Many children literally are burned out. Their bodies are nutritionally deprived and filled with chemicals from convenience foods. As a result, their bodies are not functioning well. Children do not need more drugs; they need to consume better quality food and get more rest.
In spite of what doctors and the FDA tell us, sugar in all forms damages children’s health. Sugar simply provides empty calories that actually deplete the body of vitamins and minerals. Sugars also upset calcium metabolism and the insulin mechanism, which can cause hypoglycemia and diabetes. Few would feed to their dog what many allow their children to eat.
Children are exposed to huge amounts of toxic additives like aspartame (found in Equal and NutraSweet). Others include caffeine in soft drinks, MSG in soup mixes and nitrites used to preserve packaged meats. These can have horrendous side effects in many children. The bleached white flour and hydrogenated vegetable oils found in hundreds of prepared foods also are harmful.
Other nutrition-related problems include ADHD, learning disorders, delayed development, depression and many cases of autism. For this article, I was honored to receive input from a mother of three, my dear friend Megan Lorimer.
What can parents do?
Most parents want to feed their children correctly, but are not well-informed or are so busy and tired themselves that nutrition may fall by the wayside. Yet parents are the key to a child’s nutrition. Parents can begin looking after their child’s nutritional needs by subscribing to a good natural health magazine or online natural health newsletter.
Plan Family Meals
Next, make eating and the family meal an important and pleasant event. Food is your connection with the Earth, with nature, with each other — and it is the basis for good health. Plan your family’s life around family meals, not the other way around. Family meals are much appreciated by children. Make meals relaxing and enjoyable. Start by saying grace to set the mood. Studies prove this simple act can enhance the quality of the food. Light a candle or use special napkins or plates to make meals special.
Have the family sit together at the table, and maintain a happy, peaceful mood. Following the meal’s blessing, my friend Megan has each child, in turn, say the best thing that happened to them during the day. Definitely turn off the TV and radio during meals.
Excellent nutrition is required for the full development of a human being. Move away from the “pit stop” mentality — that eating is like filling the car with gasoline. Eating in a hurry or in a car wastes most of your food, as it is not well-digested.
Commit to preparing simple meals at home. Consider taking cooking classes if necessary, perhaps even with your child. Use a crock pot to create an easy, tasty meal. Place whole vegetables, chicken or other food in the pot with a little water and set it for eight hours. Food will not burn, and will be hot at dinnertime. Microwave ovens are not recommended for frequent use; however, using one on a limited basis is better than not cooking at all.
Discuss meal planning with your children and give them healthy choices. Children like to participate in such decisions. Pre-planning the week’s menus can save time and money. Also involve the children in preparing meals. Many children love having their own chefs’ hats and apron, and love to imagine they are running a restaurant.
Find creative ways to entice children with healthy food. Make up child-friendly names for healthy concoctions, like “Danny’s Delight.” Stir-fried ground turkey and shredded vegetables, topped with chili sauce on a whole wheat bun, makes “Slippery Joes,” a child’s favorite.
If your children like nut butter, mix some with water to make a dressing and cover vegetables with it, or cover them with spaghetti sauce, if this is more appealing. Make objectionable-tasting vegetables into vegetable soup to disguise the flavor. Experiment with new vegetables.
Shopping
Read labels as much as possible. The fewer ingredients, the better. A good general rule is, if you cannot pronounce an ingredient or don’t know what it is, don’t eat it. Buy organically-grown meat, dairy and produce, as much as possible. These contain fewer toxic pesticides, growth hormones and other harmful chemicals.
Avoid the big four: sugar, refined flour, hydrogenated oils and chemical additives.
Especially avoid aspartame, (NutraSweet or Equal). Xylitol, sorbitol, stevia and Splenda are less harmful. Overall, though, the less sweetener, the better. Look for hidden sugars under names like dextrose, sucrose, maltose, corn syrup, invert sugar, fruit juices, barley malt, rice syrup, maple syrup and honey. If these are among the first three ingredients, the food is mostly sugar.
Shop at health food markets to find better quality food. Trader Joe’s is less expensive for many items. Shop the outside isles of the supermarket.
Keep basic foods stocked at all times, such as Foster Farms or other natural chicken and turkey, natural hamburger or lamb, vegetables, and berries or other juicy fruits. Dried fruit and juices contain too much sugar. If you must use fruit juices, dilute them with a lot with water.
If you cannot buy all fresh food, frozen meals are still better than most restaurant food, especially quality frozen meals. Avoid most canned food. Canned tuna is very high in mercury. However, canned salmon and, especially, sardines are fine.
Avoid buying candy, cookies, donuts, ice cream and other sugary snacks as much as possible. Keep only quality snacks around the house, such as carrots, celery, goat cheese and blue corn tortilla chips. Put out fresh carrots and celery with dip after school and watch them disappear.
Teaching Children about Nutrition
Set a good example for your children. It will benefit them, and help your health as well. Explain to your children why nutrition matters. Share books, articles or videos with them. Discuss with them reasons to eat healthy food so they can make good food choices. Refer to healthy food as “muscle food” and the rest as junk food. Teach children to finish muscle food first.
Avoid letting your children eat whatever they wish simply because you feel guilty about working all day or saying no to them. Do not reward children with sweets or other junk food. This equates eating junk food with being happy or behaving, which will cause problems later in life.
Limit television viewing, as it exposes your children to hundreds of junk food commercials that mislead them. Be your children’s nutrition guardian, not another friend who tempts them or tries to win them over with junk food.
