Author Archive
The Oatmeal RX – Randi Ragan, Holistic Lifestyle Expert Shares DIY Treatments With Breathe Magazine
2012
The Oatmeal RX is the title of a feature story in the October issue of Breathe magazine by Colleen Oakley.
Here’s the story which features my client Randi Ragan, the founder/owner of GreenBliss EcoSpa and a Green Living and Holistic Lifestyle expert.
It isn’t just the perfect fall morning treat – oatmeal is the latest skincare ingredient to boost your beauty factor.
There’s nothing like a warm bowl of oatmeal on a chilly autumn morning to fill you up and keep you going all day long. But it’s not just for breakfast anymore-applied topically, it can be the perfect treat for your skin too.
“Oats have long been used for enhancing the quality of skin” says Randi Ragan, holistic lifestyle expert and owner of the GreenBliss EcoSpa in L.A. “They are chock-full of phytonutirents and antioxidants, which help keep you glowing and youthful.”
Oatmeal is also high in zinc, she says, which helps the healing process of the body and skin, so oatmeal is a great ingredient for treating acne, as well as itchy skin rashes like poison ivy.”
And ground up, the texture of oatmeal becomes a great exfoliator.
DO IT YOURSELF APPLE EXFOLIATING MASK
Skip the beauty counter and make your own oatmeal skin treatment with this recipe from Randi Ragan. This dual-action scrub rids the skin of dead cells and the apple juice tightens and tones. Honey has natural anti-micobial properties and works with the oatmeal to calm inflamed skin.
How to: Mash Oats, cornmeal and honey into a thick paste with fork. Combine with apple pieces in a food processor or blender until smooth. Apply in a circular motion on face and then let sit for 20 minutes. rinse with warm water.
2 tbsp. Rolled Oats
1 1/2 tsp. Cornmeal
1 tbsp. Honey (any sticky syrup will work)
1/2 Apple peeled and cut into chunks
Are gender-neutral toys much ado about nothing? Psychotherapist Dr. Fran Walfish Weighs In
2012
In a recent article by Pamela Stitt in TODAY’S MOMS, my client Fran Walfish, a Los Angeles-based clinical psychotherapist who specializes in children and families shared her views on gender-neutral toys.
Dr. Fran Walfish is the author of The Self-Aware Parent (Palgrave Macmillan).
Here is the full story.
If you missed Betsy Brown Braun’s appearance on MYFOXLA last May, or you don’t live in LA just click here and Betsy will provide you with tips on what do with your back talkin’ child.
Betsy is a child development specialist and the best selling author of award winning Just Tell Me What To Say & You’re Not The Boss Of Me,
A neighbor frequently asks for help with her elementary-age daughter: rides, baby-sitting, meals. But she never reciprocates. Do you say no, knowing the child is the one who will suffer?
My client, Dr. Fran Walfish says, “You should continue to be generous and help this defenseless child. Someone else might say that saying no is creating reasonable boundaries, but it all depends on your point of view.
“I treat many adults who were raised alone,” Walfish says. “They always talk of one special person who saved them psychologically. Perhaps it was a grandmother, uncle, schoolteacher, the parent of a classmate. As a neighbor to this limited mother and her elementary-age daughter, you have the privileged opportunity to be that special person and rescue this child from a world of isolation.”
You can read the full article here.
Dr. Walfish is the author of The Self-Aware Parent: Resolving Conflict and Buiilding a Better Bond with Your Child.
My client Betsy Brown Braun, development specialist and best selling author of award winning Just Tell Me What To Say & You’re Not The Boss Of Me, has just posted this amazing blog on raising kids by example. Check it out below.
YOU ARE WHO YOU ARE WHEN NO ONE IS LOOKING
The mother unwrapped the straw, poked it into the little box, and handed the drink to her toddler as they walked out of the grocery store. The sliver of straw paper slipped from the mother’s hand. I doubt that she even noticed it.
Rolling my grocery cart back to its stable, I looked around to see how many carts were randomly parked, willy-nilly throughout the lot, nowhere near the stable. Who leaves her cart to roll into the next parked car?
Since my greatest interest and life’s work centers on parents and kids, the world is my lab. I notice random acts, relationships, and interactions wherever I go. Observing, noticing, gathering data, storing information, wondering. That’s me. Today at the grocery store I couldn’t help but think about where and how children learn to do the right thing, to make the right choices. Of course, “right” means different things to different people, but I’m thinking of generally accepted right. The answer is kind of complicated, but not really.
