Should you raise your child as a vegetarian? There is no reason why you shouldn’t, in fact there are many reasons why you actually should.  

Most peoples concerns about being vegetarian relate to getting the right nutrients without meat. That is because we are told meat gives us so many good things. But is this true? Or does it give us things which are in fact detrimental to our health and the health of our children?

First of all most meat eaters will tell you that it is natural for humans to eat meat and that we are built for it. However, if you compare humans to meat eating animals you will find that meat eating animals;

• Have sharp front teeth for tearing and no flat molars for grinding, completely the opposite to a human
• Have an intestinal tract only 3 times the length of their body, ours is 10-12 times. Thus, meat can stay in your intestine for up to 4 days. Put your meat in the sun for 4 days and see what happens to it! Your intestine is nice and warm…
• Have strong hydrochloric acid in the stomach to break up meat. The human beings is 20 times weaker
• Have acid saliva, we have alkaline. Alkaline saliva does not act properly on meat as meat is an acid substance.

Finally, wild animals eat their meat raw! That’s how they get all the nutrients out of it. No wild animal will ever eat cooked meat. We of course find this idea disgusting and cook it and cover it with sauces and seasonings.

In fact human beings have ingestive and digestive traits that are completely the same as animals who are herbivores.

Most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a Vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet. It’s only since the invention of the refrigerator that the obsession with eating meat has begun.

The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, “Man’s structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food.”

Nutrients

There is always the question of how can you ever get your protein and calcium without meat. This concerns most people, who believe that it is impossible without meat. This is especially important for parents when they consider their children. And probably the main reason parents start to give children meat so early on.

Protein

You should be aware that the protein in meat is actually of poor quality, incomplete and can hardly be utilized by the human body. It doesn’t have the correct combination of amino acids.

More usable protein is found in one tablespoon of tofu or soybeans than the average serving of meat!

Eating varieties of fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes will give you all the protein you need. In fact Soy and Quinoa are complete proteins; they have the right amino acids, in the right proportions.

Plus, when you eat meat you also get the goodies associated with it; growth hormones and the chemicals given to the animals!

Calcium

Many vegetables, especially green leafy ones are a great source of calcium. You get enough of your calcium requirement from these. It is well known that vegetarians suffer less from osteoporosis.

Cows, goats, gorillas, elephants, rhinoceroses are all vegetarians; they manage to get everything they need and are very strong and well built.

On the Plate

As a vegetarian you need to research and balance your diet, even if you eat meat you should do this. A diet based on Coca-Cola, pizza, and French fries is technically vegetarian, but not healthy.

The healthiest vegetarian diet will have a lot of vegetables, fruits, nuts, and legumes.

At meals, half of one’s plate should be devoted to nonstarchy, colorful vegetables. Whole grains also are important, but confine those to a quarter of your plate. The other quarter should contain lean, plant-based sources of protein, like tofu or beans.

Iron absorption is actually influenced by other components of the diet—coffee and tea inhibit absorption, while vitamin C enhances it. Good sources of iron: fortified cereal, oatmeal, lentils, beans, tofu, and spinach.

Vegetarians and Vegans are the healthiest people on the planet. It has now been scientifically proven that a balanced vegetarian diet is better than a diet that is taken with meat.

Meat, even in small doses, increases the incidence of certain diseases including diabetes, hypertension, colon cancer, heart disease and many others.

Conclusion

Eating a vegetarian diet is definitely good for you. And you need not worry about getting enough protein, calcium etc. if you do it correctly. Eating meat does not give you all the goodness that you are told it does. In fact it is more likely to cause illness later than give you any benefits.

Both our children eat what we eat and we are vegetarian. They are both very healthy and hardly ever sick. They lack nothing in their diet.

One interesting fact; it has been shown that aggression levels are much higher in meat eaters than non-meat eaters!

This cookbook has great recipe ideas for vegetarian children.

Microwave ovens are a standard kitchen appliance in most homes these days. In fact the use of them has increased substantially in the last thirty years, not only in homes but commercially too, in restaurants and cafés.  

The microwave oven is marketed as safe, fast and energy efficient. But is it so safe and what does it actually do to the food that you consume or give to your child? Is there any chance we are harming our health and especially the health of our children by using a microwave oven?

The microwave oven is widely used these days and fits perfectly into the present day lifestyles of most families – it saves you time, when you have so little in the first place.

But in an age where illness and disease are still so prevalent and especially illnesses associated with nutrient deficiency and toxin overload, maybe we should be looking at the microwave. It may not be the cause of it all but there is every chance it is one piece of the jigsaw.

