rice for babies

[garydeb44]

Hi I just a quick question. My daughter is going to feed her baby for the first time. He is 6 months old and I told her to feed him fruit not rice but when she asked me why I couldn't really give her a solid factual answer. Can someone help me tell her why rice is so bad for you

[Veganforlife]

It's bad for me because it's a processed food and the enzymes have been cooked out. Fruit on the other hand or other foods that are whole/living come complete with their enzymes intact to aid digestion. Thus one's body can use ITS enzyme supply to heal and grow and live.

[Veronica01]

Does your sister even know if there are any nutrients in rice? All it will do is expand in her baby's stomach and make her feel full with no nutrients and be hard to digest as its sticky and processed.

[circle]

grains are not optimal for a person sprouted or cooked.

grains make you poop because when you eat them it is like they irritate the insides of your intestines, and then they make you shit because your body is trying to get rid of it. like when you smell dust and you have to sneeze or something. that's how grains are kind of.

also, they are dehydrating.

[lrpurro]

here are two really good sources of info about baby-led solids and foods that are more appropriate than rice:

http://www.kellymom.com/nutrition/solids/solids-how.html

http://www.borstvoeding.com/voedselintroductie/blw/engels.html

Hope you find some useful info there!
:)
Lisa

[*RayRay*]

Grains of all kinds are not meant for human consumption! They are extremely hard to digest!! Book that goes into detail about this and also has some good advice for mothers is "Electrical Nutrition" by Denie and Shelley Heistand

[Humanist]

Read "The Natural Food of Man" by Emmet Densmore for detailed arguments against grains and other starchy foods. They are harder to digest, require processing, and contain what he calls "earthy matter" or "choking up matter"—lime and potash, especially—the same elements that cause hardening of the arteries. They also cause elevated triglycerides and cholesterol. Densmore says that starches have to be digested in the duodenum, or second stomach. He says that mastication and insalivation can at best convert only a small percentage of starchy food into digestible sugars. Our closest cousins in the animal world, the gorillas, never eat grains.

I don't know whether these objections apply to sprouted grains. I doubt it. In treating cancer patients, Kristine Nolfi used sprouted rye, wheat, and yellow peas. She said that barley and oats took too long to germinate and soured easily.

[JEN]

I'll bet if you let the baby choose between cooked rice whatever baby food and a banana the baby would pick the banana. Rice always constipated my baby.

[rawbabymama]

If rice cereal was so wonderful, it wouldn't have to be fortified.

There are no nutrients naturally occurring in grains which cannot be obtained from other foods; therefore, grains are unnecessary.*

The reason grains make up the basis of the food pyramid is simple: they are cheap, filling, and promote diseases which make money for the pharmaceutical industry.

Unless one is extremely poor and must eat inexpensive, calorie dense foods to avoid starvation, there is no reason to eat grains.

Why not introduce babies to fresh, soft fruits which need little preparation, so they are more inclined to snack on fruits, instead of starches, later in life?

I have to admit I am a little biased...after being fed grains as a baby, I developed eczema, asthma & chronic ear, nose and throat infections, yeast infections, etc which plagued my childhood. It wasn't until I unintentionally removed grains from my diet by going 100% raw and subsequently became perfectly healthy, then ate grains again & suffered a return of ill health, that I realized how harmful they are. I have known many people who were very unhealthy until they eliminated grains from their diet. So, yeah, biased. :o

The other people on this thread had wonderful answers. Not sure if someone mentioned it, but grains, like all seeds, contain enzyme inhibitors and resist digestion because their goal of existence is to activated & sprout, not be eaten.

*Biased or not, this statement is factually true.

Best Wishes,

Michele