Feeding the Older Child

Children should be offered a variety of healthful foods daily, especially fruits and vegetables, and encouraged to try everything. No one likes every type of food, especially toddlers, so be patient and don‘t get frustrated during this process. Parents should begin to make a list of those foods and combinations that their children like, understanding that his/her likes and dislikes will likely change constantly. Keep experimenting with new foods and retry those that he/she didn’t like every few months. You may be surprised with your child developing a new taste for those previously rejected!

            Modeling is also important for toddlers and older children. Parents should try to eat as healthy as possible, following the program outlined later in this chapter. It is not likely you will convince your child that ice cream is not healthy if you eat a quart of it every night! Also, if parents don’t eat their vegetables, the child is less likely to do so. (This is important for everything the parent does and eats.)

            Ideally, your child’s diet should advance so that it contains as much as 75% raw uncooked fresh vegetables, grains, fruits, seeds and nuts or nut butters. This is, for the most part, unlikely for your children, but is a goal, nonetheless. As stated above, small children should not be given anything upon which they can possibly choke. All foods should be as fresh and chemical free as possible. Our opinion is that microwave cooking is not healthy for children, due to the way microwave ovens “cook” the foods, and the “EMF‘s” emitted. We have also had children burned by foods cooked in microwave ovens.

.               Frozen foods are second best to fresh. Avoid canned foods whenever possible. Foods, except fish, poultry, meat and eggs, should be cooked as little as needed to preserve nutrients, many of which are destroyed in the process of heating. Fish, poultry, meat and eggs should be thoroughly cooked to avoid bacterial infections.