How does a microwave oven work?

Simply put, the microwave oven produces electromagnetic radiation of the right wavelength to make the food molecules vibrate rapidly.

All wave energy changes polarity (+ to -) with every cycle of a wave. In microwave ovens this happens billions of times per second. Food molecules, especially water have these same polarities. When the microwaves bombard the food they cause the food molecules to rotate at the same frequency, billions of times a second. All this agitation creates molecular friction, which in turn heats up the food.

The oven itself is basically an enclosed metal cavity (the door may be mostly plastic, but there’s a metal mesh in it that keeps the microwave radiation from escaping). A special type of vacuum tube, called a magnetron emits the microwave radiation, and a waveguide carries it into the cavity, where it bounces around until it’s absorbed by your food and converted to heat.

Safety

Manufacturers are subject to strict guidelines to ensure there is minimal leakage of radiation outside of the oven. This is the most studied and reported aspect of microwave ovens. However, if you ask most people they will say that they avoid standing in front of the microwave oven whilst it is heating something. What is the reason for this? Because people still believe it to be dangerous to do so.

Regardless, these same people are still quite happy to eat the food that has been exposed to the radiation inside the same microwave oven!

Studies

In America, neither universities nor the federal government have conducted any tests concerning the effects on the body from eating microwaved foods. They are more concerned with studies about what happens if the door on the microwave doesn’t close properly. This is rather strange; surely there should be studies on what happens to the food itself as well?

Swiss clinical study

Dr. Hans Ulrich Hertel (food scientist) and Dr Bernard H. Blanc (swiss federal institute of technology and the university institute for biochemistry) were the first scientists to conceive and carry out a quality clinical study on the effects microwaved nutrients have on the blood and physiology of the human body.

They showed that microwave cooking changed the nutrients in the food and that changes took place in the participants’ blood that could cause deterioration in the human system.

Their study took a group of volunteers and over a period of time, each received one food sample on an empty stomach. The samples being one of either milk or vegetables – raw, cooked normally or microwaved. Blood samples were taken immediately before eating and then at defined intervals after eating.

Significant changes were discovered in the blood samples from those eating the microwaved foods.

These changes included a decrease in all hemoglobin and cholesterol values, especially the ratio of HDL (good cholesterol) and LDL (bad cholesterol) values. White blood cells showed a more distinct short-term decrease following eating. Each of these indicators pointed to degeneration.

Leukocytes are signs of pathogenic effects on the living system, such as poisoning and cell damage. The increase of leukocytes in the participants who had microwaved foods showed that these increases were caused entirely by ingesting microwaved substances.

Reaction

Soon after these findings were published the authorities and industry reacted, strongly. There was a ‘gag order’ placed on the two scientists, stopping them from further publishing results. And Dr Hertel was convicted for ‘interfering with commerce’!  He fought this and five years later the European Court of Human Rights reversed both decisions. In addition Switzerland was ordered to pay Dr Hertel compensation.

This shows precisely how sensitive a subject this is.

Microwaved blood kills patient

In 1991 in Oklahoma, Norma Levitt (a hip surgery patient) died from a simple blood transfusion. Blood for transfusions is routinely warmed but not in microwave ovens. In this case however the nurse had done precisely that. The microwave irradiation had altered the blood causing death. This resulted in a law suit being filed because of the use of the microwave.

This makes it clear there’s more to heating with microwaves than you think or are led to believe. This form of ‘heating’ obviously does something to the substance it heats and by heating your food in a microwave oven you are ingesting these ‘unknowns’.

When is water not water

The anthroposophist A. Bohmert reported the following discovery in one of her presentations: water samples were heated, some in a microwave oven and others conventionally, and then left to cool down before use. These water samples were then used to bring grain to germination. The grain in contact with microwaved water was the only one that did not germinate.

Experiments have also been reported about watering plants with microwaved water and the plants not growing properly or in some cases actually dying. Here’s a link to an experiment showing the effects ;

Microwaved Water – See What It Does To Plants 

Think of your children

One microwaved meal won’t kill you but prolonged intake of such foods will surely cause damage. You might save time by using a microwave oven but how much time do you take off your life span by doing so? No long term studies have been done about the effects of consuming microwaved foods. Who is to say that the increase of cancer in the western world is not related to the use of microwaves?

You are of course free to make the choice for yourself but remember you are also making choices for your children. You are making decisions now that will affect the long term health of your child.

