How To Feed Kids: Some Ideas From "Disease Proof Your Child" By Dr. Fuhrman

I got a nice email from Joel after one of my recent blog posts and it reminded me to dig into one of his overlooked books "Disease-Proof Your Child- Feeding Kids Right."

I am going to do a series of short posts from that book because these are questions that I ask for my own kids. And I go to this book more and more, especially as I struggle with the questions of how to balance healthy food with the stuff they go for regularly like Mac and Cheese and pizza. 

One question I have is "how much should I feed my kids?" As I dug into the book I got some good answers to that question and also some great ideas for other blog posts.

How Much To Feed Children- And A Tip On Getting More Broccoli In The Diet! 

"The vast majority of children eat the precise amount of calories they need for excellent health." If good food is available to them "their bodies will given them normal signals that will control and the amount and even diversity of food for them to maintain excellent health." 

According to Dr. Fuhrman, kids eat when they are hungry and consume more food during growth spurts and times of heavy activity." He insists that kids sort of "adjust their caloric intake to match their needs." I have found success telling my 5 year old that broccoli makes him fast and that he will be faster than daddy if he eats broccoli. We even feign disapproval if he eats too much. As a result he wolfs it down.

He now orders broccoli at restaurants along side his mac and cheese or pizza almost always. You can click here for information on how to buy this book. We strongly recommend the book because he talks about lots of scientific stuff about long term health plus a whole slew of very practical suggestions on how to get kids to eat better. It is ten bucks in paperback, just add it to your next Amazon order.

Parents Sometimes Feed Their Kids Too Much, And The Processed Stuff Can Dull The Taste Buds...

Before I put this post up I emailed him to make sure it was ok to quote from his book and it turns out Joel uses the same strategy that we do with the broccoli. He also added to what he said in the book:

"I always serve my kids steamed kale chopped and mixed with a  sauce made with raw cashews blended with some soy milk.  They love it.

I also tell my son, stop eating so much of that kale.  You will get stronger than me and I can’t have that.  Once I was running away, saying don’t touch me after eating that kale, you might hurt me with all that kale power.  He of course ran over and gave me a tiny shove and I fell away doing a back flip over the couch, screaming, “get that kale away from that kid”.
 
The other point here is that parents are the main cause of overweight kids.  It starts out when are children are just toddlers and parents have this societal-induced, erroneous idea that it is better to have a bigger child.  Most children coaxed to consume food than they really need and want, and parents have to resort to deserts and processed foods to induce additional calorie intake.   Eventually, when hunger is no longer part of the equation, the child may even reject all healthy food, once they do not need to eat natural foods to satisfy hunger.   

And once their tastes have adjusted to the heightened flavors, and become deadened to the more mild flavors of vegetables, beans and fruits, they use food recreationally, and become little junk food addicts craving concentrated sweets and fats.  Now we have a nation of adult food addicts who were raised on processed cereals, candy and fast food and they are raising the next generation of children in this toxic food environment. "

Disease Proof Your Child is an important book and in many ways picks up where Dr Benjamin Spock left off many years ago. There is a lot of pressure to confirm to the realities of modern life and practices, but you need to consider the cost of the confirmation.

Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right

Comments

[cma]

It is not only with the kids that we have the trouble getting them to eat their veggies like broccolli and Kale.Speaking of which, when I began my journey to healthy eating, broccolli wasnt on my grocery list.But thanks to my personal trainer, who suggested me a tasty reciepe.

I am a great lover of Pastas and off course, the sauces.To kick start, I got broccoli , soaked them in boiling hot water for 5 mins and later had them with the pasta sauce as a dip. Now , Broccli is a everyday wanted veggie on my plate irrespective of the sauce along with it...

[Sonia P]

That is hilarious 'Get that kale away from that kid'. I will try that. Thanks. LOL!!