Fighting the Flu

Here are some great ways to fight the flu this winter.
1) Wash you hands
2) Take 1000 - 2000 mg of vitamin C a day during the winter. Foods high in viamin C include:

•  Fruits: lemons, limes, oranges, guava, kiwi, canteloupe, grapefruit, strawberries
• Vegetables, red, yellow, & green peppers, brussel sprouts

3) Zinc. Foods high in zinc include:

• Oysters
• Wheat germ
• Pumpkin seeds
• Watermelon seeds
• Dark chocolate

4) Wash you hands!
5) Garlic. Garlic is a potent anitviral and antibacterial agent. Great for fighting colds and the flu.
6) Get adequate rest. The body does it's best work fighting the flu while you are resting.
7) Drink plenty of fluids: Drinking ample water and fluids helps the body to process toxins. Healthy fluids include, coconut water, mangosteen, noni, goji, aloe vera, and acai berry juices.
8) Did I mention: Wash you hands
9) Elderberry extract.  This is one the best kept secrects. It's like taking tamiflu when you feel sick. Does wonders!
9) Get the flu shot.

Birth Film

Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin & The Farm Midwives

January 16-24, 2013

At IFC Center: 323 6th ave (at W 3rd St) NYC

Don't miss this inspiring film about midwife Ina May Gaskin! Q&As with Ina May, filmmakers and birth professionals at select screenings!

Dates: January 16-24, 2013

Time: See ifccenter.com for showtimes and online ticket sales.

Q&A with Ina May Gaskin after select screenings Jan 16 & 17. Filmmaker Q&As Jan 16, 17, 18. Choices in Childbirth Q&A on Jan 18, 19.

Location: IFC Center, 323 6th Ave, at West 3rd Street, NYC

Ticket Information: Purchase at the box office or online. Details coming soon at: http://www.ifccenter.com/films/birth-story-ina-may-gaskin-the-farm-midwives/

View the trailer at: http://birthstorymovie.com/home/

"BIRTH STORY is a celebratory tribute to the endangered art of midwifery and its most influential practitioner, Ina May Gaskin. A disarming example of documentary filmmaking that stakes out an opinion with plain-spoken, commonsensical wisdom, this insightful effort from helmers Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore doubles as a defense of natural childbirth." (Variety, 2012)

BIRTH STORY: INA MAY GASKIN AND THE FARM MIDWIVES tells the story of counterculture heroine Ina May Gaskin and her spirited friends, who began delivering each otherʼs babies in 1970, on a caravan of hippie school buses, headed to a patch of rural Tennessee land. With Ina May as their leader, the women taught themselves midwifery from the ground up, and became an integral part of a new, entirely communal, agricultural society called The Farm. The people of the Farm grew their own food, built their own houses, published their own books, and, as word of their social experiment spread, created a model of care for women and babies that changed a generationʼs approach to childbirth. Forty years ago Ina May led the charge away from isolated hospital birthing rooms, where husbands were not allowed and mandatory forceps deliveries were the norm. Today, as nearly one third of all US babies are born via C-section, she fights to preserve her community's hardwon knowledge. With incredible access to the midwivesʼ archival video collection, the film not only captures the unique sisterhood at The Farm Clinic--from its heyday into the present--but shows childbirth the way most people have never seen it--unadorned, unabashed, and awe-inspiring.

BIRTH STORY had its festival premiere at the LA Film Festival and was winner of the Audience Award.

Sister: A Film About Midwives in Ethipia, Camboida and Haiti

Sat, Jan. 19 @ 6PM – The Chapel, Teachers College, New York City
The story of health workers in Ethiopia, Cambodia and Haiti, Sister offers a revealing portrait of people whose daily work is to help women give birth in an atmosphere of low prenatal care and high maternal and child mortality. The filmmaker follows a Haitian midwife, a former freedom fighter in Ethiopia and a rural midwife who performs miracles in a heavily land-mined area in Cambodia. This inspiring film provides a strong lesson in hope and determination.
Directed by Brenda Davis, 2011, 94 min, USA, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Haiti, Documentary, Tigrinya, Khmer, Haitian Kreyol with English subtitles. Q&A after the screening.
Tickets: $12/$10