Need some encouragement

[KaitAnne]

Hi all,
I recently posted another thread about how a high raw diet has improved my daughter's immune system, and it has, and that's been a wonderful blessing...
But, she is becoming increasingly frustrated with raw foods and in turn so am I. She doesn't seem to like anything that I give her.

She does just fine with fruits (especially bananas, apples and grapes), so that's not a problem..

But right now I have yet to find a good green smoothie recipe that she really likes, so I won't have to give her a spinach salad to eat for lunch all the time. She enjoys salads! But every dressing I've made for her (vinegrette, raw ranch) she's hated. :(

She also doesn't seem too crazy about coconut, but then again I only tried one 'pudding' recipe using coconut and cashews...for some reason she doesnt seem to be crazy about anything cashew-related either, but I think it depends on the overall recipe. Cashew cream seemed to be a winner with her.

I have some oat groats soaking overnight right now and am planning on making a cinammon oatmeal type thing tomorrow..I have no idea if she (or I) will even like it. But I really feel like she needs some grains.

My dehydrator also is a dud cuz it gets too hot..so I can't use it. I need to buy a newer and more expensive one, I'm sure..so I can't make dehydrated snack-foods as of yet.

She's a typical kid, her fav's are ice cream, pizza, pasta, fries, all that stuff. Tho she knows that stuff is only for once in a while, she still misses it.

Sometimes it's so lonely trying for a raw lifestyle, like no one else is with you, as I'm sure you all can relate.
I'm determined to do what's best for her.

If I can get her to be 75-100% raw on any given day I'll be thrilled.

I guess I need a good list of tested kid-approved recipes for salad dressings, green smoothies, and a good bread and cracker alternative, as well as anything else that I can make that she'll always enjoy.
I haven't come across many things that she's liked, unfortunately.:confused:

I also tried making flaxseed crackers which were HORRID, :eek:just the smell grossed me out, I definitely need a better recipe!

[spicyfull]

Just put the things she like in the Smoothie. I never use a Recipe for Smoothies, I just add what I have on hand. Children fuss about everything. She can have all of these foods she loves if you want to prepare them for her.

Have you purchased Alissa's Book, Living on RAW Food? There you will find Recipes for Pizza, Ice Creme and much more. Dealing with a sick Child every now and them can be hair pulling. Let her help you prepare her food and reinforce how she feels when she eats other food and how she feels RAW.

I wish you all the Best on your Journey.

[Dimond]

Smoothies: If she likes fruit, she should easily like a smoothie. Maybe you need to add more fruit to make it taste good. Bananas and oranges/juice are a good sweet combo. Green Soups are another option you may explore.

Pudding: How about a chocolate one? You can also combine different fruits to make a pudding and even turn it into a green pudding.
Combos:
Kiwi+Banana
Bananas+water
Strawberries+Kiwi
Plum+Kiwi
Bananas+Strawberries

Dressing: What SAD ones does she like?

Pizza: Love Force makes a focaccia bread that works really well to make pizza, if you can't make your own crust. I add chopped spinach, tomato sauce, and salsa, but you can add any toppings.

Have you tried zucchini pasta or lasagna?

2 types of ice cream:

Ice Cream

Frozen bananas
Agave
Mix together in chopper.
Options: Carob powder, Cinnamon and/or Almond butter

Vanilla Ice Cream
¼ cup Nut Milk (cashew or almond best)
5-6 frozen Bananas
Dash Salt
½ -1 tsp Vanilla
Blend until consistency of soft serve ice cream.

[Veganforlife]

My advice? Keep with it. Don't give up. Think positive. And here, look at all these green smoothie recipes!

http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=42834&highlight=green+smoothie+recipes

[kaybee]

also maybe check out the thread on what do you feed your kids started by eachpeachpearplum
www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=9872&highlight=eachpeachpearplum

sorry dont know if that link will work but if not you can paste it into the site box

[HolyGuacamole]

The thread kaybee posted is full of great ideas.


Let her pick what goes in and make the green smoothies!
Kids like stuff so much better when it was "their idea."


If a little bit of bad dressing is keeping her eating salads, then I would let her continue to eat the yucky dressing, only gradually mix it with good raw stuff 'til eventually she's eating just the raw. Even if you never did get her on raw dressing (which would obviously be greatly preferable), a little bit of dressing is not going to kill her or ruin her whole diet, and it's so worth it if it keeps her eating salads every day. If the only non-raw thing she ate all day was a few spoonfuls of dressing, she'd still be 95%+ raw.


