. LEMON BALM – Calming, reduces restlessness, enhances concentration, improves sleep, lessens impulsiveness. OATSRAW – Nervous system tonic, rich in vitamins and minerals, boosts circulation, anti-inflammatory. ST. JOHN'S WORT – Helps to lift spirits, relieves irritability, Settles nervousness and anxiety, increases focus. PASSIONFLOWER – Settles excitability and nervous behavior, helps insomnia, relieves muscle spasms. CHAMOMILE – Reduces anxiety, soothes nervous stomach, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-irritant. RHODIOLA – Improves alertness, vigorous adaptogen, provides energy w/o jitters, improves concentration. OREGON GRAPE – Anti-microbial, liver builder, stomach soother, promotes healthy digestion. VALERIAN ROOT – Calming, relaxes nerves, beautifully helps insomnia, sedative. GOTU KOLA – Improves memory and concentration, combats mental and physical fatigue. BACOPA (BRAHMI) – Wonderful Ayurvedic herb. Excellent adaptogen, reduces depression and anxiety, improves memory, sharpen brain communication, regulates brain chemicals, brain tonic, helps long and short-term memory, slows aging. DANDELION LEAVES – Loaded with vitamin and minerals, Liver builder, balances blood sugar,anti-inflammatory ROSEMARY – Excellent herb for brain, increases memory, sharpens focus and concentration. ELEUTHERO – Powerful adaptogen, fights fatigue, regulates blood sugar, stress reliever, protects brain cells, GINGKO BILOBA – reduces irritability, boosts attention, enhances memory, (MAY NOT be taken with blood thinning medications) I feel calmer already just thinking about those herbs. Many of them have such a wonderfully soothing energy just to be around them. Each of them alone are incredible at calming, soothing, settling and relieving stress, but put all of them together and BAM. Focus mix. We personally like to make it into a glycerite for ourselves and our kids but it can also be made into a syrup, tea, or tincture. Along with taking the Focus Herbal mix, we recommend that you also try one or more of these Fun Challenges:
So give the Focus mix (and these other suggestions!) a try and let us know how it goes for you. We pray for your success and your health (We really do!). Much love, The Mama's
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