Toddlers gone WILD

[Conscious Midwife]

So my home sitter retired in June

She was a vegan and fed my children that way literally from birth.

Now that babies are home for the summer with teens and running errands with mom and dad, their diet is slipping.

I've been diligent to keep them vegetarian and high raw but they have gotten into a few NO NO SAD items and it's been evident in their behavior.
I am so disappointed.

The worst has been chocolate cake, a sip of soda and too many cheese curls.

Mind you my toddlers are the type to eat a container of cherry tomatoes while we grocery shop. They think raw corn is candy and the love mushrooms.

The only "milk" they have ever had is breast, SILK and nut milks.

They even got into my secret emergency stash of Hot Tamales candy, This is a no no because of sugar content and the red dye that stains everything.

So no more stash for me.

It's so hard maintaining a Vegan high raw for them in the midst of having 3 oider children, a hubby and myself who is trying to battle all the little SAD addictions.

Our household is easily 50% plus raw, NO PORK, NO BEEF and the microwave is tapering off. It's the little junk and occassional fast food that is problematic.

WHo knew one could become a Blue Chip addict.

Anyway I gotta save my toddlers!!!

Their diet impacts their behavior EEEEEEEEEEEEEKkkkkk :eek: :eek:

[NuttyRawMom]

You will be interested to read the information on:

www.feingold.org (http://www.feingold.org)

It isn't just your imagination, it is REAL! Food additives are the WORST thing the corporate America has done for our children...and now adult population as it has been long enough. I am battling ADHD symptoms in my 6 yr. old son among other things. He has not been diagnosed, per se, but he fits every classic description.

Artificial colors, flavorings, and preservatives are tearing our children to pieces and no one realizes it! If you must hold on to SAD addictions a little while longer, please take time to read this info and avoid at least these as your first step.

Since applying this program of an elimination diet (before we went raw), we have noticed DRAMATIC differences in our son's behavior. If he eats something that he reacts to, you can see it within 2 hours and it lasts up to 3 days!!

I think this is information every parent should read, no matter what diet you follow.

Edit: Just one warning...this diet still follows SAD! It just helps you learn what your child could react to and how to look for it and avoid it. If you follow a RAW food diet, the natural foods list is still of good info, but the artificial ingredients will be no prob!

[juliebove]

My daughter is older now, but since she was able to toddle around, she has had a snack basket set up just for her. She knew that if she was hungry and I was busy and couldn't get her something right then and there, she could go to the basket and choose something from it. She'll be 8 soon and she still has that same basket. When she was younger, she had a little plastic basket kept on the lowest shelf of the refrigerator. That was her basket too. Snacks that needed refrigeration were kept in there.

Now that we know of her food allergies, we've taken it a step further. She has her own little refrigerator. We set up a card table in the corner of the dining room and on it is her snack basket and some other foods. There's also a little cart containing additional things because I wanted to leave part of the table clear for food preparation and such.

She isn't on a raw diet, but her food is set up in such a manner that if I have to leave her with a babysitter or someone else, they will know what things are safe for her to eat. Now of course we do have some shared food like heads of lettuce and such that I keep in the big fridge. But in a pinch, a meal could be made for her out of just what is in her food areas. We also keep the fruit bowl on top of her fridge. The only fruit she can't eat is bananas, but I don't buy those unless my husband requests them.

She is old enough now to know how certain things affect her behavior. The allergens being the most evident. All it takes is one bite of something she shouldn't have and not only is she sick as a dog, but surly, combative, weepy, spaced out and just not herself! And apparently Mountain Dew is a big no no! Waaaaaay too much caffeine in that stuff.

You probably wouldn't have to go to such as extreme as I did, but if you could somehow set up a basket or bin of safe food for them and label it with their names, they might be less likely to get into the things they shouldn't have. When my daughter was that age, she was very proud to have her own little food supply and she liked serving it to visitors.

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Juliebove,

My daughter, Julia, made one of the shelves in our refigerator door, just for her son . . . sort of like your basket on the lower shelf of your frig. She keeps raisins, grapes, baby carrot sticks, sometimes cut up watermelon or cantaloupe, bottled water (from our reverse osmosis faucet), etc. She also keeps Lara bars on the bottom shelf in our pantry. This really works for him. He can now open the frig himself and help himself!

Julia did this about a year ago and until I read your post, I hadn't read anywhere where someone made a special place in the frig for their toddler. So glad to see that you're doing it and it's working for you.

We also have a fruit bowl and banana tree so he can get fruits whenever he wants to, although he has to ask for them as they are out of reach.

