For many of us, no matter where we live feeding our children is a daunting task between the darting and dashing from getting them to school, working at our jobs, picking them up and taking them to after school activities, homework, and then bath and bedtime (all at a reasonable hour!).
We as parents have an instinct to provide for our children and we do in so many ways. I believe the most important way is to feed them good nutritious foods! After all isn’t food the first thing mentioned when we say “food, clothing and shelter”? When you are hungry nothing else usually matters.
Children usually like to eat often (i.e. snacks) and providing good meals and snacks was always a chore for me. It seems when my children were growing up that all I did was prepare meals and snacks for them. Good food is not an option on weekends but must be provided everyday! Often I would see parents driving their children to sports and other activities with them driving through fast food restaurants and getting meals that come in a bag.
I have had the privilege to work with parents and children with special needs and nothing is more rewarding than creating overall health and watching the improvements happen. As a developmental pediatrician it seemed obvious to me that if a child is not eating healthy then they aren’t healthy and their performance in school and behavior were not going to allow that child to be reaching their potential. It is necessary that all children get the right nutrition to optimize their development and potential.
I have been writing for over 20 years on this subject and it continues to excite me. I have analyzed through sophisticated blood and urine tests how we as humans get healthy as I say ‘from the cell up’ . Firstly if your cells are healthy you are healthy. Think of a city using too much power and a brown out happens. There is still electricity running but not optimally and finally a black out! Then a halting of all energy. Our cells are the same. Our cells do get nutrients from junk food and can work but this is the brown out effect not so great!
I want to cut to the chase and tell you what I think good nutrition means to me:
#1 Buy healthy foods and cook! You can always make large quantities of things like healthy muffins, meatballs, breads and freeze them. I invested a long time ago in a deep freezer beside my refrigerator freezer to buy healthy meats (free range), cheeses, even frozen organic vegetables. Plan ahead and take frozen food out especially meats in the morning before you go off to work. Also invest in good pots – no aluminum it is toxic to the brain!!!!! Stainless steel, carbon steel woks, enamel pots, clear glass and corning ware and others are safe to use. ( I will do a separate blog on healthy kitchenware in the future). Teflon coated pots are a no no as well as microwaving food. Pans can be soaked overnight if necessary to clean easier. Look for my book “Healing Autism in the Kitchen” on Amazon.com.
#2 Learn what fats are healthy and what ones are not. Fats are the most important substance for the brain of a healthy developing child. If the water is taken out of our brains it will be comprised of 60% fats. There are fats called “essential fats” or essential fatty acids that we as humans must get from our diet and cannot manufacture ourselves. We can make some fats but these are used for energy and many other functions too numerous to mention. The “essential fats” help in crucial cell functions such as immunity and brain function. You literally can increase you smarts by eating good fats in foods and taking supplements with these precious types of fats. Fats provide saiety or that feeling of fullness so important in cutting down overeating and craving refined carbohydrates. Good fats slow down digestion, giving time for the for blood sugar to rise slowly so no getting all revved up and then crashing down. Essential fats cannot be heated so they should be added to already cooked foods. Hemp oil is one of natures healthiest oils in the correct ratio of types of essential fats ( omega 6 and omega 3) that humans need. These come in the form of oils and must be refrigerated. It is easy to disguise them in shakes, smoothies, drizzled on top of meats, and in salad dressings. They can be added to pasta sauces and soups provided they aren’t too hot but most children wouldn’t consume hot sauces or soups so that is not a problem.
#3 Protein is a must and I found many young children start with the habit of not eating meat or other forms of good protein. For many of my patients, the only source of protein they ate was one particular fast food chain’s chicken nuggets. Protein and fat should be included in every meal. At least 3 meals should be consumed and 2 snacks should be provided for growing bodies. There will be more in upcoming blogs with specifics about how to incorporate a healthy diet in resistant children.
To Eat Healthy
Annette Cartaxo, MD
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