Nutrition for Children

Once I moved away from home, I tried to make the healthiest choices possible, but dorm food just didn't provide a lot of healthy choices. Prior to having children, my husband and I worked a lot and consequently ate out a lot. That habit continued when we had our children. I liked the fact that I could spend more time with the kids and then still spend time chatting with them over dinner at a restaurant. However, when my youngest child was diagnosed with lead poisoning and we realized that a potential source was food and dinnerware, I gave up my job, learned how to cook (still not as good as mom), and we eat home cooked meals around 90% of the time.

 

 

Picky Eaters
After being raised in an environment where eating out was the norm, my children were not exactly receptive to the idea of me making dinner. Initially, and sometimes still, I was a short order cook making different items for each of us. My younger son absolutely refused to eat and begged for chicken nuggets daily. I tried to make them at home and he still refused to eat. With him, we did have to use behavior modification to help him get over the hump. If he ate just three bites of his dinner, he could play ten minutes on the computer. If he had some of his breakfast, we would praise him like he had just won a marathon. From his lead poisoning he had developed sensory issues and the texture of some foods literally made him gag. We did occupational therapy and didn't force him to eat those foods until he was over that reaction. In addition, because he had developed leaky gut and asthma, we were restricting certain grains and cow's milk from his diet. What a change! He really took to goat milk cheeses and that allowed me to still make some of his favorite foods, and finally after two or three months we were able to remove the rewards.

 

 

As his oral sensory issues resolved, I tried to introduce some vegetables and got the same stubborn behavior. I met a woman who shared with me her ingenious way of getting her son used to eat vegetables. She purchased all of her meats ground and then she ground vegetables and made hamburgers out of them. My son ate them right away and it helped desensitize him from some of the more robust flavored vegetables. Now he'll eat his serving of vegetables on the side, but don't get me wrong, he still sometimes complains. But never in a million years did I think I would hear him say green beans are so tasty Mom! Which is amazing, because all I'm doing is steaming them and putting a little olive oil on top.

 

 

It Takes So Much Time
This was my issue. My first obstacle was dedicating the time and reprioritizing my schedule to make the nutritious meals my family needed. The friend who gave me the advice of making meat and vegetable burgers was my saving grace. I would buy one pound of natural or organic ground lamb, beef, buffalo, turkey, chicken and grind up different organic vegetables and make them all on one day and freeze them. This allowed me to at first get a handle on cooking better for the children and also provided an easier way to facilitate a rotation diet which we had decided to implement to pinpoint food sensitivities. Today I can purchase organic chickens and vegetables and make more of a traditional meal - it's actually quite easy. There are so many different seasonings and flavors and great cookbooks that we've experimented quite a bit. My oldest son's favorite meal is fish tacos (see recipe) and rice. My younger son loves lemon grass beef.

 

 

It's important to take things at your own pace, and if you need to transition slowly from eating out a lot to eating in more, that's fine. Each time you eat at home is a step in the right direction. On nights you just do not feel like cooking, pick up a ready made meal from a health food store, it's often cheaper than eating out. Or ask them to recommend a healthy restaurant for you.

 

 

Organic Cost SO Much
This is what I thought when I first started buying organic. I was used to buying conventional items which seemed to be a fraction of the price. But then I realized the action of eating out less freed up money to be able to purchase organic food. When I looked at what I was spending at the end of the month, we were actually spending less.

 

 

For example, when we went through the kids eating hamburgers with vegetables phase, a pound of organic ground beef was $6.99 and organic broccoli to go with it $2.19. I would make four hamburger patties and place them on Ezekiel buns which were $2.29 for a package of 6. This made the cost per serving $2.68 each - on par with McDonalds and much cheaper than a sit down restaurant. Plus, the meals were organic. It is true though, if I made the same meal with conventional ingredients, the conventional meal would be cheaper, but the elimination of the pesticides and hormones were worth the extra money to us. We focused on eliminating our restaurant meals so that we could free up money for the quality organic foods we wanted to serve at home. Organic can seem more expensive if you are still transitioning from restaurant eating to home cooked meals because you're still spending money on both. But as you transition, you should see a decline in your overall food bill - we did.