[Conscious Midwife]

I'm going to have to get more agressive with the dietary thing. PReschool serves meat. The adhere to the no beef and pork or milk, but need a note from the doctor for vegan. They do let me bring veggie burgers and Silk milk. Hmmmmm.

We're goin to have to make a change.Fortunately I fill them uo in the morning and they usually just eat veggies and fruit for lunch. they've never seen thing like tater tots, hot pockets or soupy over cooked veggies. So they have been turning these things down...which is allowed..


Hmmmmm :confused:

[mongomango]

Need a note from the doctor for vegan?!?!

You pay these people???

Oh, I'd have a cow right there on the spot if they told me that!

Can you supply more food to the preschool with instructions that this is what your children eat, and not the food that they serve? It may be that they don't want to feed vegan because it's more of a hassle and more work for them. But if you supply all the food, maybe they'll be more flexible?

[Conscious Midwife]

Need a note from the doctor for vegan?!?!

You pay these people???

Oh, I'd have a cow right there on the spot if they told me that!

Can you supply more food to the preschool with instructions that this is what your children eat, and not the food that they serve? It may be that they don't want to feed vegan because it's more of a hassle and more work for them. But if you supply all the food, maybe they'll be more flexible?

WELL we put in our notice at the daycare on Tuesday following MY LIBERATION FROM THE J-O-B.

So now the toddlers dietary intake will be my sole responsibility 24/7

YIPEEEEEEEE :D

Gotta find out what my 3 year old ate yesterday. We had a meeting to attend. Took the toddlers along and my little one was off the wall, literally!
Running back and forth in the office and literally throwing herself into the wall, she was also very loud and demonstrative. Oh my goodness we were so embarassed. her sheet from daycare didn't seem to have any abnormal intake but my guess is that she was given some fakejuice w/ HFCS.

[swingbolder]

CONGRATULATIONS, Lifeagift!!!! That is AWESOME!!!!!

I remember battling some of those same things when my son was young. He was eating all kinds of mess in daycare (we were vegan at home), and when he turned three I was able to quit my job and stayed home with him. Those were some of the happiest days of my life. We spent so many long days together frolicking in the park, trips to museums, the library etc. Best of all you can control your children's food intake, have fun making healthy foods together. I remember my son used to love to sit up on the counter while I made juice. It was such a treat for him when I let him feed the veggies into the juicer while making juice.

What an incredible blessing/opportunity this is for you!!! Congratulations once again.

[Conscious Midwife]

today we enjoyed a Cultural Celebration Day in the park. My toddlers ran around freely for over an hour at the playground. I barely kept up...one more reinforcing reaqson to be 100% RAW and exerising, I really need to improve my stamina and endurance for the little ones.

Pinched off a little bit of funnel cake that my 12 yr old son was eating and within 5min I was literally ill. Ok the piece was bigger tha a pinch more like a mouth full. GREASY and GROSS when will I learn :confused:

Anyway toddlers consumption pretty good. The yuck food from daycare was juice for sure and maybe even possible there lunch dish, mwhich read was macaroni and cheese in or with tomato soup. Sounds gross I don't know exactly what it was but next week is there last. Only taking them bacuase $341 is being drafted from my account regardless and this will be a good week to have a pap done, dental work and have conferences with the 12 and 14 year olds teachers. They'll probably only go a few hours each day, then we are officially done or this season in our lives

HALLELUJAH

[Conscious Midwife]

wow

Amazing how fast time goes by when you are home with the kiddos.

My toddlers are very onfidant with their dietary lifestyle. Without acception they arequick to tell people they don't eat animals when offered something.

Cherry tomatoes are still a favorite and we are consuming 20lbs or more of bananas weekly ( household of 6).

Today my 4year old ate a cookie with frosting, immediately spit some out and stated "junk food makes me sick". She later puked a bit more of it up. Then asked "mommy please don't buy the junky cookies, they make my stomach hurt".

WHAT WAS I THINKING:confused:

[salsababy]

Is this a public preschool/daycare??? If so, then they are probably reinbursed by the food program and HAVE to follow certain rules. However, I think you are exempt if you choose not to be on it (the centr just doesn't get money reinbursement from you and you have to bring ALL your own lunches/snacks in).

[garden granny]

LOL - I just wanted to say I love the title of your post.

[Conscious Midwife]

Is this a public preschool/daycare??? If so, then they are probably reinbursed by the food program and HAVE to follow certain rules. However, I think you are exempt if you choose not to be on it (the centr just doesn't get money reinbursement from you and you have to bring ALL your own lunches/snacks in).


