our first raw lunch!!!

[Genesisjoy]

My 6 month old daughter and I just had our first raw lunch!
It was easy and delicious!
I just found what I had on hand:
1 org. sweet potato
1 org. tangerine
org frozen strawberries
org. spring mix salad
and water from our filter
she gagged on the first bite, but did just great after that
we both got full fast!
Thanks everyone for all the advice on our first day raw...
I eat alot of org. beans and lentils are they raw???
and what about soy milk vs. nut milk?
and what about tofu?

[Veganforlife]

Oh very cool! She will love it and be so healthy! Congrads to you! YAY!
Soy milk no - nut milk - yes.
Beans and lentils you may wanna sprout first, then grind in FP and use in a dish.
Do you have Alissa's book? It's wonderful! :D

[Genesisjoy]

I do need to get the book, I will when payday rolls around next, but in the mean time all the info has been great, plus I have to go grocery shopping tonight and I have to totally re~think the whole thing...
I thought I was doing so much good for my family before, now this whole new world of eating raw has presented itself to me and well it reminds me of when I first found out about organic and pesticides and so on and so fourth
I'm really excited!
Do you have to make your own nut milk or is there storebought raw nut milk?
Is all soy not good or what cause I thought it was, my daughter and I eat quite a bit.
would dried beans sprout?
couldn't I just soak them and eat them?

[Veganforlife]

I don't know of raw nut milk from the stores. It's so easy to make! And then the pulp you can use for other things.
I personally feel ALL soy is bad. Use the banana up top to search and you'll see info on it.
I'm not sure re: the soak beans and eating them. Again, I guess do another search, unless someone pipes in here with info.
You SHOULD be excited! Wait until you feel the benefits from it! WHOA! This is great that you are going raw!!!

[Vegan Princess]

Hi. I forgot the name of the book, but a lady who worked w/Gabriel Cousens had a baby and then wrote a book about feeding children raw. I read through the book at a raw cafe a couple weeks ago and it has some great recipes for when children first start eating. Maybe you can find it on amazon.com. Sorry I don't know the name. :rolleyes:

[MaineMomof4]

Genisis how did you make the lunch for your baby, a Vitamix blender? Just curious because I am having my fourth baby in March but have never made my own baby food but always bought organic. My family is trying to do a raw food diet and I definetly want to make the baby food this time. I have heard some bad about soy but I have spoke to a lot of vegans lately that love soy and see nothing wrong with it and say why would it be bad when it is from soy beans, they were talking about tofu specifically. I'm doing more research on my own. It's not hard to make almond milk, I'm learning these things and my kids love it. The kind at the store is dead =( It even taste better when you make it at home (just soak almonds over night, drain almonds and rinse thoroughly, blend in blender, strain through cheese cloth, sprout bad, fine strainer, squeezing almond pulp to get all milk out, then you can add nutmeg, cinnamon, some agave to sweeten if desired, and even some vanilla) Well hope to talk soon!

[carolg]

Check also on feeding raw kids. Eachpeachplum, I want to say strawberry, kidding, but she has a great list of awesome ideas. She's super informative. You will be blessed searching for it. Click on search above and plug in words feeding raw kids. Best to you. Wow 4th.......

carolg

[Genesisjoy]

I used a blender, sometimes I use my food processor. she hates the texture of raw carrots ground up, she loves the smoothies I make her! :p

[Ariannah]

Congratulations on feeding your baby the best there is!

For babies, I've had the most success with just putting soft fruit for her to pick up and eat, or mashed up alone and eaten.

Stuff like bananas, pears, etc... For young babies (I've had 4), our experience has been that simple is best to let them develop their taste for what foods taste like. Blends are nice after a while, but it also gives the chance to pinpoint less than optimal foods when they are introduced one at a time.

[MaineMomof4]

Hi this might sound like a wierd question but can babies and kids digest raw sweet potatoes? Thanks! :)

[Nimmanu]

As far as soy, I'm not sure from a raw food standpoint about soy (waiting for my book to arrive, myself), but I can tell you one thing. If you live in the United States then you really should avoid all soy.