Before you pop that bottle of milk or jar of baby food in the microwave think about the consequences. What ‘unknowns’ are you introducing into your childs body? What nutrients in their food are you nuking and thus depriving them of? What long term illnesses are you exposing them to by altering their food by microwaving it? And what pressure are you putting on an immature body, yet to fully develop, by introducing potential toxins into it?

Can you be so sure it is ok to use a microwave that you risk your childs present and future health? Surely, taking that little extra time to heat conventually is worth the sure knowledge that you are not harming your child in the process.

White refined sugar – you’ll find it in sweets, cereals, tinned foods, drinks and in many more things and it is causing untold damage to your child. The power of sugar to harm should not be underestimated. Do you know how many of the foods you feed your child are laced with sugar? Do you know how much sugar your child intakes in a day? Do you know the long term health issues of consuming sugar?

Every parent should consider these questions seriously because your child’s future depends on it. Everyone ‘knows’ sugar is bad for them but most people do not take it seriously enough. Just knowing how white refined sugar reacts in your body should be enough to put you off.

What sugar does in your body

When you consume white refined sugar (in whatever form), it goes straight through the stomach wall without being digested. Your blood sugar level then rises way too high and your pancreas has to produce insulin in order to bring it down again. If your body didn’t rebalance your blood sugar level, you would die.

And because whatever you ate is an empty food, void of any nutrients, your blood sugar level then drops and you have the feeling you are hungry or dissatisfied. You inevitably then consume more sugar rocketing your blood sugar level again, and again overworking your pancreas.

There is no balance for your body whilst you are stuck in this cycle. Insulin is pumped into your blood stream more often than it should be, because of the sugar and this promotes the storage of fat, resulting in weight gain.

Energy Boost?

People believe that sugar actually gives them an energy boost, and food manufacturers would like you to believe that. But in fact the rush you feel when you eat sugar is in fact from the insulin pumping into your blood stream. This cycle is repeated whenever you consume sugar and the constant rising and falling of your blood sugar level is putting pressure on your body and mind.

It is obvious that regular consumption of sugar cannot be good for you. But people mistakenly believe that if they don’t add sugar to anything they eat or drink they are ok (for example not adding sugar to their coffee or tea). But sugar is in virtually every processed food that you consume. It is cheap and tasty and manufacturers use it for those very reasons.

Increase in use of sugar

Over the last thirty years the use of sugar, by food manufacturers, has increased substantially. For instance in 1978 Kellogg’s Special K had 9.6g of sugar per 100g, today it has 17g, about the same as you will find in vanilla ice cream! Tinned foods such as soups have also seen a large increase in sugar content. I won’t even mention the sugar levels in chocolates or sweets.

Sugar is addictive and makes you want to eat more. Also, we have a natural sweet tooth and food companies have increased their use of sugar in order to attract those ’sweet toothed’ customers. Some of the biggest increases in sugar levels over the last thirty years are in cereals, particularly cereals targeted at children.

Food companies targeting children

In fact you have to question all the marketing that you see for children’s foods. You’ll see on the television advertisements stating that such and such a product has so many grains, energy, protein etc. BUT, how much sugar does it have, they’ll never advertise that fact, of course not. I recently saw an advert for NUTELLA, with them stating how healthy it was. What nonsense, it is full of sugar! But yes, it has some milk in it and they focus on the calcium, they must really think people are stupid…

The real effects of Sugar

As a parent you need to be aware of these facts and keep an eye on how much sugar your child is consuming in a day. Not just ‘direct’ sugar but also through products with hidden quantities of sugar. If your child is consuming too many of these they are not getting the nutrients and minerals that they need. Instead, their bodies are being loaded with refined sugars and empty calories. Sugar actually robs your child’s body of vital nutrients and leaches minerals and B Vitamins.

Sugar also ;

• Suppresses the immune system, making us open to bacterial infections
• Increases inflammation
• Throws off the body’s ability to both absorb and maintain proper balance of essential minerals (i.e., calcium, magnesium, chromium, copper)
• Creates hormonal imbalances
• Creates mood, mental and behavior shifts such as depression, hyperactivity, anxiety, aggression, inability to concentrate or think clearly and drowsiness

Illnesses & Behavioral problems

With this knowledge in hand it is not too hard to realize that constant and regular consumption of white refined sugar is not good for your child, or you. Many illnesses and behavioral problems can be linked to sugar consumption. You will find numerous ’scientific’ studies categorically stating that sugar has no effect on, ADHD for instance. But these studies are normally on a small group, for a short period of time and in a controlled environment (hospital), never in normal environments such as school or home.

