When my oldest child was little, we decided on a local Pediatrician who "everybody" used. This doctor was quite busy because "everybody" used this office. Sometimes we saw the doctor, sometimes just a practitioner but always the result was the same. Any sign of illness, a hang nail or even an burp hung sideways always resulted in prescription for a big bottle of pink Amoxil, the bubble gum smelling liquid antibiotic.
I later traded in that Doctor because of the excessive flow of antibiotics. When I finally selected our next pediatrician, this doctor had a different philosophy. "Let's wait on antibiotics until it's the absolutely necessary. If you give a child antibiotics for everything, their body will never be able to fight the big stuff that might come along. We'll have them so immune to medicines that they won't respond." Made sense to me.
My first child (Mr. Antibiotics) was sick a lot with chronic illnesses like ear infections, sinus infections, etc. My second child (Mr. Rarely Saw Antibiotics) rarely suffered from those kinds of illnesses. Now I understand that some children are more prone than others to this kind of thing, but still the difference was remarkable. As a result we don't take antibiotics in our house now until we just simply MUST. And much to the surprise of most of my Dr. Antibiotic friends, we aren't sick very often.
Let's take this same thought to the meats we eat. It's common place for meat producers to give their animals antibiotics to try and keep animals healthy so that they keep their profit margins up. I mean, you really don't want to eat meat from a sick animal. BUT not all animals are sick. Antibiotics have come to be known as a preventative medication for these animals instead of a reactionary medication for these animals. Not good.
We are indeed what we eat. So when we eat antibiotic filled meats, we are bringing all these medications into our systems.
God is indeed a marvelous God. He made our bodies to function in ways that are so perfect that man simply doesn't understand it. He also gave some people beautiful medical minds that help us use their God given talents to assist and cure in treating injuries and illness. But sometimes we let medicine trick us into thinking we can prevent everything. Fact is we simply can't avoid all germs. In fact, God made our bodies to be able to handle some germs on a limited basis with the result being that we build up a huge ability to fight off the bad germs. Pretty cool huh?!
So what happens when we over "antibiotic" our bodies. Sadly, the result is that our bodies are less likely to be able to fight off simple illnesses. We use antibiotic soaps, antibiotic household cleaners, antibiotic gels to clean our hands, germ killing room sprays, antibiotic pills and liquids for germs and the result is that when the truly bad guy germs come close to our bodies, they can't fight!
Also, realize that there are indeed good germs: the kind that help us fight off the bad guys. Over use of antibiotics kills all the guys, not just the bad ones. So we are left with a body that has no good bacteria either.
The answer to this problem is 3 part.
1. Stop using antibiotics for EVERYTHING! Be selective.
2. Introduce your body to Probiotics (you can buy these capsules over the counter). These little jewels introduce good bacteria back into your body and help balance things out.
3. Be careful with your meat selections. Look at labeling to determine if a meat is raised without the assistance of antibiotics. Generally speaking vendors who do this are pretty darn proud of the fact and include it on their labeling in BIG LETTERS!
And finally, I received this info on selecting turkey from the latest edition of "Clean Eating" Magazine.
These are birdies that get to mowzie around outside if they choose to. The big issue here is that in some cases the birds are allowed to roam outside, but some never actually choose to do so. So if you are buying a turkey with "free range" listed on the label, you might want to make sure the farm actually pushes them outside for awhile. Otherwise the label is useless.
These birdies are fed grains free of antibiotics, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. And most are considered "free range".
These feathered friends are similar to organic in that they are fed antibiotic free grains and allow to roam around. The difference between Kosher and Organic is that they are processed under the supervision of Rabbis and soaked in a salt brine that helps the bird retain moisture during the cooking process.