Hi, I'm new with a few ?'s.

[1GirlTwinBoys]

Quick intro: I'm a 38 year old SAHM to a 3 year old daughter and 2 year old twin boys. We eat very healthy, but are not completely raw. I would really like to incorporate a lot of the raw diet into our lifestyle. I LOVE healthy foods and just want to learn how to make more and better dishes for us. I just ordered Alisa's book and also bought a really nice food processor. I'm now trying to take the plunge and purchase the Excalibur today. :eek:

I'm so new to this and was hoping you could help. We currently only eat about 1-2 servings of meat each week, so that won't be hard to give up. What I am having a hard time with is cows milk. I have tried rice and almond but didn't like either and I prefer not to use soy. Are there any other options? I would REALLY miss that cold glass of milk everyday, plus I currently make my kid's smoothies using organic whole milk, avocado & banana every morning. This is by far the hardest part for us.

Where do you get your sources of calcium & B vitamins?

Also, I don't want to lose weight or have the kid's lose any so how do you keep the weight on with this lifestyle?

Thanks for any help/information you can give me. I look forward to learning from ya'll.

[vgloveforlife]

Hi,
I have a 6 yr old daughter who is a high raw vegan. Raw is a great diet for kids but they really have to eat enough calories if they are to keep on the weight and be successful in this diet.

Nut/seed milk is delicious and easy to make. You can soak the nuts/seeds overnight in water and then just blend in the morning with water and sweetner. You can strain it if you wish with a nutmilk bag.
I usually use almonds. You can use any nut and seeds though.

A VERY high calcium milk is: soak a few figs with almonds and sesame seeds overnight. The next day, rinse and then blend with water. Strain out the pulp if you want. This is delicious!

B vitamins are in most raw foods including sprouted grains and beans, mushrooms, leafy greens, veggies and some fruits. We eat nutritional and brewers yeast ocassionally which are both very rich sources.
B12 is the only one we do supplement with.

I recommend the book called, "Rawsome". She has a whole chapter on nutrients and the raw food sources for them.

[Revvell]

Hi there and welcome!!!

You've got a LOT of questions here and there are a LOT of answers throughout this forum. If you've not seen it, there is a whole category on the home page about raising children raw. I've done a couple of interviews with Jinjee Talifero who is raising 5 children raw. You'll find those in the Raw Food Events sections.

Let me ask you this... When eating as you were before raw, where did you get your calicium and b-vitamins? cooking destroys these and one does not get calcium from dairy because of the excess protein content. You may wish to check out www.notmilk.com (I think it is... someone will correct of not) and The China Study. John Robbins wrote some very good books as well on the effects of dairy... especially his first on I believe.

The main thing here is to have fun and always, play with your food.

Revvell

[Smoothie]

Revell is right. Although not raw; Dr John McDougall has some really good information about milk and how it doesn't supply calcuim because of the high protein count, etc. Everything Revell said. You can look up his website quickly if you can't get out to buy The China Study or John Robbins books. Dairy is something no one should eat or drink, especially kids. It's linked to childhood diabetics and a host of other problems. To the human body, it's no different than rats milk or grariff milk. Any milk that's not human milk is full of things the body can't reconize......Get it out of your diet.:)

Sorry for any typos...

[FirstGarden]

I was gonna recommended raw goat's milk, if you can find it. (I'm open to correction, folks).

But I do agree with Smoothie. Cow's milk makes a nice, mucousy paste for the system.

As I recall, goats milk is said to be most like human milk - which is just about the only kind we were meant to properly assimilate.

Remember, the largest land animals on earth (elephants, workhorses, pack mules, hippos, etc) are all vegetarian.

But, tho such things may serve as transitions, it is best to veer away from all products coming from animals for health reasons (BGH/BST, steroids, natural assimilation, etc). If you do have cows milk, organic, tho not cheap, is better. It doesn't have the harmful, residual additives that go into animal feed such as antibiotics to avoid infection of udders, which is utterly insane (pun intended) from over-production due to corporate greed.

By the way, antibiotics wipe out all the bacteria in our intestinal floras - both the good guys and the bad guys -- and as such, leave one vulnerable & deficient in that regard as well.

It is reported they even add concrete to their feed, as the FDA sees no harm in this to cows. (What about us, dummies?) Then there's the bovine growth hormones (BGH) pumped in them wholesale.

Chickens are said to mature in about 17 weeks. Thanks to steroids, they are now mature & all fattened up in 6 weeks, to make a lovely chemical feast for the delicate human vessel.

