Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts

Sprouting With Kids


Happy New Year everyone! This post will provide you with a fun new project to jumpstart your healthy New Year resolutions :-)

A fun idea to try with your kids that I have been attempting with Kaden, is to grow SPROUTS. This is a great activity for Spring, although sprouts can be grown any time of year. Kids will love watching the little sprouts start to grow and then be able to eat them. This also may encourage fussy eaters to try a very nutritious treat.

Sprouts are a very nutrient dense food which provides an abundance of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and protiens. Since they are a living food (such as breastmilk, yogurt, etc.), they continue to gain more nutritient qualities even after they are harvested. This does not occur with food that 'die' after they are picked such as fruits and vegetables.  This 'living' factor also contributes to a more easily digestable food source. That is why breastmilk is easy for babies to digest and yogurt is often touted as a food that is excellent for digestion (we'va all seen the TV ads for that 'active' yogurt!).  Sprouting at home is an easy and frugal way to produce an excellent nutritional food source.


You can sprout many many things from nuts to beans (dried), just make sure that they are not too old or they wont sprout. This can be done inside using very simple materials and only requires you to rinse twice a day. Also, since kids can be impatient, sprouting is great for them because you will yield results in a couple of days and the sprouts should be ready in 3-4 days or longer, depending on the kind of sprouts.

The steps for sprouting can be found at these websites:

http://www.cityfarmer.org/sprout86.html
http://www.littleakiko.com/recipes/Sprouts.php




There are many ways you can use your sprouts in recipes. However, I realize that sprouts may not entice your children since they have a funny texture and acquired taste, but maybe, just maybe, they will try them if they helped grow them. Even if they don't eat them, this project can help teach children about plant growth and beginning to garden, as well as the responsibility of remembering to water them.
Try these links for recipes using sprouts once you have your harvest:


Sprout People
Canadian Living Sprout Recipes

Good Luck Sprouting!

The previous post has been adapted from "Sprouting with Kids" written by me in 2008 on my old blog "Generation Global" on Fredmoms.com

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , on Saturday, January 2, 2010 at at 1:12 PM 1 comments  

Asthma? WTF?




So, our family has been through a lot in the past few days. On Monday, our 15 month old became extremely lethargic, he was struggling to breath and not able to nurse. We took him to the hospital's H1N1 clinic and were rushed through. His oxygen levels were extremely low and his neck was pulsing and nostrils were flaring. His abdomen was contracting with every breath along with a 2 inch concaving in his chest when he tried to breath in. He couldn't even open his eyes and was gray around the mouth. The doctors thought he had H1N1 and contracted pneumonia. They were very worried and he was rushed away by ambulance. It was so incredibly scary to see paramedics, about 5 or 6 doctors, and 2 to 3 nurses looking down at his chart and then looking at each other with fearful eyes. I tried to stay calm,but I was afraid he wasn't going to make it. He almost suffocated to death.

In Emergency, they gave him masks and x-rays. No pneumonia was found, or H1N1 virus (although he could still have had it). Instead, they found enlarged lungs. Apparently my sweet little happy go lucky boy has asthma. So much for breastfeeding all this time, so much for eliminating toxic chemicals from his environment. None of the effort I went through to protect my child prevented him from getting asthma. I felt like a failure and I felt like I was losing my son.

The Ventolin masks really helped him and he came back to life although he still was vomiting any milk he tried to drink. I hated seeing him being pumped full of steroids and hooked up to machines and IVs, but what choice did I have? No naturopath would be able to help us now! I am grateful for emergency medicine and this is where our medical system is extremely proficient.

After a night in the hospital, a team of doctors came by to ask some questions. The main pediatrician was very happy to hear that Mikhail had been breastfed all this time and is still going strong. Apparently it could be much worse if he was bottle fed formula. Breastmilk is very important in preventing and reducing asthma it seems. This is probably why he has been alright until now and they said it is most definitely why he has not shown any allergies or persistent eczema. At this point I was feeling better about my efforts and about his future.

After another couple of days, we were allowed to go home. The doctors gave me a list of things to do to improve his environment, starting with giving away our brand new Golden Retriever puppy. Ironic that we bought this puppy specifically for Mikhail. He could have been part of the reason the attack occurred. I've always envisioned our home with pets, but apparently this is a no go. Maybe a hairless cat someday? The list of improvements was daunting but also empowering. I was happy to see that we have already done much in the way of helping his environment including not using any toxic cleaners, laundry products, air sprays (like Febreez, etc.), synthetic bedding, etc. The organic mattresses we've bought for Mikhail and ourselves are definitely paying off now! As well, his diet is important. I'm so glad that nutrition has been such a huge focus in our lives since Mikhail is already getting the best food I can afford. Apparently asthma medication can reduce bone mass, so he'll just need extra of my homemade yogurt every day :) Thank God he loves the stuff!

All in all, I am happy that our family's crunchy habits are already in place and have created a buffer against this disease. I'm scared and stressed and do not know how to handle this right now, but at least our lifestyle is set up to be able to deal with this issue. If any of you have experience with asthma, please leave a comment and let me know how you've dealt with it and what I can do to help my little boy.

Posted in: , , , , , , , , , , on Thursday, November 5, 2009 at at 8:14 AM 4 comments  

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