Feeding a baby :: Charlie's first foods

I am pretty passionate when it comes providing healthy and nourishing food for me and my family. Especially when it comes to my babies first foods. Starting a baby off with the best foods can be critical for their future health. It's a continuous learning process. With every baby I have gained a better understanding of what the best, and not so great, foods for them are. 

Charlie is 7 months now, and although it isn't out of the norm for a baby his age to not be eating food yet this is the longest I have ever gone. Honestly, if I could I would love to go a whole year with little to no solid foods at all. But this small chested mama just doesn't have a big milk supply to fully satisfy a growing babe without having him on me ALL THE TIME.

I started giving Will baby food at 5 months. He was a big baby, and wanted to nurse every 1.5 hours, and I needed more of a break! Sam was around 6 months when I started him on solids. He was a little guy, and I thought some extra food might help plump him up (it didn't). With Charlie I have been in no hurry at all to start feeding him real food. Being able to pull out a boob wherever and whenever it is needed is way easier than keeping up with food prep (I (mostly) make my own food), and remembering to bring along food when we are out of the house for a long period of time. Not to mention the change in dirty (cloth!) diapers once food is involved. Bleh.

Charlie has been showing signs of wanting more though. If you have food, he's trying to get it, and he's wanting to nurse at least every 1.5/2 hours if not more. I absolutely want to keep nursing too, and will continue trying hard to keep up the milk supply I have! So, thus begins my third journey in feeding a baby.

I plan on doing a few posts on this topic. In this first one I will talk about babies first foods!

What not to feed your baby

For over 60 years now, we have been led to believe that a baby's first (solid) food should be rice cereal, but this couldn't be further from the truth! Not only is it highly processed, but babies lack the necessary enzyme amylase needed to digest ANY type of grain until they are AT LEAST a year.

"If babies are not producing amylase, they are not digesting grains.  Undigested grains can destroy your baby’s intestinal lining and disrupt the balance of good bacteria in the gut." -Ohlardy.com

Keeping your gut healthy is key for having optimal health at any age, not just as babies. An unhealthy gut can result in a whole host of problems, including allergies and behavioral problems.

What should you feed your baby?

Some of the best first foods for a baby are:

Egg yolks (cooked soft)

Avocado

Banana

All super easy to prepare (just mash em up!), easy to digest and loaded with nutrition!

I gave Charlie his first taste of avocado and egg yolk the other day. As you can see he had a blast playing with it. Not much ended up in his mouth, but it was a good way to start getting him used to the taste. I have spoon fed it to him as well. At this point most of it comes right back out, but he'll get the hang of it soon enough!

If you'd like to read more about the dangers of rice cereal (which I highly recommend you do!) here are a few other articles about it:

http://todaysmama.com/2013/05/stop-feeding-baby-rice-cereal/

http://ohlardy.com/why-your-baby-should-not-eat-baby-cereal

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/12/20/get-the-white-out-of-babys-first-foods.aspx

How to make yogurt UPDATED

I posted before about how to make yogurt. I have recently changed the way I do it though, so I wanted to share.

In the past I would heat the milk to 180 degrees before cooling to about 110/115 degrees, which is basically pasteurizing it. Pasteurization is a very harmful process (something I plan on sharing more in depth about at some point), and not necessary at all to make yogurt! Here are the few simple steps to make yogurt:

You'll need:

- Raw milk (Goats or cows milk would work, although I have only used cows)

- Glass quart jar (or bigger, if you have it, would work too!)

- Candy thermometer

- A pot

-2 Gallon insulated jug

- Yogurt starter or yogurt from previous batch (I have also used store bought organic plain yogurt as a starter if I ever forgot to save some from a previous batch)

-Towels

Here's how:

1. Pour your milk into whatever sized jar you are using, leaving some head space for expansion.

2. Pour milk into a pot, and on very low heat warm to about 110/115 degrees. Usually takes me about 6 min using 1 quart of milk.

