Kristi,
This is one of my greatest concerns. We talk abut how AF babies are at such a disadvantage, in part, bc of the poor nutrition in AIM, but then, by about a year, most babies, no matter whether breast or AF, are all eating the same SAD crap. It's as if the message for infants is "give them the best start..." and for toddlers it's "it's fine, so long as it doesn't kill them". Which it will eventually and in the meantime will lead to gut damage, behavior problems, obesity, diabetes, hormone imbalances, allergies, asthma, eczema and all the other ailments that have become so common we call them normal.


Joel Fuhrman MD has a book out called "Disease Proof Your Child". In it, he advocates at least three years of breastfeeding and a whole foods diet. I disagree with a few of his points, but overall, I think it well beyond where most people are. He quite literally calls parents out all the time for setting their kids up for a lifetime of the kinds of chronic diseases he is famous for successfully treating. Other than that, Jay Gordon has a book called "Good Food Today, Great Kids Tomorrow". 


I teach a series of workshops for parents called "Raising Children Holistically" and spend an entire day on nutrition. Most parents have no clue that most of the foods they eat are what I would call "non-foods". 


I have been exploring nutrition intensively for 25 years and come to the point where I think the commonalities of all the approaches that seem to be healthy and healing: 


Avoid all pasteurized animal milk foods (my personal opinion--avoid all animal milks, period, but some people are insistent and seem to, at least for a time, do okay with raw), 
Avoid gluten---always and for everyone (many folks who help people heal their guts think you can eat it again after a long time--my opinion--why bother? They have no evidence the damage will not occur again--and yes, I think it damages everyone), 
Limit all other grains (and preferably stick to a couple of times a week--using foods like wild rice and quinoa--soaked and sprouted grains are far easier to digest), 
Eat fermented foods like sauerkraut (home-made makes it affordable)--there is some debate here, but not usually on foods liek sauerkraut--more often on kombucha and other foods that take yeast from the air
Avoid any and all factory-farmed animal foods (many on gluten-free diets still get sick when they eat meat, bc the animals are fed grains--which makes the animals sick and need abx--and makes the person sick both bc of the grains and the abx), 
Eat no foods that you know are GMO, 
Eat no "vegetable" oils--there is not such thing as a "Vegetable" oil--they are all from grains and seeds and are rancid--use olive or coconut oil (people on primal/paleo diets use animal fat form grass-fed animals--I do not know what the long-term results of that choice will be and as a vegan I have no intention to find out--but it has to be far better than canola oil!)
Use no synthetic or artificial anything--ever
Nuts should never be roasted and should be soaked before eating
Vegetables are the foundation of a nutrient-dense diet--some are best consumed raw, some cooked


Some thoughts about all of this (I take a nutritional profile on very client) 


Most parents eat crap themselves (although not all know they do), so they have programmed their kids in utero and through bfing (or artificial feeding) to eat crap and in their own food addictive brains, they rationalize what they feed their kids--so they can keep eating it too


Once you are an adult--three meals per day--no snacking supports good digestion--NOT grazing


Personally, I think parents today need to drag food everywhere they go (I do not mean w small children) bc those kids are so nutrient-starved they are always "hungry". Think back, if you are over 40 and your parents did not eat a processed diet (if they did--likely forget this question) -did your parents bring food everywhere you went? We ate three meals a day and a snack when we got home from school. We were lean and active and were not hungry all the time. 


Kids who eat primarily white/brown foods are NOT healthy and usually have food allergies and are craving the opiates from their allergens


Many other factors influence our health and well-being--some we cannot directly effect like toxins in the environment (although we can take them out of our personal environments--such as by avoiding toxic "cleaning and beauty care" products and medications/drugs).


Living in France, I of course have paid a lot of attention to what people eat. We have this idea that the French diet it so superior, and in many ways it is--but Western foods have quite literally overtaken the grocery stores and people fill their carts with crap and kids are starting to become much heavier. But, some things are still quite different. People know how to prepare food from ingredients. People do not eat on the run--they sit down with other people, usually, for meals. School lunches are 5 course meals made of real food. They eat three meals per day and their portions are MUCH smaller than Americans. And, they have the second-lowest bfing rates in all of EU! 


My 19-year old daughter, who is at university in Costa Rica told me last year that the best thing I ever did for her and her siblings was teach them to eat well! That was the whole point for me.



Jennifer Tow, IBCLC, France
Intuitive Parenting Network, LLC







Date:    Wed, 12 Oct 2011 17:32:37 -0600
From:    KRISTI R CONROY <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: appropriate toddler nutrition

Does anyone have any advice about where to find great information on nutrition 
beyond the first year?  I simply do not understand the flow from human milk to 
cows milk and so many of the other food choices suddenly given to children 
because they are a year old.  I've looked into a few certificate programs to 
become a dietitian or a nutritionist -- but they are all geared for adult diets.  
By the time people reach 18, their bodies are so messed up, I don't want to deal 
with them!  (Including my own!)
 
Any books, programs, classes that anyone has found good information?
 
Thank you so much!  
Kristi
(who saw a toddler today who will eat almost nothing beyond goldfish crackers 
and the pediatrician said it was "fine.")









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