Another transition milk, tho not raw, is soy milk. Add a little honey for sweetness if you'd like, as other sweetened soy milk has sugar, or "glorified sugar" with fancy names that is still quite glucose-forming in the system. Not good, especially in excess.

Some nutritionists, i.e., health giant N.W. Walker suggest raw carrot juice in the ba-ba instead of milk, if your young one still uses a bottle. Children in general thrive far better on raw carrot juice, which contributes far more in their developmental years than cows milk ever could. And it tastes wonderful.

:-{) - a smile with a mustache

[Sharon in Colorado]

You can try banana milk - just bananas and water. Start with 2-3 ripe, spotted bananas, and blend with water, until you get the consistency of milk. You can throw a few dates in there to sweeten it up for them. And if you freeze sliced banana ahead of time, it will taste a lot like an ice cream milkshake. You can pour this over chopped fruits and raisins and eat like a cereal.

Another thing some people were doing on here is hemp seed milk. Just grind a couple tablespoons of hemp seeds and then blend with water. You can drink it straight or sweeten it with dates, honey, agave nectar, etc.

Yes, the taste a a lot different than cow's milk, but once you phase it out of your diet, your taste buds change.

[goodbeets]

Welcome to raw, 1girltwinboys. I am also 38 with a 6,5 and 3 year old. How are you doing!!?? I think you will find that fresh almond (or any other) nut milk is vastly superior tasting to anything you can buy. My kids reallylike almond and cashew as the cashew is sweeter. I usually throw in a tbl. of seseme seeds for extra calcium and some date, raw honey or agave for sweet and they drink it up. My son loves "chocolate" mylk with carob. You will also get a lot of your calcium and protein from greens. They are best in smoothies because the particles are so small theyare super easy to digest and get nutrients from.. Today I made my kids cherry/banana/celery smoothie and they asked for more. With my older kids I really have to mask some of the food or they think it sounds gross, my little one like what I make so you are very fortunate to be starting this early. They seem to like the simple stuff, strait fruits and veggies, salads, dips, smoothies and, of course, puddings and brownie/fudge type of foods. Good luck. I am excited for you to start. Your kids are soooooo lucky!!

[Nectarine]

Dairy is something no one should eat or drink, especially kids.

Too right! I remember days after drinking some milk, I could still feel it churning and bubbling away in my belly. Euuch! Plus cows' milk contains traces of feces, blood, pus, and urine in it, if I remember correctly. The thing that put me off drinking milk, however, before I found out what milk contains, was seeing a cow up close in real life. If watching one regurgitate a long, thick and chunky, opaque slither of curd isn't enough to put you off milk and beef, nothing ever will be.

[Raw Jewelrylady]

Welcome to RFT...I have to tell you that once you try homemade nut milk-you will be amazed at how great it tastes...

Read the threads posted regarding dairy. You will really enjoy Alissa's book & it will answer a lot of your questions.. :)

Lana

[sailaway]

Hi 1girltwinboys
I am a mother of 9 boys (1 set triplets)& 3 girls! If I knew back when I started raising children what I know now I would have raised them all raw.

The best source for families going raw (other then this site ) is Storm and Jinjee (thegardendiet.com)who are raising their children raw, the first 2 started vegan then went raw, the next 2 have always been raw and Jinjee is now expecting her 5th child. Their website shows pictures of her last pregnacy with Adagio, it shows the children in all stages and their growth charts from the Drs office comparing them to "normal" children. Jinjee explains very well the growth curves and energy levels of her children.

As for the milk, that was one of my biggest mistakes with the older children. I thought milk was the best thing for them and we drank over 2 gallons per day. I myself loved milk so when I first started "raw" milk and cheese was the hardest thing for me to give up. After about 6 months of not having milk I tried a glass and didn't like it. While my DH still brings milk into the house I am able to limit the kids to about 4-6 oz every other day--some days zero. The store bought rice and almond milk is yuk as well as not raw. The Almond/cashew type milk will (after your tastes buds convert) taste just as good as cows milk tastes to you now. The sooner your children are exposed to "raw" natural flavors the better and more enjoyable it is for them. One of my sons who was primarily a meat eater is now the biggest raw food eater preferring fresh fruits and veggie to cookies, candy, cake etc. He rarely drinks anything but bottled water or fresh made juice. When we have gone to birthday parties or social gatherings with the above mentioned foods/junk he will ask for fresh fruits or veggies instead.
Check out the garden diet site I don't think you will be disappointed.
Blessings R