Kid Food

Every once in a while, I hear a parent say that their child will only eat french fries, peanut butter sandwiches, chocolate milk, or some other form of 'kid' food. I even once heard a lady in a restaurant ask the server to call the chicken fingers 'chicken dinosaurs', otherwise her kid wouldn't eat them. Come on.

Another time, I accompanied a friend and her 2 small children to the grocery store. As we were leaving, both kids told me they were hungry so I offered them each a banana I had just bought, which they gleefully accepted. As soon as I had peeled and handed the bananas to them, their mother counter-offered them artificially flavoured, sugar-dense granola bars. Needless to say, I was left eating 2 bananas.

One walk through the grocery store reveals thousands of 'food' products aimed at children. Placed on shelves just low enough for them to reach or point at, they entice with their shiny packages and bright colours, cartoon character mascots, and 'free' gifts. TV commercials show the characters singing, dancing, and getting along with friends. As soon as someone is old enough to see, they are being bombarded by media and influenced by big business.

The irony of this is that the products being hawked for children are nowhere near necessary for life or health. Actually, the very opposite is true.

Children need good quality nutrients of every kind to help them grow, learn, and develop into strong, smart adults. 'Kid' food is often over processed, full of refined sugars, excess sodium, artificial colours and flavours, low in fiber and good fats, and high in CRAP. Not to mention that most 'kid' foods are comprised of, or at the very least contain some of the leading allergens: dairy, wheat, corn, and soy.

Eating is a cultural, community event. It may not seem that way in this modern day of microwave meals, blackberry emails, soccer practices, and dinner time exercise classes, but this type of lifestyle has only existed for 60 or so years. For millions of years before that, people cultivated, prepared and ate food together. Children learned about food from their parents and family - not from magazine ads, TV commercials, or even clothing. Historically, children have eaten much the same foods as their parents and family, though in smaller quantities and sometimes slightly altered. I doubt that there were as many 'picky eaters' then, as there are today.

Children learn valuable lessons about themselves and the earth from the diet they eat and help prepare. Feeding them real, whole foods that come from the earth is one of the best gifts you can give.

Unhealthy relationships with food are often formed at a young age. Eating disorders are becoming more common with children, and girls are starting to 'diet' at much younger ages than ever before. Parents who lead by example, eating only 'low fat' or 'fat free' foods, are actually instilling in their children that FAT = BAD. Along with this, disease among children is sky-rocketing: diabetes, heart disease (!), allergies, ADHD, depression, and many other conditions are worsening by the day, thanks in large part to poor diet.

Perhaps the most sickening part of it all, is how acceptable it has become to feed your child this way. Parents who don't allow refined sugars, dairy, or adhere to otherwise 'different' diets are seen as mean, strict, controlling, and even sometimes 'crazy'. They are subject to more scrutiny and judgment than the parents feeding their children toxic, artificial, disease causing 'foods'.

It's all about fitting in, right? Can't deprive little Jimmy when all the other kids are having hot dogs and milk - it would be mean and unfair - he would feel left out. People would ask questions, maybe even point and laugh.

Another big nutrition pet peeve of mine is juice. There has been the misconception for as long as I can remember, that children need juice. Pasteurized, filtered, processed, artificially flavoured and coloured, glucose sweetened 'fruit' juices. Well guess what?

Juice is just liquid candy. It has NO place in anyone's diet, especially a child's.

It provides very little nutrients, and any it does supply are artificial poor quality vitamins and minerals added back to the juice after processing. It has no fiber to help with bowel elimination (something that is important even for children), or slow down the release of glucose into the blood (excess blood glucose is linked to diabetes). The flavours, even if once derived naturally, are usually very far from the real flavour of fruit, making it hard for children to ever eat a plain old apple or some grapes after they have drunk its 'juice'. Similarly, people who drink a lot of flavoured beverages typically have a hard time meeting their daily water requirements, leading to dehydration, lethargy, headaches, constipation, and more.

Even worse than juice are pop and sports drinks, which are purely chemical and very bad for the body. Pop depletes nutrients from the body, namely from the bones as minerals are pulled to aid in digestion, while also supplying a very unhealthy amount of sugar, and often caffeine. Sugar free pop contains aspartame, a known neural toxin. Sports drinks are just as bad as juice - they contain a very small amount of electrolytes (sodium and potassium) that could just as easily be obtained from a fresh piece of fruit. Otherwise they are devoid of nutrients and high in sugar.

Juices freshly made with fresh, raw fruits and vegetables (preferably organic) are an excellent choice for children and adults alike. If they are unpasteurized and consumed within a few hours of production, they are delicious, vibrant, and incredibly health promoting. Once the fiber of the plant is removed, the vitamins, minerals, phyto-chemicals and other nutrients are able to enter the bloodstream almost immediately, bypassing digestion and therefore requiring less energy from the body (the absense of fiber increases nutrient absorption; lower-sugar items included in the juice prevent blood sugar levels from soaring). These nutrients repair and rebuild the body, participating in thousands of internal cellular processes from skin repair to hormone regulation to energy production to brain development.

Smoothies are another great way to get more fruits and vegetables into a child's diet. Since smoothies contain fiber, the release of sugar into the bloodstream is much slower, and bowel elimination is also enhanced. Fruits that would otherwise not be juiced, such as bananas and berries, are a welcome inclusion to any smoothie.

Consuming fresh juices and smoothies is the best way to quickly deliver high quality nutrients into the body and its tissues.

The flavour combinations of fresh juice are endless. It is important to include not just sweeteners such as carrots and apples, but healthier items such as beets, parsley, greens, ginger, celery, and cucumber. Most fruits and vegetables juice well, aside from bananas and very starchy plants such as potatoes and turnips. One of the best books I have found yet is this one, which includes many recipes for specific conditions (Sea Herb Surprise for MS, Beta Blast for pregnancy, Apricot Peach for kidney stones, Allium Antioxidant for cancer prevention). Many of the juices detailed within are 'kid-friendly' or can easily be made so. Fresh juice is sometimes more appealing once diluted with water, and even small amounts of sweetener such as stevia or honey can be added to ehance flavour.

Contrary to popular belief, children are not special beings with dietary needs different than our own. They are small humans who are growing, changing, and learning every single moment of every single day. Fuel those actions with good, whole foods,eliminate the toxins present in the traditional North American diet, and you're both sure to see, hear, and feel the results.

I will leave you with this story: A friend of mine has a young daughter who has always loved food and had a healthy appetite. She eats very little processed food, and instead gets fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and unrefined sugar and grain products. From the age of 3 she was helping to mix homemade olive oil and lemon juice dressing for her salad, which she loved to eat in big forkfuls. Upon counting one day, her and her mother realized that the child regularly ate up to 18 different kinds of fruit. At 5 years old, she was even eating (vegetarian) sushi. Homemade roasted sweet potato fries are one of her favourite foods. She was not born this way, but rather developed these qualities over time, because of strong, healthy influences from her parents. (Also worth mentioning is the fact that her TV watching is limited to 1 hour per day.) Her mother, a runner and yoga enthusiast, has also passed along a healthy desire for activity and sports. She is taller and smarter than most children her age, speaks with a purpose and clarity usually reserved for older children, and has some of the best manners I have ever observed in a child. No doubt her lifestyle is impacting her growth.