4 comments
Mar 20/13
Baby, Healthy Eating
On Monday evening,
Jen and I attended a
free lecture by
Dr. William Sears.
In case you’re not familiar with his work, Dr. Sears is a pediatrician (with 8 kids of his own!) who has written over 30 books about childcare.
Basically, he knows his stuff.
The timing of the lecture couldn’t have been more appropriate since Michael will be starting on solid foods in a few months. When that time comes, I obviously want my baby to receive the best nutrition possible, so I was eager and open to hearing what Dr. Sears had to say.
(I’m pretty sure that Dr. Sears does not suggest eating blankets.)
The fact that Dr. Sears actually talked about nutrition for
all ages was just an added bonus.
The basic point of his talk was that the foods we eat all throughout infancy have the ability to shape our health and behavior as adults.
Rather than processed fake foods, recommended ones for infants include:
Breast milk
Homemade baby food
Avocado- at 6 months old
Salmon- at 7 months old (I personally cannot picture a baby eating fish!)
(Photo taken by Jen of Dr. Sears during the lecture)
By feeding a baby the right foods, you can actually program their taste buds, so they learn to
prefer healthy foods. As a result, kids who grow up eating real food get sick less often and have less behavioral problems, such as ADD.
Dr. Sears has a really cute approach for getting children to eat healthy foods or, as he calls them, “grow” foods. For instance, if you tell a child who loves soccer to eat his/her soccer foods, so he/she can play well and win the game, it makes healthy foods more relevant to that child.
I’ll definitely try this one with Michael once he develops an interest beyond sticking his hands in his mouth, that is.
Dr. Sears also suggests raising children to be grazers by having them:
Eat twice as often
Eat half as much
Chew twice as long
This way of eating (which I practice myself a lot of the time) helps to lessen constipation, steady one’s mood, and decrease the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease.
One easy way to teach a toddler to graze is to provide them with a
nibble tray (an ice cube tray would work well) filled with healthy foods. It should be accessible to the child, so he or she can graze all day long.
As far as his advice for adults, he’s an advocate of The 5 “S” Diet- a diet rich in:
Seafood (salmon, tuna, sardines, and anchovies)
Smoothies
Salads
Spices (turmeric, black pepper, rosemary, etc.)
Supplements
As you probably already know, none of that will be a problem for me!
I definitely thought of Dr. Sears (and Jen) when I blended up my smoothie the next morning.
I’m really glad that I went to the lecture, and I hope that some of these tips were interesting to you too.
How do you get your child/children to eat healthy foods?
Were you raised on a healthy diet?
Have a great day!
4 comments Mar 20/13 Baby, Healthy Eating
On Monday evening, Jen and I attended a free lecture by Dr. William Sears. In case you’re not familiar with his work, Dr. Sears is a pediatrician (with 8 kids of his own!) who has written over 30 books about childcare. Basically, he knows his stuff. The timing of the lecture couldn’t have been more appropriate since Michael will be starting on solid foods in a few months. When that time comes, I obviously want my baby to receive the best nutrition possible, so I was eager and open to hearing what Dr. Sears had to say.
The fact that Dr. Sears actually talked about nutrition for all ages was just an added bonus. The basic point of his talk was that the foods we eat all throughout infancy have the ability to shape our health and behavior as adults. Rather than processed fake foods, recommended ones for infants include:Breast milk Homemade baby food Avocado- at 6 months old Salmon- at 7 months old (I personally cannot picture a baby eating fish!)
By feeding a baby the right foods, you can actually program their taste buds, so they learn to prefer healthy foods. As a result, kids who grow up eating real food get sick less often and have less behavioral problems, such as ADD. Dr. Sears has a really cute approach for getting children to eat healthy foods or, as he calls them, “grow” foods. For instance, if you tell a child who loves soccer to eat his/her soccer foods, so he/she can play well and win the game, it makes healthy foods more relevant to that child. I’ll definitely try this one with Michael once he develops an interest beyond sticking his hands in his mouth, that is. Dr. Sears also suggests raising children to be grazers by having them:Eat twice as often Eat half as much Chew twice as long
This way of eating (which I practice myself a lot of the time) helps to lessen constipation, steady one’s mood, and decrease the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease. One easy way to teach a toddler to graze is to provide them with a nibble tray (an ice cube tray would work well) filled with healthy foods. It should be accessible to the child, so he or she can graze all day long.
As far as his advice for adults, he’s an advocate of The 5 “S” Diet- a diet rich in:
How do you get your child/children to eat healthy foods? Were you raised on a healthy diet? Have a great day!Haha yay, awesome recap! It was so good to see you!
You too! Can’t wait for girl’s night!
I’m so glad I found your blog from following your comment on mine! I already know I could sit here and spend forever reading all your recipes. Once I get Bloglovin set up consider me a follower
Thank you, Tami! That means so much to me. I’m glad that I found your blog too.