Re: Re: What do your kids eat? Leann

[Guest guest]

Leann,

thanks so much for all of the info. It's very helpful. Would you mind sharing

your fruit crisp recipe?

Jafa

Jafa

& Leann Rolph <happygardeners@...> wrote:

Jafa,

I think this is a great topic and I really feel for you. I think if you are

able to start early, of course that works the best because then so much is

considered part of the rhythym and routine of the day, the week, the month,

the year, it just happens a little more easily. I don't know if your kids

have explosive emotions around all things or just dietary alterations, but I

can share some of my experiences as both a child and parent.

I remember as a child my mother had picked up information (probably from the

government food pyramid, right?) that said that we should be eating more

grains, less beef, that kind of thing. The grains weren't such a

difficulty, as she is Hispanic so we had always grown up eating rice, mostly

the white variety, but then she introduced brown rice. Normally I didn't

mind the brown rice, but she didn't have her water to grain ratios right, so

sometimes what we ate was awfully crunchy!

The elimination of beef was another matter altogether, and I remember as a

teenager when she was particularly avoiding beef the most that I had several

*fits* because my craving for the beef, especially the fat (she personally

hated the texture of meat fat so she always removed it, much to my dislike

because I had life long cravings for meat fats of all kinds!). Finally she

got it that I really *needed* this stuff, and the beef began making its way

back into the house. To this day I am grateful she actually listened to my

tantrums because I believe I was speaking for my body--at that time we were

a margarine consuming family, so truly the only vitamin-rich fats I was

getting were coming from beef, and to a lesser extent chicken.

I didn't get to see the original post about what your children have been

eating, but if they are clamoring for something specific it might be wise to

see what the nutritional need might be--for instance, if they are hungry for

potato chips are they craving potassium? vitamin/mineral rich fats?

something crunchy (which could be celery, a nice crisp fuji apple,

chicarones-fried pork rind, excuse my poor spelling). If they are crying to

get pizza at pizza hut, can you make pizza at home and have them help you,

maybe make your own cream cheese at home and do bagel-pizzas in the oven

after school? (In Brazil I found a wonderful soft cheese, much like creme

fraiche called catupiry, they used to put this on pizzas! The catupiry con

frango pizza has a tomato/pesto base on the crust, soft cheese/catupiry on

top, with chicken on top, so amazingly delicious!) If they are hungry for

pillsbury biscuits in a can or store bought baked goods, can you try some of

the NT recipes for biscuits, and serve with honey and butter, or sugar-free

jam? If they are hungry for sugar (and as addictive as that is, I bet they

will be), can you have them help you bake naturally sweetened things in your

house together? We made an awesome honey-sweetened wheat free fruit crisp

for Christmas, and our friends left the sugar-sweetened pies to eat what we

had because it was so good. I also remember as a teen being introduced to

British-style shortbread, while it was totally naughty white flour, it's

minimally sweetened and I actually liked that!

I think dietary shifts are hard enough in adults, for kids it is probably

way more intense, especially if they are older. Our local WPF chapter lady

had two kids at the time when she switched from vegetarianism to becoming

omnivores, and her older child has not been able to make that shift with

them very easily. I think she is required to take a spoonful of cod-liver

oil in the morning, but I think they realized they couldn't force her to eat

liver, and I believe the older child still does not eat all of the NT foods.

The younger child (younger than 4 when the shift started) has not been a

problem, but she hasn't had as long to get entrenched in the patterns of her

diet. However, she did tell me that the experiment with cultured milk

products failed in her family, especially with kefir--her family *hated*

kefir, and she realized the amount of sweeteners required to make it

palatable for her family turned an otherwise healthy beverage into something

that might also cause health problems. So realizing no one was drinking all

the beautiful kefir, she decided it didn't make sense for their family, and

stopped making it or trying to serve it.

Is it possible to make some agreements, such as Saturday is treat day--and

then make a coffee cake in the morning (I highly recommend _Alaska

Sourdough_ by Ruth Allman, but suggest adapting the recipes a la _Nourishing

Traditions_), or make ice cream at home, or something like that? I think

eventually the taste buds get sensitized to the taste of *real* food, but I

also think moderation might be very important. It also might make sense to

start with one thing at a time--ok the kids are relying on chips too much as

a staple, what can you supplement with? Can they eat chips one day a week

perhaps as you are making this shift? If the kids are eating sugar at every

meal and in between, can you provide easy access to fruit and have a " treat "

once a week?

I also think getting your kids involved in cooking with you, *doing* stuff

together might take some of the sting out of this, although I know with a 13

year old this can seem more like a torture than a fringe benefit. They

might be less excited about eating chicken hearts and helping you skewer

them for the barbecue, but what is the area they might be easily excited

about? Do you live someplace where you can get some chickens and maybe have

your oldest feed them on a daily basis, and both kids gather eggs? Can you

all go to a u-pick berry or fruit farm and then return home to make fruit

crisp or a pie? Can you cut up a pile of corn tortillas and fry them into

chips yourself and eat bean dip with them? (Maybe some day even make your

own tortillas, but even I don't like to go there as it is time consuming.)

Can you sneak some of this stuff into their meals? Like a little grated

cook liver in the spaggeti sauce? (I also like to purree a bunch of spinach

and add it to the spaggeti sauce too, no one ever seems to notice.) Or make

your own broths and stocks that you use to make sauces for other things or

cook rice in? Smoothies in the morning that have cod liver oil and cultured

milk products along with yummy fruit?

I think different parenting strategies will work for different kids,

especially at different ages. We started this while my daughter was (and

she still is) young so our struggles are not so great, mostly around sugar.

At this age I think it is totally appropriate for me to hold a very firm

parental line around this, and I listen to her feelings as I have time and

space for it. But I'm not sure that will be the best course of action with

your 13 year old! Personally, I don't think the reward thing is so bad, but

that's just me, I know we are all different.

For us with the sugar it was very simple--every time my daughter eats sugar

(especially with wheat or dairy, which are almost always the vehichles of

transmission) we end up taking her to the hospital for ear infections that I

cannot treat with our normal effective remedies. We don't have health

insurance, and I currently have $400 in medical bills that say I *need* to

be this firm with her about the sugar and wheat and dairy! She understands

that too. I don't know if your imperative is at that level, sometimes kids

understand these things too. And when I tell her that even I would like to

be able to eat sugar, wheat or dairy with impunity, I think it helps--and

she gets a kick out of watching me gag as I take cod liver oil, seeing that

she isn't the only one " suffering " . All the same, we have " treat day " once

a week, and she is allowed to have a naturally sweetened treat of some sort

(carob or 2 tablespoons of maple syrup on a wheat free waffle or something

like that), but only one, not an all day thing.

One thing that might be useful, especially with your older child--get a copy

of Weston Price's book _Nutrition and Physical Degeneration_ and have your

oldest simply look at the pictures and read the captions. The photos alone

might be effective...

Anyway, good luck, sorry this got so long!

Leann