Am I Feeding My Child Well?
When I started a support group in Hawaii, MAAA (Mothers Against Allergies and Asthma), I had the mothers in the group keep track of and write down everything their asthmatic child ate for two weeks. The results were appalling. Even among the mothers who were positive their child was eating a healthy diet, there were gross deficiencies.
For example, there was one mother who insisted that her child had a very healthy diet. She said she was diligent in preparing a healthy dinner every single night, and described some of the menus to me, which really were very good. She said her son was a good eater, that he ate several different vegetables, meat or other protein sources every night for dinner, and no dessert. She was sure she was doing all she could do make her child as healthy as possible. In talking with her, I started thinking that this might be a challenging case. Well, after reading her log of what her son ate for two weeks, I immediately saw a problem. Though the dinners were good, and the lunches weren't too bad, I was surprised to see that her son got Fruit Loops with skim milk for breakfast every single day. No supplements were given. And this was one of the better diets that I saw from the mothers in the group.
A young child's stomach is so small, and they usually eat so little, that every mouthful must be nutritious if you're going to get them over their asthma and/or allergies. In the case just mentioned, you can see that there was a lot of room for her son to develop asthma. Not only are Fruit Loops not nutritious, but skim milk isn't doing him any good, either. In order to absorb the calcium in milk, its fat content must be present. Use whole milk, not skim or 2%. When I asked the mother about the Fruit Loops, she admitted that she knew they weren't very healthy, but that her son liked them and refused to eat anything else for breakfast. (If it's not too late for you, never introduce junk cereal to your child in the first place and they'll never know the difference. If it's too late, you can still take them off it, cold turkey. No child has ever starved himself to death when a variety of nutritious foods in place of junk foods are offered at each meal and for snacks. If you don't make an issue of it and offer only nutritious food, and never, ever, waiver, he will eventually eat. And be matter-of-fact; don't make a power-struggle out of it. Just be prepared for the tears and other manipulation that will follow. But rather than give in, remember that it will be far more worthwhile and noble to get him healthy and start a life-long habit of nutrition that will be of inestimable value.)
Anyway, I tried to teach this mother and the others in the group that a child's nutritional needs are very great, mainly due to growth; and, particularly in a sick/allergic/asthmatic child, you have to make sure that everything they eat is nutritious. This is difficult and tedious to do, but it must be done consistently, whether the mother or the child feels like it or not, in order to achieve the best results. The decent lunch and the great dinner will still not be enough to provide the nutrients the child needs to be healthy. Our modern food is usually of such poor quality that it's very difficult to really eat healthy. Supplements must be used, in addition to providing the most nutritious meals possible, if you want your child or anyone else to overcome asthma and allergies.
The food you prepare must be selected and prepared in the most healthy way possible. Often, however, even fresh foods in our grocery stores often contain little or no valuable nutrients. For example, a study of the vitamin C content was done on fresh strawberries from one grocery store---there was no vitamin C found in them! All of the vitamin was lost in the delay between the time they were picked and the time they were put on the shelves. Also, much of our food is grown on nutrient-depleted soils. In addition, fresh fruits and vegetables are picked too early in order to ensure a longer shelf-life, sprayed with preservatives, wax and chemicals, much like embalming, to keep the dead and decaying looking fresh and alive for as long as possible. Money is the bottom line, and profits must be made for each food supplier, transporter, and processor---down a long line from the grower to the grocer---at the health expense of the consumer.
However, I wouldn't give up on fresh foods from the stores, even if they aren't ideal. Besides the possible lack of vitamin C in some foods, as in the study of strawberries mentioned above, there are many other nutrients that may be available. Any fresh fruits and vegetables are still far superior to junk "foodless" foods!
Naturally, it would be healthier for each person to grow their own food, fresh and of great variety, on rich soil with organic fertilizer, picked and eaten at the peak nutritional value, prepared timely and properly, and eaten regularly, day after day, each in its season, and the storable foods stored properly for the winter, and fresh meat off the hoof to supplement as well, along with fresh whole milk from a healthy cow grazed on rich pasture, and home-worked butter and fresh eggs from unpenned chickens, also given a healthy organic diet, of course! You get the idea. (It feels exhausting just to read about it.) Nevertheless, modern technology has enabled more and more people to enjoy a huge variety of foods and actually to be fed better as a whole than ever before. Despite its flaws, we still have a great food system, and more and more organic food is available in health-food stores.
