Tag Archives: helping kids eat healthy

Food is for Nutrition, Not Amusement

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Fruit kabobs

An in-the-car dialogue.

M1, 9 years old, said with urgency:  Mom–we need to go to the grocery store.

Mom, perplexed:  Why?

M1:  We don’t have anything to eat.

Mom, still a little confused:  Well, what do you want?  We have roasted chicken, left-over steak fajitas, pumpkin soup, applesauce, apples, bananas, oranges, grapefruits, vegetables–

M1:  —we only have one apple.  It’s bad.  We don’t have any snacks.

Mom:  We have almonds, raisins, and I can cut the bad spot out of that apple.

M1, finally a bit whiny:  But (hard pause)–we don’ have anything fun to eat during a movie.

Mom, finally a bit exasperated:  Food is for nutrition, M.C., not amusement.

Almonds, sunflower seeds, pecans, raisins, dried apples, apples, applesauce, bananas, oranges, grapefruit, vegetables, chicken, steak fajitas (no tortilla), honey, maple syrup…I am no Scrooge.  Check out my snack page.  We make these all periodically still in our house.  But enough is enough.  I am a doctor.  I am a compassionate human being.  And I care.

Food is for nutrition, not amusement.  You can do this for yourself and your children.  They deserve the proper approach to food to be taught to them.  Soda pop, juice, candy, candy bars, crackers, chips, fruit snacks, and other processed foods should be TREATS.  You start watching and counting when you see kids eating these things.  Better yet, have your kids start counting with you.  These foods aren’t treats anymore.  They are staples.  And YOU are a tool for the food and marketing industry.  YOUR KIDS are tools for the food and marketing industry.  Don’t let your kids be tools.  Don’t you be a tool.

And lastly, as you deal with food in your house, please, please, please focus on nutrition.  Do not let it become about “fat.”  If we eat whole, real foods, our bodies will conform to a natural size for us.  If we use food as nutrition, rather than a boredom filler, anxiety smoother, or daily amusement, we will be “healthy.”  Please.  Somebody cares.

Terri

“Milk and Cookie Disease”

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wpid-IMAG1990.jpgThe Mr. Homeschooling Doctor loves to find articles for me.

Today’s article was:  ‘Milk and Cookie Disease’: The new childhood health condition caused by diet.

It’s a nice, vague little article in which Julie Wei, MD, pediatric otolaryngology, suggests that too much dairy and sugar, particularly before bedtime contributes to chronic sore throats, runny noses, stuffy noses, constipation, and tiredness in the pediatric population.

Conversation tonight then centered in our home around how “us doctors are gettin’ there.”

S-o…

S-l-o-w-l-y…It’s embarrassing at how slowly, really.

We have two issues.  First, food intolerances to things like wheat and dairy are significant in the population, yet unrecognized.  Second, most children are eating way too many dairy, wheat, and sugar products at the expense of vegetables, fruits, and meats.

Our children are suffering (obesity, poor concentration, allergic rhinitis, constipation, reflux), and we adults, who are struggling too, continue to feed them food items they do not need, at the expense of their health.  Why?  Because it tastes good?  They beg for it?  It’s a part of childhood?  A kid almost has to have diabetes before we’ll consider it okay to not feed him a cracker, juice, soda, cookie, cupcake, or ice cream snack.

I’m asking you to stop.  Take the high road.  The road less traveled.  The hard road.  If you’ve read this, you’ve heard it from a doctor.  I’ll stand on doctor ground tonight.  After seeing the changes in our home, I’m that concerned and passionate about this topic.

Our kids need us to reign in their soda, snacking, and poor food habits.  Maybe it’ll get us to thinking about what we eat, too.  A very good thing.

“Wei (MD) recommended her patients eliminate all dairy and sugar before bedtime, and  their symptoms improved significantly…Five-year-old Jonathan Giambrone is one of these children. A heavy snorer since  he was a baby, his enlarged tonsils and adenoids made it difficult to sleep…he would pick foods that were easy to swallow, like yogurt, smoothies,  applesauce and cottage cheese. And every night he would drink chocolate milk  before going to sleep…

After learning about Wei, Giambrone cut down on  Jonathan’s nighttime snacking and allowed him to drink only water before  bedtime.  ‘In a three week period, we noticed a substantial difference,’  she said. Jonathan also had his tonsils and adenoids removed two weeks ago,  which Giambrone hopes will make even more of a difference.”

Why not try a dairy elimination for two weeks, not just nighttime elimination?  And how about trying to take out dairy BEFORE the surgery?  What if…

At the end, the article makes a stab at constipation, a problem we found to be directly cured by dairy elimination in our home.

It’s nice to see articles relating symptoms to food, but we still have a long way to go.  I understand that gluten and dairy are staples, but if we can’t tolerate them, there are PLENTY of other very nutritious food sources.  If we’re concerned about vitamin D, calcium, B vitamins, and fiber, let’s enlist the help of a nutritionist for patients.  Even if patients are tolerant, most of them could benefit by leaning a lot less on grains and dairy.

By the way, not that it matters, and it’s probably quite evident by my simple operation here, I do this on my own.  I have no sponsor.  I have no web programmer.  I don’t get money for any of this, from any source.

Food matters.  Like a drug, foods treat us each differently.  Take only what you need, and watch for side effects.

Terri

Read full Milk and Cookie Disease article:  http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/07/14/milk-and-cookie-disease-new-childhood-health-condition-caused-by-diet/#ixzz2Z4QoeRdi