To do the right thing, children have to do the wrong thing. Sounds crazy, but it’s true. Much of growing up is trial and error, testing limits and boundaries. Do it wrong, experience the consequence, then do it right the next time. At least you hope it works that way. That’s certainly one of the ways kids figure out what is the right thing to do.
However, even without actively teaching your children, they learn from you because they copy you. Think about the things that you automatically do because that’s the way you’ve always done it. There is the great old tale of the mother who is preparing her Thanksgiving turkey with her adult daughter. The daughter asks, “Mom, why do you always cut off the end of turkey before you put it in the roaster?” The mother who has no answer, knowing only that she cut it because her mother had always done so, calls her own mother. “Mom,” she asks, “Why do we always cut off the end of the turkey before putting it in the roaster?” The grandmother replies, “So it will fit in my roaster.”
Over and over I remind parents that your kids are watching you all the time. It’s about how you live your life every day. If you ALWAYS hang up the clothes you tried on before you leave the store dressing room, the habit will become your child’s too. If you ALWAYS put you trash in the wastebasket, your child will do the same. If grocery shopping ALWAYS ends by returning your cart to the stable, not doing so won’t be a choice. Behaviors, right and wrong, become automatic when they are habitual. And so it will be for your absorbent child. Doing the right thing has a good chance of becoming ingrained in him, whether or not you are there watching.
Next week starts the Jewish High Holidays, the time of reflection: What has been in the year that has passed, and what will be going forward? Whether you observe the Jewish holidays or not, the fall is a good time for everyone to reboot. Are you a person who does the right thing when no one is looking? If your answer is yes, then it’s likely you’re teaching your child to do the same.
Why are so many kids picky eaters? And what is a parent to do about it?
Dr. Natalie Muth, a pediatrician and author of Eat Your Vegetables! and Other Mistakes Parents Make: Redefining How to Raise Healthy Eaters.
KCBS news had Dr. Muth on their show to share her step-by-step plan to help kids embrace fruits, vegetables and other healthful foods without battles, bribes and coercion. These strategies, featured in her book, are tailored to a child’s age and development level, are based on scientifically proven research and are accompanied by real-life anecdotes and expert advice. Each chapter is followed by simple, kid-friendly recipes developed by Dr. Mary Saph Tanaka, a pediatric resident at UCLA and a talented amateur chef, which help parents turn the information contained within the chapters into action — starting with the next meal or snack.
HOW TO GET KIDS TO EAT HEALTHY – ASK DR. NATALIE DIGATE MUTH
It’s back to school and parents want to send their kids to school with healthy lunch choices. Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD, a community pediatrician and registered dietician widely recognized for her expertise in childhood obesity, nutrition and fitness was a recent guest on KABC news to talk about how to get kids to eat well — even the pickiest of eaters.
Dr. Muth’s book Eat Your Vegetables! and Other Mistakes Parents Make: Redefining How to Raise Healthy Eaters has lots of great strategies to get kids to eat right and wonderful recipes that can be applied to school lunches..
A spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Dr. Muth informs media outlets throughout the country on pertinent nutrition and fitness issues. She is a sought after pediatric expert by the media. She has appeared on ABC World News Now; is a regular guest on San Diego Living; KABC, KCBS and has been quoted in multiple print and online outlets including The New York Times, Health Magazine, Seattle Times, Denver Post, WebMD, and Slate.
My client, Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RD, a community pediatrician and registered dietician widely recognized for her expertise in childhood obesity, nutrition and fitness talk to Dr. Anne Abram on BlogTalk radio about how to prevent childhood obesity and how to help your child if he/she suffers from it already.
Dr. Muth’s book Eat Your Vegetables! and Other Mistakes Parents Make: Redefining How to Raise Healthy Eaters was released in April 2012.
A spokesperson for the American Council on Exercise (ACE), Dr. Muth informs media outlets throughout the country on pertinent nutrition and fitness issues. She is a sought after pediatric expert by the media. She has appeared on ABC World News Now; is a regular guest on San Diego Living; and has been quoted in multiple print and online outlets including The New York Times, Health Magazine, Seattle Times, Denver Post, WebMD, and Slate.
This Sunday, The New York Times Magazine will feature a story entitled “Red Crayon, Blue Crayon,” by Austin Considine, which poses questions about publishers who sell political literature to children in the form of coloring books.
My client, Fran Walfish, a Los Angeles-based clinical psychotherapist who specializes in children and families, says that “Political coloring books aren’t new, nor are they limited to one side of the ideological spectrum… In the 1990s,.. there were coloring books about changing families, addressing themes like gay parenting.”
For the full story click here.
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