But, common sense tells you the answer. You know how your child reacts to sugar and if you don’t, start to pay attention and you will soon see. You do not need any studies or ‘experts’ to tell you what you can work out for yourself.

The one reason people to do not realize the effects of sugar is that they cannot remember how it was, not to have sugar in their body. Try the following and I guarantee you will change the way you think about sugar, forever.

Sugar Detox

For four weeks cut out ALL sugar from your diet. It’s not easy but if you can commit to it and see it through you will be amazed at the results. It’s much harder than you can ever imagine and you will go through drug like symptoms (withdrawal, mood swings, sleeping badly etc). The first week or two is the hardest but after that you’ll notice increased levels of energy and you’ll be feeling generally fantastic. See it through the whole four weeks and then do the following.

Make sure you’re somewhere you can sit down and observe yourself and your body. Now take a bar of chocolate and eat it. You will begin to feel some sensations building up in your body that will not feel good at all. You will actually feel the sugar and insulin pumping through your blood stream. You may feel dizzy, you may need to go to the toilet or you may feel sick. Take good notice of what is happening in your body now, this is what happens every time you or your child consume sugar.  

I did this about five years ago and it changed my view on sugar forever. When I had my bar of chocolate I nearly fainted. I haven’t cut out sugar completely and I don’t think that is realistic but I am very careful about allowing the build up of sugar in my diet. I am also aware of feeling run down, lethargic or moody and inevitably it is linked to my diet, in particular sugar.

Be informed

Just by knowing the effects of white refined sugar and being aware how many products have ‘hidden’ sugars in them, you are well on the way to helping your child live a healthier and happier life.

You don’t need to stop all sugar, you just need to control the amount your child consumes. Your child will sleep better, respond better, feel better, be healthier, be calmer, concentrate better and be happier. It’s simple really, look at those packet ingredients and avoid sugar loaded products.

In our ‘time restricted’ lives it is hard, but making your own foods instead of relying on processed and packaged foods will in the long run contribute to the overall health of your child. Not only physically but mentally too. And you’ll save on all those visits to the doctor as you’ll have a much healthier child, one who recovers much quicker when/if he is ill.

It was reported in the UK yesterday that most over the counter cold and cough medicines do not actually work in children under the age of 12. Not only that, they have also been linked to adverse side effects and even death in some cases. The British authorities have now launched an investigation into 69 different medicines after their findings.

Popular cough and cold medicines which have been used for years to treat children probably do not work, Government health experts have admitted.

The most concerning factor is that the British warnings cover a wide range of ingredients already used by the drug companies for years.

Professor and Pediatrician Innes Asher, from New Zealand,  said research showed the medicines were “no better than just having a bit of sugary water”.

I’m sure there will be a defense offensive initiated by the drug companies now that these findings have been released and I’m also sure certain statistics and figures will be contended and ‘manipulated’. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that there are questions being raised about the safety of these medicines and about how much we can actually trust the drug companies.

The Bigger Question

This whole issue raises a larger question though – do we rely too easily on medicines?

We live in a culture these days where at the slightest sniff (pun intended) of illness, we head straight to the doctor or to a ‘pop a pill’ solution. In our busy lives we do not have time to be sick, or for our children to be sick. Drug companies know this and have played on this for years in their marketing of such products.

But we SHOULD take the time to be sick and allow our bodies to fight the illness by themselves. We will never allow our own immune system to build effectively if we continually fight illnesses with medicines.

There is of course much more to it than just that. A healthy diet and appropriate lifestyle will contribute considerably towards a healthy body.

If you allow your body to fight bacteria and illness itself it will become more efficient at it, over time. I personally have not been to a doctor for over 20 years. I get the odd cold and have had the flu twice in that time but never took any medicine for it.

As far as children go I think the same principal applies. They are new beings and are growing and developing. Part of that development is to build an immune system that is strong and efficient. Giving them medicines at every turn will not allow that to happen. Children can easily recover from a cough or cold by themselves anyway. They just need lots of rest and fluids.

Change of Mentality

I think the real issue is about how we personally view illness and that in turn effects how we treat our children’s illnesses.

If you are someone who runs to the pharmacy or doctor for a ‘fix’ then you probably do not believe in your own bodies ability to heal itself. Or you believe maybe it can but you don’t have the time to wait for it to do that.