Meanwhile, you will find that it is necessary to supplement the diet with vitamins and/or herbal supplements to make sure the high nutritional requirements of the asthmatic/allergic child or adult are met. As you read throughout the individual vitamin and other nutrient sections, you will also find ideas on health-building foods to eat.
My favorite single thing to do to make some things more nutritious is to add wheat germ to them. When my kids were growing up, I added a spoonful or two of wheat germ to their cold cereal to make up for the healthy part of the cereal that was thrown away in the processing. I don't consider any processed cereal to be the least bit nutritious. The amount of vitamins you read on the box that they've added to it are insignificant when you're trying to be healthy, much less get over asthma and allergies. It's like a robber coming into your house and stealing everything you have; then when he leaves and starts feeling sorry for you, decides to put back the TV, the toaster, and the waffle iron. And this is going to be okay with you? Well, that's what the cereal (and bread) manufacturers do when they process the grain, take out and destroy all the vitamins, and then put back the few listed on the label. Are you going to be okay with that? (You can read more about wheat germ in some of the Supplements sections on this site.)
And, by the way, my kids never even knew what sugar-filled cereals were until they got a lot older. I only gave them Wheat Chex, Cheerios, Wheaties, Raisin Bran, Shredded Wheat, and Grape Nuts---with a spoonful or two of wheat germ---and without adding any sugar at all. They grew up not knowing the difference. My trick was never putting out the sugarbowl with the cereal (as my parents did with us), and never letting them see me adding sugar to my own bowl of cereal! (I couldn't break the habit.) The only reasons I even gave them cold cereals was as a carrier for the wheat germ, and so they wouldn't feel deprived.
Also, wheat germ is delicious mixed in applesauce or yogurt. You can also add it to oatmeal after cooking the oatmeal. It makes plain old oatmeal look a bit more "gourmet" to have a sprinkling of the brown, toasted wheat germ on top. My daughter, Johnna, who had asthma for a short time as a child (and who got over it with nutrition and supplements), still eats wheat germ. Only now, she eats it plain, with just a little milk, for breakfast. She doesn't even bother with the "carrier!" And I'm still famous in my family for my delicious made-from-scratch wheat germ pancakes---just regular pancakes with lots of wheat germ added to the batter before cooking (I add about 3/4 cup to a large batch. You could probably add even more, as you can't even taste it in the pancakes). Click here for my recipe and some others.
The picture above was taken during an actual brunch I fixed for some of my kids when they came over recently for the famous wheat-germ pancakes. I didn't take the picture for the web-site, in fact I didn't even know I was going to do a web-site when the picture was taken, but I thought it would fit in here; however, don't look at it too closely---or you'll see something that shouldn't be there. (OK, it's the soda cans.) But I really did razz my sons-in-law for drinking it with an otherwise healthful brunch! (Plus they reminded me that it was from my fridge, as if that's an excuse!)
My general suggestions to help feed your child well: Avoid prepared, processed and refined foods, including sugar. These are "foodless" foods that fill up the stomach, kill the appetite for nutritious foods, and provide little value. Use waterless cookware to steam fresh vegetables. Buy only juice that is 100% juice and has no sugar, corn syrup, or fructose added. It's bad enough that it has to be pasteurized. Better yet, make your own juice. Eat only whole grain breads and cereals; add wheat germ to everything you can. Cook from scratch. When you really can't, at least buy packaged food from a health food store or a whole food type store, but read labels. While most health food store products are organic, contain no chemicals, and are prepared in a way that does not strip them of their nutritional value, sometimes health food stores do carry some of the foods you find in regular grocery stores, so read the labels. Don't buy anything that contains sugar, high fructose corn syrup, chemicals, dyes, preservatives, or other additives like artificial or "natural" flavors. ("Natural" flavors are certain various chemicals added to foodless food to make it taste like food. Believe it or not, manufacturers are allowed by the FDA to describe these chemicals on the label as "natural." Just like petroleum is "natural," but that doesn't mean it's good for you to eat it.) If the ingredients in a food are not things that you could have in your own kitchen, don't buy it. Don't buy fast-food. Use supplements.
So, back to the question, "Am I feeding my child well?" The answer is probably "no." But it's not really your fault. I'm sure you think you're feeding him just fine, and that allergies and asthma are just something that some people get and there's nothing you can do about it except get medications to treat the symptoms and try to avoid the allergens. You probably don't know that some individuals as well as families have extra high requirements for certain nutrients just to be normally healthy. Also, it's difficult to know what foods and vitamins will meet their requirements. This website will help you. By the time you read everything on it, you will definitely know just what it means to feed your child well.