The FDA (not that they're the most reliable, but if even they admit this, then, well...) has done focus groups and found that the average American citizen, in fact, the average HIGHLY EDUCATED American citizen, doesn't realize how much GMO is widespread in our culture. Both GMO soy and GMO wheat are at astronomical levels in our society.

FDA study group regarding GMOs: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/biorpt.html

Even "organic" and "GMO free" soys can be labeled that and still use GMO soy. All you have to do in order to claim "GMO free" soy is to remove it from GMO soy by two generations. In other words, take GMO soy, grow it, plant the seeds. Grow those plants, plant the seeds again. Viola, non-GMO soy!

Let's face it, how realistic is that? GMO soy creates more GMO soy creates more GMO soy... replanting it for a couple of generations won't make it into non-GMO soy. The soy retains its bug deterrent properties, yet we should believe it loses all the other GMO properties? Come now, I doubt many of us are THAT dumb. I might be pretty dumb, but seriously.

Sadly enough, GMO soy is the only GMO that the American public seems to have woke up about, and unfortunately, even that to only a degree. There is a lot of trickery involved, because the FDA believes that "non-GMO" and "GMO free" are nothing but marketing, and don't need to be regulated. They claim there is no health reason to regulate GMO claims. So even if someone falsely claims GMO free, the worst they can get is false advertising- and even that only if someone cared to pursue it that far.

As for what GMO soy can do, it contains high levels of phyto-estrogens. It will cause your body to become hormonally imbalanced. Here's what estrogen imbalance can do for you:


Estrogen is not a single hormone. It is a class of hormones and hormone like compounds that have estrogenic properties. There are human estrogens, animal estrogens, synthetic estrogens, phytoestrogens, and xenoestrogens. The three human estrogens are estradiol, estrone, and estriol, and belong to the steroid hormone family.

"Estrogen dominance" is a term coined by Dr. John R. Lee. It describes a condition where a woman can have deficient, normal, or excessive estrogen but the body has little or no progesterone to balance its effects. Signs and symptoms of estrogen dominance include:

Speeds up the aging process
Allergies
Autoimmune disorders
Breast cancer
Breast tenderness
Cold hands and feet as a symptom of thyroid dysfunction
Decreased sex drive
Depression
Dry eyes
Early onset of menstruation
Uterine cancer
Fat gain in abdomen, hips, and thighs
Fatigue
Fibrocystic breasts
Foggy thinking
Hair loss
Headaches
Hypoglycemia
Increased blood clotting
Infertility
Irregular menstrual periods
Insomnia
Memory loss
Mood swings
PMS
Ovarian cysts
Pre-menopausal bone loss
Prostate cancer
Sluggish metabolism
Thyroid dysfunction
Uterine cancer
Uterine fibroids
Water retention and bloating

In industrialized countries such as the United States, diets rich in animal fats, sugar, refined starches, and processed foods can lead to estrogen levels in women twice that of women of third-world countries. We are constantly exposed to xenobiotics (petrochemicals), xenohormone-laden meats and dairy products, forms of pollution, and prescriptions for synthetic hormones (such as the 'The Pill' and Premarin). It isn't too surprising that estrogen dominance has become an epidemic in industrialized countries. Over exposure to these potentially dangerous substances has significant consequences, one of which is passing on reproductive abnormalities to offspring.

Estrogen "deficiency" that is quite often used as an explanation of menopausal symptoms or health problems is not supported by sound research. When a woman's menstrual cycle is functioning normally, estrogen is the dominant hormone for the first two weeks and is balanced by progesterone, which is the dominant hormone for the latter two weeks. After menopause, estrogen is still present and continues to be manufactured in fat cells. Most menopausal women have too little estrogen to support pregnancy, but sufficient amounts for other normal body functions. Few women are truly deficient in estrogen; most become progesterone deficient. If estrogen becomes the dominant hormone and progesterone is deficient, excess estrogen becomes toxic to the body. Progesterone has a balancing effect on estrogen

http://www.progestnet.com/documents/estrogen.html

In studies on rats, it was found that GMO soy had a catastrophic effect on number of stillbirths, as well as creating poor growth and over-all low birthweight:

http://www.saynotogmos.org/ud2005/uoct05.html#posterity