These attitudes need to change. If you actually experience your own bodies ability to heal, you are more likely to believe that your child’s can too.

Solution

What is needed is for people to take responsibility for what they put in their bodies. And I’m not only referring to medicines here, I’m talking about food too. We put such a strain on our bodies by consuming toxic foods and then when we are sick we put more toxins in to fix them, sounds crazy to me. Plus, that gives your bodies immune system no chance at all to function.

If we were to consider our food intake in the first place , then maybe there would be less illnesses. This subject requires a whole article itself, maybe even more.  But it is obvious to me that what we consume these days is basically what is making us sick. A change of diet would cure a lot of illnesses.

Finally there is the question about the drug companies themselves. Can we trust them? Do they really care about our health or are they just interested in making money?Findings such as these about cold and cough medicines raise these questions, and rightly so.  

What else have they put out there which is dangerous or ineffective, yet to be discovered? What about vaccinations, do they actually work or are they doing more harm than good?

At the end of the day, no one cares more about the health of your child than YOU. It is your responsibility to ensure you have done the best you can to help him/her heal. That will include diet, rest, comforting and time. If you can say you have done all these but still need medicine then fair enough. But don’t use it as the first option. Build a healthy family unit first, rely on yourself not medicine.

This is a cake I baked for Deva’s birthday.

The idea was to bake a cake without loads of sugar. I achieved this with the cake itself. However I then wanted to decorate the cake and hence the addition of the icing. The cake can be made and eaten without the icing.  

Ingredients

Cake

200g Butter
150g Dark Chocolate, in chunks
1 Cup White Flour
1 Cup Whole Meal Flour
4 tbsp (heaped) Cacao
2 tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
4 Eggs
3 Apples, peeled, cored & grated 

Icing

2 tbsp Butter, melted
½ Cup Banana, pureed
2 tsp Lemon Zest, finely grated
2 tsp Lemon Juice
2 Cups Icing Sugar 

Method

Cake

• Pre-heat Oven to 180C (356F)
• In a saucepan, on low heat melt Butter & Chocolate together. Do not simmer, mix well and remove from cooker.
• In a large bowl, combine flours, cacao & baking powder
• Add vanilla essence to the butter/chocolate mix and beat in the eggs
• Add this mixture to the bowl with flours etc
• Add grated apples and mix all together well
• Spoon into a 22cm round cake tin that is lined with baking paper or greased with butter
• Bake for approximately 35 minutes, until firm to touch
• To check it is done, insert a wooden skewer into the middle of the cake. On removal it should clean. i.e. no cake attached
• Allow to cool in the tin

Icing

• Mix all ingredients together until a thick substance is formed
• Remove cake from tin once it is completely cooled down
• Spread icing over the cake
• Decorate with candies and candles

Here’s a recipe for a Dutch Fruit Cake, it’s simple and yummy.

Your kids will love it, it’s perfect for morning or afternoon tea and also an ideal snack or for their lunch box.

Ingredients

• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 500g White Flour
• 200g Whole Meal Flour
• 200g Brown Sugar
• 2 tbsp Mixed Spice
• Pinch of Salt
• 500ml Milk (Soy or Rice if preferred)
• 100g Butter
• 175g Dried Fruits (cut into small pieces)
• 2 handfuls Walnuts, chopped

Method

• Pre-heat oven to 170 Celsius / 338 Fahrenheit
• Soak the dried fruits in hot water for 10 minutes
• Butter a 10cm by 22cm cake tin
• Sift flour & baking powder together in a bowl
• Add mixed spice, sugar & salt and stir
• In a pan warm the milk, do not boil
• Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the milk
• Stir until butter is melted
• Add milk mixture to the flour mixture and combine
• Stir until mixture is smooth and sticky
• Finally add the dried fruit and mix in well
• Pour mixture into baking tin and cook for 50 minutes
• To check it is done insert a fork into the cake. On removal it should come out clean. i.e. no cake mixture attached to the fork.
• Cool and cut into slices

Here’s a great little snack which is a perfect replacement for those white sugar filled sweets. Easy to make and yummy!

Ingredients

• 520g Pitted Dates
• Finely ground coconut

 Method

• Soak the dates in hot water for 20 seconds (not longer as they’ll go too soft)
• Drain them immediately and place on a paper towel
• Chop up the dates to ensure there are no rogue pitts
• Place in a food processor and blend until a smooth paste is formed
• On a chopping board sprinkle some coconut
• Shape into fingers using 40g of date paste and cover in coconut as you go

That’s it, easy!