Friends, School and Parties
Controlling your children’s eating when they are with friends is difficult. It’s normal for children not to want to feel different or strange because they cannot eat certain foods. The best approach is to teach your children to make good food decisions. Ask your children to pay attention to how they feel immediately after eating junk food and a few hours later. This can help them see the direct connection between food and health.
Use any motivators that work to help your child eat better. Your child may want to have clearer skin, grow taller or be strong and excel at sports. Some children may want to get sick less often, have more energy or get better grades in school. Quality food can help all of these.
Your children should influence their friends when it comes to nutrition, not the other way around. If you notice your child comes home with junk food after spending time with certain friends, talk briefly to both children about why these foods are not healthful. They may taste good in the mouth, but the stomach does not like them at all, as they contain harmful chemicals and lack nutrition.
Seek out other parents who share your feelings about healthy eating and exchange ideas, recipes, books and experiences.
School Lunches
Pack healthy school lunches. Make sandwiches with lettuce, tomato and whole-grain bread. Preferably avoid wheat or spelt bread. Some stores sell an excellent rice and millet bread. A thermos of vegetable beef soup is also excellent. Avoid Lunchables and most prepackaged convenience foods. Many may look like food, but they lack any nutritional value.
Beware of trail mix and granola bars that are mostly sugar. Include a bag of carrots and celery. Blue corn tortilla chips are also excellent. Send along an extra bag, if you know your child trades lunch with the other children.
Avoid high-sugar drinks, especially soda pop. Others to avoid are Gatorade and sugary juices. Milk is not a great food for many children. However, it is far superior to soda pop. Goat milk is better. Pack a small bottle of spring water or 100-percent juice. All juice, however, is too sweet for most children, so limit the juices. Herbal teas or water with lemon are also excellent drinks.
Speak up to school authorities that you object to the sale of junk food in schools, and to parents bringing junk food treats into the classrooms for parties. Progressive school districts in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and elsewhere have banned junk food from their cafeterias with delightful results. Recently, an Appleton, Wisc., high school decided to replace all junk food with healthier choices. Following this change, the principal’s annual report showed vast improvements in behavior and grades. For more information about the Wisconsin school’s successful change, call 800-558-3535. You can make the same thing happen in your school district.
Eating Out
Do your best to avoid fast food restaurants. If you must go, Burger King and Taco Bell are less harmful. Help children make good choices at these places, avoiding the greasy nuggets and French fries. These are often soaked in carcinogenic refined vegetable oil.
Ethnic restaurants often make food from scratch. Buffets allow you to see the food before you choose.
Toothpaste
Avoid buying fluoridated toothpaste. Fluoride is a poison. The same chemical is used in rat poison. Question the entire fluoride myth. Go to www.fluoridealert.org for more information.
If Your Child Gets Sick
Avoid giving Tylenol or other drugs to lower fevers below 104 F. Fever is beneficial and the body’s natural germ-killing mechanism. It also encourages children to slow down.
Have your child lie down to rest and eat very lightly when ill. Most illness is self-limiting and does not require drug treatment. Avoid rewarding children for being sick with too much attention.
Apply harmless natural remedies immediately. A very simple and effective treatment is a foot massage, which feels good, too. Rub the whole foot, bottom, top and sides including the toes, five to 10 minutes on each foot. Even without reflexology training, this can relax a child, stop a headache and much more.
For colds and other infections, use herbs such as echinacea. Vitamin A is also excellent. Up to 100,000 iu per day for two to three weeks is safe for children older than age 10. Below age 10, use 50,000 iu per day for up to three weeks.
Vitamin C sometimes works. Zinc lozenges with echinacea are very good. Low-dose colloidal silver will kill most infections with fewer side effects than antibiotics. Arabesque is an excellent brand. For prevention, give your child a 10,000 iu Vitamin A capsule every few days.
When you need professional guidance, consider a well-informed nutritionally oriented doctor or chiropractor.
Become aware of the adverse effects of drugs before dosing your children with them. Many doctors are unaware of the side effects of the drugs they prescribe. Side effects can be worse than the illness. Look up adverse effects in the Physicians Desk Reference. Or visit the online version at www.PDRhealth.com.
Vaccinations can be quite harmful. At least read both sides of the vaccine story before deciding whether or not to vaccinate your child. Do not be intimidated by school or other authorities. In Arizona, school nurses can provide you with a form called “Request for Exemption to Immunization” that can easily release you from school immunization requirements.
References
• Additional articles about children’s health and nutrition
• Dossey, L., The Power of Prayer
• Fallon, S., Nourishing Traditions
• McEntire, P., Mommy, I’m Hungry
• Smith, L., Feed Kids Right
• Tubbs, J., If You Can’t Pronounce It, Don’t Eat It: A Basic Guide to Healthier Eating
Dr. Lawrence Wilson has a medical degree and has been in the health field for 25 years. Dr. Wilson’s books include Nutritional Balancing and Hair Mineral Analysis, Legal Guidelines for Unlicensed Practitioners, Healing Ourselves and Manual of Sauna Therapy and The Real Self. He also co-authored Toxic Metals in Human Health and Disease and contributed to The Dangers of Socialized Medicine. 928-445-7690 or www.drlwilson.com.
Facts about Sugars
• One can of soda pop may contain up to eight teaspoons of sugar.
• Aspartame accounts for more than 75 percent of adverse reactions to food additives reported to the US Food and Drug Administration.
• Aspartame causes more than 90 adverse symptoms, according to a 1994 Department of Health and Human Services report. Many are very serious, such as anxiety attacks, memory loss, diabetes, brain tumors, seizures and death.
© Arizona Networking News
Arizona Networking News
480-951-1275
