**Baby series** The 5 S System (from ‘The Happiest Baby on the Block’)

I think one of the best thing we did a couple days after coming back home with our 1st new born was to watch that video “Happiest Baby on the Block” from Dr. Karp.
It is quite scary to go back home, left alone from all those nice nurses who know everything about babies, to find your baby crying, not knowing why and what to do about it… This 5S System showed us how to calm our baby in at least 90% of the times!!! Unbelievable! The principle is easy to remember and easy to apply, and we just loved it. So here is the summary:
The first 3 months, a baby is not quite yet “in the outside environment”, what I mean by this is that to calm and reassure him/her you need to re-create the “womb environment” –> this is where he/she felt good. To do so here are the 5 methods that you can do, either one or a few or all of them at the same time. Each baby is different and you will find that yours may like some of those better than others

1. Swaddling – I loved that one. In the womb your baby used to be all tight and feel the warmth of mommy. By swaddling him/her you can re-create that feeling. For a guide on how to safely swaddle your baby you can check this video https://youtu.be/LLqfRQdUP7k. We particularly liked to use the receiving blanket.
2. Side/Stomach position – Hold your baby on his/her side (on your arm, head resting on the ear in your hand.
3. Swinging – In mommy’s womb, baby was used to be rocked all the time, as mommy moves around. By gently swinging/rocking your baby with small movements you can recreate that motion feeling. For our baby this was an important one, I guess because I was moving so much
4. Shushing sound – Ha! This is another good one. We always think that babies need calm and quiet, but actually in the womb it is pretty loud due to the blood flowing through the arteries by the baby “nest”. You can recreate that feeling by making the “shhhhhhhh” sound, quietly by your baby’s ear.
5. Suck – last resort, to my mind, but definitely a great one for a lot of babies I hear (including mine). Either by sucking a finger or a pacifier. “Sucking has its effects deep within the nervous system,” notes Karp, “and triggers the calming reflex and releases natural chemicals within the brain.”

Here you go! The golden technique! Try it at home, you will see the miracles it can make

More information on the website: http://www.happiestbaby.com/the-five-s-way-to-calm-a-fussy-baby/

Fun ways to announce pregnancy

We were looking at how to announce this amazing news to our friends and family and here is an example of what we did…
1. First we announced it to our close friends and family members with a riddle, that we sent by mail. You can see below the document we sent (click on each picture to enhance it)


2. Later on (when the12 weeks uncertainty period was over) we made a funny picture, to share publicly with all our friends and family.
We did not have too much time to have it professionally done but the idea was just to announce it in a cute and fun way, so we did what we could on a sunny day

Please share your announcements as well – it makes it easier for the rest of us when we try to figure out what to do

PS: I forgot to say... the answer to the riddle was
1. 28
2. October
3. Family
4. Upgrade
5. 5.0 (because 5 family members including our doggy)

Last chance hint: "A bun in the oven"

Ingest (essential) Fats to help you lose fat

Intro note: a lot of explanations from this blog entry has been taken from my Life (health) mastery seminar I attended at the Mastery University from Antony Robbins. The below mostly comes from Dr Udo Erasmus, Phd – authority on Fats, oils, Nature and Human Nature. For more information: http://udoerasmus.com/

As wikipedia truly states: “Only two fatty acids are known to be essential for humans: alpha-linolenic acid (an omega-3 fatty acid) and linoleic acid (an omega-6 fatty acid)”. Studies have shown (1) that our body requires them both for good health, however we cannot synthesize them. This is the reason why it is essential to get them through daily intake.
Before taking you directly to the solution on how to get healthy fats, let’s have first a look at what are the different fats so you will be a better judge in the future of what comes to your mouth…

Unsaturated fats

“Unsaturated fats, which are liquid at room temperature, are considered beneficial fats because they can improve blood cholesterol levels, ease inflammation, stabilize heart rhythms, and play a number of other beneficial roles. Unsaturated fats are predominantly found in foods from plants, such as vegetable oils, nuts, and seeds.” (1)
Omega 3 and 6 are present in these types of fats. Most people don’t eat enough healthful unsaturated fats. The American Heart Association shows evidence that eating up to 15 percent of daily calories of polyunsaturated fat—in place of saturated fat -- can lower heart disease risk.
They are also essential food for the brain. Recent studies have found far more good linked to those fats: decreased risks of Alzheimer or Parkinson diseases, decreased rates of depression, and of course good embryonic development (brain activity). They have also been linked to healthy skin and are an essential element to detox.
Great food sources of omega 3 and 6 include:

• Fish
• Oils: Flaxseed, canola, sunflower
• Seeds: Flaxseed, sesame, sunflower, pumpkin
• Nuts: almond, walnut
• Avocadoes

Saturated fats

“Saturated fats are mainly found in animal products. Although all foods containing fat have a mix of specific types of fats. Even healthy foods like chicken and nuts have small amounts of saturated fat, though much less than the amounts found in beef, cheese, and ice cream. “ (1)
A vast amount of studies recommend to limit the amount of saturated fats in the diet and to replace those with unsaturated fats to increase the ratio good/bad cholesterol – and thus decrease the risk of heart diseases.
Those fats are commonly present in: dairy products, meat products, pizza, cookies,…

Trans fats

The worse types of fats and the ones you definitely want to keep out of your mouth. Trans fatty acids are produced by high temperatures and hydrogenation that turns oils into margarines, shortenings, shortening oils and partially hydrogenated oils. A slight molecule change, but a drastic change of its properties, its performance in our body and its effect on our health. To pass on the chemical demonstration, the thing to retain is that our body’s capacity to break down acids is limited. When our intake exceeds our maximum, disease begins to manifest, because our body attempts to use altered molecules for vital structures and functions.

In a Nutshell….
Bad LDL cholesterol can be reversed by drastically decreasing these last 2 types of fats, and by increasing the intake of good (HDL) cholesterol (= Unsaturated Fats).

If you need to remember something:

• Ingest daily Essential fats/oils (= unsaturated fats) to cover your intake of omega 3 and omega 6. The recommended dose is 1 tablespoon/50 lbs (25 kg) of body weight / day.
• Oils are very sensitive: Light, Air, Heat –> buy them in a dark glass bottle (the reason for glass is that plastic can leach into oil faster than water, and plastic does not belong in the body), refrigerate them and consume them fast.
• Organic is the way to go! Regular oils are washed to remove pesticides then cooked to allow to be stored. This process actually damages considerably the oil and is harmful to our body.
• Oils are damaged (and become hurtful to our body) with high temperature – don’t cook them! Remember: Oils are vindictive: “If you fry them, they will fry you!”
• The ratio Omega 3 / Omega 6 is 2:1 – since it can be hard to measure, some oils already provide you with the needed ratio from different seeds. At home we are big fans of the “Udos’s oil – Omega 3-6-9”, since the process to manufacture them takes into account all the points mentioned above. You can find it in the refrigerate section of your health store, or, now that we moved abroad, on online stores…
• Tropical Fats, which include coconut, cocoa, shea nut,... used in their natural state are also very good to add to your diet as they are very high in vitamin E, tocotrienols, carotene and other nut-specific unique ingredients –>  try them at home!

Remember: “Its not FATS that make you FAT” – Udo Erasmus

My personal testimony: Since we started taking our daily “oil shots” (to make this fun we drink it in a shot glass), I honestly saw a big improvement on my skin: a lot less dry, looks hydrated and less  (to none) breakout – after all this money I spent all these years on expensive face creams, the thing that works the best is my oil shot!

(1) http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/types-of-fat/