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Tips for
parents:
(by Gosia)
- It is very likely that if you have been a raw foodist for a
while and
observed all the wonderful benefits of this lifestyle, you will want
your children to eat this way too. Naturally, we want what is the best
for our children! Since I introduced lots of fruit in my children's
diet, I observed that,
for example, my daughter does not get so constipated anymore and my
son's breath has improved significantly. When I look at the photos of
the chidren of some well-known long-term 100% raw foodists, I feel so
inspired. These children look so vibrant, so healthy, their skin glows,
and their smiles reflect the happiness of living the life abundant with
wonderful, fresh, juicy, tasty foods that are missing from the life of
"average", "normal" children. I am not surprised. Many who tried this
"unusual" lifestyle, have experienced a remarkable transformation from
lifeless and lethargic, to vibrant and full of energy.
I am absolutely convinced that the closer one's diet is to 100% raw,
the better. At the same time, I am totally positive that forcing one's
children to eat a certain way is not the way to go. Moreover, there is
no need for that. For example, I observed that by simply introducing a
range of delicious raw foods to my chidren's diet and allowing them to
choose what they love to eat, their eating patterns have gradually
changed. I observed both my chidren spontaneously choose fresh fruit
over cooked foods (such as soup or pizza, for example). Moreover, my
children started
demanding (this puts a big smile on my face) that we feed them raw
foods, and my son said to let him choose "what he wants to eat" (in the
raw-foods range). So, I suggest that you put your worries away and let
the process of transformation define itself. Below, I listed some
simple tips, suggestions and comments that you may find useful. All the
best in your raw journey!
- I like displaying ripe, sweet fruit in baskets around the
house. What you see is what you want to eat! When my children are
hungry, they often get tempted by delicious-looking fruit and reach for
it. In this way, a healthy habit forms. Often, when I anticipate my
children becoming a bit hungry, I aks them for example, "Would you like
me to cut some mango for you?". Who, when hungry, would say "no" to
such an offer? Or, I ask them what they would like and they contemplate
for a while, before choosing their favourite fruit of the moment, from
the array of fruit that's on offer. In general, my children simply love
fruit. I do too. We often make banana smoothies for breakfast. My
children used to have soya milk and cereal for breakfast, but it was
not hard to change that habit. Smoothies are far more delicious than
cereals, that's why. They are far more nutricious too!
- Fruit is my food preference number one, which forms the
base of my food pyramid. Greens come next. Many parents observe that
their small children instinctively choose fruit, their ideal (after
breast-milk, of course) food. My son, when he was a baby, simply loved
bananas. I used to mash them for him with a spoon. My daughter likes
avocadoes. Contrary to some old-fashioned false myths, fruit is not
only very nutricious and contains a sufficient amount of protein, but
also, surprise surprise, it has been found to offer protection against
bone-loss. Our sweet taste is developed even before we are born.
Nursing mums report that eating more sweet fruit helps in producing
more milk for their babies. My personal experience with fruit has been
that when I eat lots of fruit, I feel satisfied and well-hydrated. If
you are interested in learning more about the benefits of eating fruit,
I recommend that you visit this
discussion
board and this
website.
- It seems to me that chidren are natural mono-eaters and are
often quite happy to satisfy their hunger on only one type of food. I
recommend that you do not discourage that. It is easier to digest one
type of food. I remember that, when I was a little girl, I would quite
happily have only cabbage for my meal, or only apples, or only bananas,
or only strawberries. I used to play with a bunch of other kids on the
block, and we would often share our mono-meals. It was quite some fun!
- Children like playing with food. If you let them cut some
fruit or vegies, you will notice that some of that will go into their
mouths. My daughter always likes to help. She even demands that I let
her help. For example, when I make a fruit jelly, she arranges fruit on
the top. Getting your children involved in food preparation will
inspire them to eat. For fun, you can let them make some edible
decoration. For example, they could use a nut butter for the base,
broccoli flowers for the trees, cut up carrots for the fence, and so
on. Or, they could arrange fruit on a platter, for a family meal. Let
them be creative!
- It really helps when children are aware of the fact that
what they put in their mouths affects their health. You could talk to
your children about the beneftis of eating fresh fruit and vegies, or
the bad effects of eating processed, cooked and junk foods. You could
also explain to them that the adds that they might see on TV, or in a
supermarket, are made by someone who is selling their products. When we
watch a commercial TV, we mute the adds. I am happy to say that my
children are well aware of which foods are good for them and which are
not. And, although their diet is not 100% raw or vegan all the time,
their food choices improve as time goes by. There are certain foods,
such as commercial sweets, meat and dairy products, that we avoid
buying altogether. This is where we draw the line at this stage.
Whatever we do, we communicate our reasons to our children. I believe
that it is important. And fair.
- I recommend that you provide a range of delicious raw foods
and let your children make the choice. Besides the fruit in the
baskets, you can make smoothies, fruit jellies (fruit + psyllium
husks), fruit/vegie/nut dips served along with cut up fruit/vegies,
salads (use tender greens, as these are more palatable for the little
ones, for a dressing you can use lemon juice and tahini), cookies
(ground nuts and dried fruit, rolled), juices, puddings (for example,
blended bananas and berries, or, for a "chocolate" one, blend
avocadoes, dates and carob). Sometimes I make banana "pancakes" by
blending bananas with ground flax-seed, forming little rounds and
dehydrating them overnight, or until the crust forms on one side. The
possibilities are endless. Check out the websites listed under the
"Links" page for more suggestions.
- When we do our weekly shopping at a local market, we buy a
lot of fresh food, easily several times the amount that other, non-raw
customers buy. As an example, besides the vegies and frozen raspberries
and blueberries, last week we bought one box (13 kg) of bananas (less
than ususal, as we had some leftovers from the previous week), 32
mangos, one big bag (4-5 kgs) of white nectarines, one big bag of
yellow nectarines, one big bag of apricots, one big bag of grapes, 1
large watermelon, 4 rockmelons, 1 durian, 2 large punnets of
strawberries and about a dozen kiwi fruit. See, raw foodists do not
starve!
- Transition to raw foods is a gradual process, so be
patient. A trick that worked for me was to first introduce a raw
breakfast (and add more raw foods to lunch and dinner), and then
introduce raw lunches/dinners. Once your children get hooked on
delicious raw foods, it will be easy to satisfy them with a completely
raw meal.
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