PRIVATE PRESCHOOL but I'm sure they had a subsidy program for kiddos registered under a sliding scale fee or something.

Thank the Goodness we are out of that scenario now anyway.

[Conscious Midwife]

LOL - I just wanted to say I love the title of your post.
:D THANKS!!! :D

[Conscious Midwife]

Swiftly approaching 2 years at home with the kiddos, now 4 and 5.

We are having a blast.

Planted carrot seeds and drank some coconut water. WE also fertilized our Crepe Myrtles with the compost we've been making.

I also made a banana coconut smoothie that they said had coconut hair in it. Guess I used the wrong part of the coconut:eek: :D

[shashibala]

I work at a daycare center that I think is the most wonderful place on earth.
It is warm, child centered, uses the responsive care model and Reggio practices. Though the food seems reasonable to sad eaters, I cringe when I serve it to the children! It could be worse, but as someone said, the food program is overseen by an agency and they must serve milk at every meal and a certain amount of protein which means meat or cheese.
I really think the meat and dairy industry must have written the nutritional guidelines! It seems amazing that people who are so enlightened in some ways
can be blind to the effects of food!

[Conscious Midwife]

Ok toddlers are now 5 and 6 . Big kids they call themselves, as opposed to babies.

Mama is reRAWing with the new moon tommorow and they are veganizing. No more eggs or cheese and my DS5 years old even says he'll be doing 88% RAW with me tommorow... ok so who's been getting into his head with percentages???
DD17 still a vegetarian and miffed that my reRAWing has to impact ehr life. She says when I spend dollars on nuts she notices their is less "junk" for her. Yeah, duh that's the plan chica... teens!
DS15 has a job and funds his own crappy intak habits. Biodad and I are both shocked at his consumption considering her was brought up vegetarian. But hey we've both been crappy versions of vegetarian most of his life sooooo....
DD22 thinks my ReRAWING is crazy and says my real problem is that I don't eat enough period and that I am protein depleted. She's finally off beef though so I pleased, she's also exploring expanding her personal training effort which I hoep will elad her to a stronger dietary ethos sans meat and animal products.

[LiveLife]

I love what you have done for your family despite some challenges you may have faced. I am at home now with my son and am starting a business and it is so fulfilling! I do not get to work on my business as much as I would like but I do get to spend a lot of time with my son and we go out to several places a day (all free) and spend as much time outside as we can.

One of the several reasons that we have not placed him in childcare is due to food issues. The few places we were able to contact that were accepting new kids (all daycares in Winnipeg are like forever full! :( ) seemed displeased with our no-meat policy never mind raw! The only place we did get a chance to see the lady even gave us a lecture about it when we were there! :eek: Hey, I know what I am doing is right. My child is very healthy, full of energy, and doesn't get sick (except for when I take him to chlorinated pools which I no longer do because of this) so whatever. This is coming from the lady that has the kids inside all day and refuses to aide in potty training! :rolleyes:

Anyways, keep up the great work. And remember, children follow by example. Even if your older ones are rebelling in the food department, after experimenting they may find they prefer the way they feel after eating vegan or raw food and gravitate towards it.

Good luck with everything :)

P.S. I forgot to mention that I take my son to a community center that has a playroom for kids and they serve snacks. The ladies there are awesome and are willing to feed my son only raw vegan options and even ask me questions sometimes about healthy options, so there are open minded caregivers out there but they just may be harder to find...

[rawfoodmommy#1]

Love staying home with my two sons: 4 years old and 15 month old. My 15 month old made carrot juice with me. He loved pushing the carrots down the tube and I enjoyed helping him put the carrots in juicer. I agree with all of you who says that food does matter when it comes to their behavior. Thank you everyone for being open minded about the food subject and the reaction our kids have to junk food.

[Conscious Midwife]

Amazing how time flies.

While no one in the house is 100% RAW today I am so glad we stayed the course with respect to RAW intake in general.

Aforementioned toddlers are now 7 and 8 and they absolutely love RAW foods in their natural states, also still big mono eaters. They don't care for the dehydrated stuff much so fresh it is.

We are reveganizing which ends up looking like 60-75% RAW in ur house more so once it warms up!

DD's23 and 19 are out the house Livin' la vida loca
DS 17 not to thrilled about the change but has his own JOB to support SAD habits
DD8 and DS7 excited that about the refocus of our Nutrition Kitchen
Hubby just goes along with the plan as always:wuv