Home Visiting graduates:
Brittany Patrick and her
son, Axsel
Babies!
Congratulations to Brittany Patrick
for graduating from the Home Visiting
program!
Brittany entered the program right
before her son, Axsel, was born and par-
ticipated until he turned 3 this March. She
actively engaged in the program, sharing
her thoughts, ideas and asking questions.
As a parent, Brittany grew in her
knowledge, skills and confidence over
the years.
She had this to say about the program.
“A million times over I’d recommend it
to everyone. It makes all the difference. I
don’t know what I’d have done without it.
All the lessons keep me at ease knowing
my son’s development is good. It provides
stress relief in knowing I’m doing good.
It reassures me.”
Congratulations, Brittany!
Micco Alexander Lee Gilbert
Born April 4, 2019
Since the day you were born, your
heartbeat took lead on my soul’s drum.
Congratulations, Head Start graduates! Nutrition is the foundation of health
By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RDN, LD,
Siletz Tribal Head Start Nutritionist
Another Head Start class graduates
soon. Congratulations! May the healthy
behaviors learned bring health and nour-
ishment for the entire graduating class,
their families and the entire community.
As part of my role as consultant
nutritionist to Siletz Tribal Head Start, I
offer information for families and remind
readers that I am available to support Head
Start families by discussing nutrition-
related concerns via telephone at no
charge through the program.
This year’s topics included the fol-
lowing titles (October to April): “Head
Start Nutrition,” “Squash Breakfast Ideas
without Grains,” “Healthy Winter Holiday
Strategies,” “ACE Impacts Digestion &
Health,” “Food Additives & Children’s
Behavior/Health,” “But I Don’t Like to
Drink Water,” and “Why Check My Child’s
Hemoglobin?”
Each article contained common mes-
sages. Nutrition is a community concern.
Everything that is important in Head Start
is also important to the community.
Nutrition is the foundation of health.
Health requires access to wholesome,
safe, clean foods. Traditional food prac-
tices generally demonstrate a path to
optimal nutrition.
In our current environmental and
economic challenges, the concepts are
stretched to include nutritional equiva-
lents that can be purchased at stores and
prepared within a busy schedule. Key
points are highlighted in the paragraphs
below. Full articles are archived on the
Tribal website.
Head Start has specific nutrition
requirements and performance standards.
These include identification of nutritional
needs, nutritional services, meal services,
family assistance with nutrition, and food
safety and sanitation. Simply put, Head
Start focuses on the needs of the children
and helps connect needs with services.
Head Start provides nutritious food
choices through snacks and family-style
meals supported with nutrition cur-
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Siletz News
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May 2019
riculum. Students are coached to explore
foods by tasting and describing them,
growing them, learning about why some
are nutritious and how they may fit as
traditional foods or their nutritional
equivalents. Food safety and sanitation is
followed, monitored and taught.
A modern look at traditional foods
helps people who struggle with illness,
including diabetes, celiac, rheumatoid
arthritis, multiple sclerosis, lupus, Hashi-
moto’s thyroiditis and more. The nutri-
tional concept is to avoid (or limit) grains,
starches and sugar. Squash is a traditional
food and can be prepared in convenient
delicious ways to support health. It can
even be eaten for breakfast.
During the winter months, we set
the stage to continue healthy habits with
reminders as we are faced with tempta-
tions in the name of celebration. It is
important to reflect, anticipate, be con-
scious and learn while truly celebrating
with gratitude. What is truly important?
What examples do you want to set for
your children?
Make a plan in advance. Be mindful
and form better habits through aware-
ness. Remember what and why you are
celebrating. Gratitude goes a long way to
improve how we are nourished by our food
to support our health.
Adverse childhood events (ACEs) are
correlated with negative, lasting effects on
health and well-being. ACEs are poten-
tially traumatic events that range from
physical, emotional or sexual abuse to
parental divorce or the incarceration of a
parent or guardian.
Possibly the most under-exposed risk
factor on health across a lifetime for all
major chronic health conditions in the
world today is the effect of unresolved
emotional trauma from childhood.
Trauma isn’t always a direct experi-
ence with memory. Trauma can be a col-
lective experience, inherited or passed
down through families and groups. Col-
lective or intergenerational trauma is at
work in the Native population and adds a
burden to health.
Healing emotional trauma is one of
the most important aspects to address in
all chronic complex illnesses. Unresolved
emotional trauma leads to pain and is
at the core of addictive and destructive
health patterns.
Unresolved trauma leads to a state of
chronic stress and inflammation, which
perpetuates illnesses and leads to beliefs
that sabotage our ability to recover. Stress
and trauma interfere with digestion, even
when nutritious vital food is consumed.
Everything is connected – nothing in our
body stands apart.
Digestion is at the core of health, yet
more than what we eat influences our
digestion. When we learn about and sup-
port children’s needs, we help Head Start
children and their families. Likewise, if
we didn’t get the support we needed as
children and we address it now, we also
help children, their families and a much
greater world.
We are all connected. Let’s support
each other to be well.
Our diet impacts our health beyond
how much we weigh. It also impacts how
we feel and what our moods are each day.
When we change a child’s diet, behavior
changes.
Did you know that more than 10,000
chemicals are allowed in foods, but are not
all tested for food safety? These chemicals
play a role in health and behavior.
Tips for chemical avoidance are pro-
vided below:
1. Consume fresh or frozen fruits and
vegetables when possible.
2. Avoid processed meats, especially
mater nal c onsumption dur ing
pregnancy.
3. Avoid microwaving food or beverages
in plastic (including infant formula
and pumped human milk).
4. Avoid washing plastics in the
dishwasher.
5. Use alternatives to plastic, such as
glass or stainless steel.
6. Look at the recycling code on the
bottom of products to avoid plastics
with recycling codes 3 (phthalates),
6 (styrene), and 7 (possible bisphe-
nols) unless plastics are labeled as
“biobased” or “greenware,” indicat-
ing they are made from corn and do
not contain bisphenols. This step
helps determine the plastic category
in order to avoid chemicals that can
migrate into your foods (indirectly).
7. Wash hands before handling foods
and/or drinks, and wash all fruits and
vegetables that cannot be peeled.
Water is essential to health. Adequate
hydration can improve mood, memory and
brain performance. Water can help flush
nasty toxins out of your body so you have
more energy, a stronger immune system
and better breath, and it can even help
you achieve healthy weight. Attention
is needed to be certain that your water
quality is pure.
Try to drink a glass of water upon ris-
ing each day. If you or your children drink
flavored, sweetened beverages, a practical
tip is to begin to dilute the beverages.
Have your eye on the goal of drinking
pure water.
Unfortunately, part of Tribal trauma
includes toxic exposures from unwanted
pollution. Thank you to the brave Native
voices who are speaking out on environ-
mental concerns for the good of all people!
Hemoglobin is a measurement that
Head Start offers to monitor health and
identify when additional support or help
may be needed. Hemoglobin carries oxy-
gen around in the body. Without enough
oxygen transport, the body does not func-
tion well.
There are many reasons why low
hemoglobin may occur. Some reasons
can be addressed with diet; other reasons
may need medical attention. It is simple to
get the test. Yet if it is low, it may require
exploration to determine the cause and
best treatment.
Please remember, lead exposure can
cause low hemoglobin. Therefore, it may
be a good idea to say yes to the test for
lead as well.
As the Head Start consultant nutri-
tionist, I enjoy supporting families by
providing articles and discussing nutri-
tion-related concerns. Congratulations
to another class of Head Start graduates!