 

 

Finding stores that sell organic foods for a lower cost is important as well. Trader Joe's has a lot of options as does Whole Foods, particularly their 365 branded products. We found a lot of our organic snack items online at Amazon.com for sometimes half the price of the store - with free shipping!

 

 

My children eventually got so into eating organic that we started a garden where we grow tomatoes, swiss chard, cucumbers, zucchini, etc. and that further reduces our food bill each month. They actually have organic lemonade stands now, where the lemonade is organic and so is the produce. Luke's Lemonade Stand

 

 

If you're traveling and still want to eat as organic as possible, visit organictravel.com for links to restaurants.

 

 

Better Health/Supporting Studies
All parents desire the best health for their children. Even when we ate out all of the time, I gave my children a multi-vitamin (although later I found out it wasn't a very good one because it contained a lot of synthetic ingredients and food coloring). Incorporating more organic foods into your diet provides your body with more nutrients than conventionally raised or grown foods. Several studies confirm this.

 

 

According to the British Food Commission the mineral content of meat and dairy products fell 70% during the period of 1930 to 2002. They cited intensive farming methods as the reason for the decline. A 2003 study from the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, demonstrated that organic fruits and vegetables had significantly higher levels of cancer-fighting antioxidants.

 

 

Several studies have also provided concerning data regarding pesticides and our children. A 2003 University of Washington study found that children eating organic fruits and vegetables had concentrations of pesticides that were six times lower than children who ate conventional produce. Emory University analyzed urine samples from children who ate primarily organic foods in 2006. Their urine samples contained virtually no metabolites of two common pesticides malathion and chlorpyrifos. When they then fed these children conventional food, the concentrations of these pesticide metabolites quickly climbed as high as 263 parts per billion.

 

 

Also organic foods will not contain food colorings, are not processed, and often do not contain all of the sweeteners of conventional foods. These are important factors in overall health.

 

 

When we speak of health, we are also speaking of mental health. The BBC reported in 2006 that the decrease in nutrients in our foods can cause mental health issues such as depression and memory problems. Dr. Andrew McCulloch, Chief Executive of the Mental Health Foundation shared that addressing mental health problems with changes in diet was showing better results in some cases than using drugs or counseling.

 

 

Crime Times, a quarterly publication that focuses on the links between brain dysfunction and disordered, criminal, and psychopathic behavior reported on a study in which fatty acids of fish oil and evening primrose oil were given to children with ADHD-related symptoms. The children given the fatty acids experienced a significant drop in ADHD symptoms while the placebo group remained virtually unchanged. In fact half of the children taking fatty acids improved so much that they no longer appeared to have ADHD. These results are comparable to what is seen with Ritalin. Crime Times also reported research that links shortages in essential fatty acids to depression, learning disabilities, AD(H)D, and aggression. Dr. Greene states that pesticides and chemicals in foods cause a variety of different health problems in children such as depression, ADHD, and leaning disabilities.

 

 

Making the Change
Switching to organic foods is definitely a change. It means shopping at different stores, eating out less, and making cooking a priority. However, making these changes will truly impact your children, particularly if your child has learning disabilities or mental health issues. You should see positive changes in their behavior, their health, and their grades.

 

 

When my child was evaluated by a psychologist at age three, we were told that he would need special schooling and to essentially lower our expectations. Discovering the truth about his lead poisoning, changing his diet, and using natural remedies changed his future. He is doing fantastic in first grade, gets wonderful grades, and has improved significantly in all areas. His behavior has changed for the better as well. We used to have a non-compliant child who had to have everything his way. We now have a child who understands that we care about him and are looking out for him. Dont get me wrong, he will still challenge us occasionally, but now it is age appropriate. Try it with your family and witness the results.