It is definitely worth it to purchase some prepared crackers, granola, and whatnot, at least until you've mastered the art of making some your family likes, if it keeps everybody on the right path. I'm totally comfortable with the breads and crackers I make and I still spend money on prepared raw stuff for those times I haven't gotten around to or don't feel like making my own. It's definitely worth keeping around.

You might try making more raw "treats" for a while like Alissa's Date Nut Torte or an ice cream or something cacao-y, if that helps her think of raw food as something yummy.

Good luck and kudos to you for giving your daughter the best!

[Alina]

Hi KaitAnne,

Here are my two cents:

You say "If I can get her to be 75-100% raw on any given day I'll be thrilled." It almost sounds like you are forcing her to be raw (I may be wrong, just a perception). The initiative to eat high raw diet should be coming, first and foremost, from her, no matter how much you want her to.

The best thing you can do it: have healthy eating discussions with her (not just say "ice-cream is back for you" but explain why), ask what she likes and doesn't like to eat and go with what she likes, make recipes together (and let her pick the ones you are going to make).

You say she loves salads - great! Let her eat loads of salad instead of forcing her to drink green smoothies. Vary greens and veggies to avoid boredom.

Also, I don't know how old your daughter is but maybe there's some peer pressure behind the scene? Maybe she is not comfortable being raw around her friends?


I recently read Sergei and Valya Boutenko's book "Fresh" and it's really great for helping kids understand the raw food diet. It is also loaded with fabulous easy to make recipes - I am sure you daughter can find at least 10 things in there she can enjoy making and eating.

Hope this helps.

Alina

[KaitAnne]

Thank you guys.

No I haven't gotten Alissa's book yet but it's next on my list, it sounds like it's been a lifesaver for many people. I've held off cuz I've spent SO much money on raw items, food, books and equipment lately that I couldn't justify spending another penny just yet. This has been costly, but worth it in the long run I'm sure.

Thank you GilmoreGirl for those recipe ideas, I'll try those out first, I hope she likes them. And as for dressing, shjust loves regular hidden valley ranch. I used a recipe from "Raw food for busy people" and made a 'ranch' dressing, but she doesn't like it, prolly cuz it's cashew based??

Holyguacamole, you're right about using the regular dressing, in fact I've been planning all day to just give her the usual stuff, at least for now til I find a better sub, cuz yea, it won't kill her :)

Alina, my daughter's 4 :) So I pretty much have all the say when it comes to her diet. I'm trying to remain as positive as possible, and not forceful, but it's been hard. I think it's a great idea to allow her to make her own decisions with smoothie ingredients and whatnot. Perhaps that's what she needs.

And well the oatmeal was a miss today :( The recipe was from Ani Phyo's book, it was just oat groats with dates and cinammon. I thought it was good! Except the oats were still a little hard after soaking for over a day. But not her sadly, I'll try another recipe.

[Alina]

You are right, she is too young to make educated decisions :) That's why I asked.

I would suggest contacting Jinjee of Raw Garden Diet. Two of her kids went cooked for a little while when they were younger. She might share some insights into how to help them stay high raw.

You have to be very careful with such a small child - lots of people made mistakes and ruined their children's teeth and health. I know for a fact that Karen Knowler, who is 100% raw and has been for some time now, is feeding her son (5 years old) a vegetarian diet (not even vegan) with lots of fruit and greens. There's just too few studies made with kids on raw and too many horror stories.

[Raw Angel Mom]

There is a mommy on this thread that shared that at first, all of her son would eat was fuge ball and sometime raw onion. She told to herself, well at least this is better then the old diet. She kept the faith, didn't give in and just give him what he wanted with raw and stand her ground about the cook food. End result, he started to eat more variety and did so great with his health condition.

Mine doesn't eat much variety too but i know she is healthy and i am ok with her eating the samething. I am looking forward for her to be more flexible but hey, i will take what i can get.

Cook food is very addictive and this is normal that your child might get bored on raw food at first. I support trying the raw icecream. Fudge ball are very popular with children. Don't give up and try to do new recipe. Perhaps, you can get her involved with the food preparration.

Best wishes!