3. Add your starter/yogurt (1 Tbsp yogurt or 1/8 tsp powdered yogurt starter per 1 quart of milk) and stir.

 4. Pour warmed milk into a warmed glass jar and lightly screw on the lid. (I usually just fill the jar with hot water while the milk is heating on the stove, and then empty and dry before adding the milk.)

(I don't have pictures of this last step)

5. Then wrap the jar with towels and place in the insulated jug, placing more towels on top to fill the jug.

6. Leave the jug on the counter or kitchen floor or wherever to culture for 24 hours.

That's it! You will then have super nutritious yummy yogurt. We sweeten ours with honey and add whatever toppings we'd like!

If you are having trouble here are a few tips:

If your yogurt separates into curds and whey

- To warm

-To long culturing

-To much starter

If this happenes DO NOT throw it away. It is still perfectly safe to consume. It won't have the creamy texture, but can still be used nicely to make smoothies or for baking.

If your yogurt is to thin

- To cool

- To little time culturing

- To little starter.

You can also try placing the jar in hot water for a bit at any point (after it has cultured for 24 hours and even if it has been in the fridge) to try and thicken it up. Although most homemade yogurt will tend to be a bit thinner than storebought, I have had some batches turn out super thick.

If you are a big yogurt eater I highly recommend trying to make your own. It is so much more nutritious for you without ANY additives or sugars and way cheaper. Let me know if you give it a try, and if you have any questions!

Learnin' the ways of a spoon

I am a procrastinator when it comes to letting my babies learn to feed themselves with a spoon. I try my best to give them good quality, organic foods, so I hate to see pricey food just dribble down their chest. And for Sam, being the little guy that he is, I especially want to make sure he gets every bite of that good, full fat yogurt or hearty oatmeal with butter. But the kid is almost 2 years old, so I figured it was about time he learned the ways of a spoon.

What to eat, what not to eat: Part 2

I grew up eating the Standard American Diet (SAD).  Like many people today, my mom just didn't realize how bad it was. I, of course, hold nothing against her for it. The food industry and USDA (to name a couple) are just plain devious. They've got everyone fooled. We live in a world where we are surrounded by fake and toxic foods that are advertised as "healthy". We've been duped, you guys.

Even into my married life I continued eating what I thought was perfectly fine "food". 5 years ago now I read a book titled, "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About" by Kevin Trudeau. I actually started looking at the food I was eating, and realized...it wasn't real food at all. Even the meats, breads and dairy that once upon a time were considered real food, are now so processed with so many artificial ingredients/additives that to call it real would be a joke.

Taking the step to eating well is a journey, and really doesn't just happen over night. I may have read that book 5 years ago, but I am still learning new things everyday about what and how we should be eating.

So, I said I would share some steps that can help change your diet for the better, which I will do, but overall it really comes down to just one. I have said it before and will say it again...

EAT REAL FOOD.

Look at the ingredients of what you are buying! What you may think is just plain ol' wheat bread really isn't. Check out these ingredients in a whole grain, 100% wheat bread:

Unbromated Stone Ground 100% Whole Wheat Flour, Unbromated Unbleached Enriched Wheat Flour [Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2), Folic Acid], Water, Wheat Gluten, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Yeast, Soy Fiber, Contains 2 Percent or Less of Wheat Bran, Salt, Unsulphured Molasses, Honey, Monoglyceride, Datem (Dough Conditioner), Nonfat Milk (Adds a Trivial Amount of Cholesterol), Potato Flour, Calcium Propionate (to Retard Spoilage), Wheat Germ, Guar Gum, Soy Flour, Enzymes Brown Sugar, Sucralose and Soybean Oil.

Now, try to make that in your kitchen!

Like I said, changing over to eating real food will be a learning process. I'm still not completely where I'd like to be, but here are some of the first changes I personally made towards having a healthier diet.

(If I had the time I would write out my own thoughts on each of these "ingredients", but I just don't. I will instead link to some great articles, written by much more educated people than myself, about each subject.)

Here are 3 things I try my best to not eat:

High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS)/Corn Syrup/Corn Sugar: This stuff is in everything these days. It's super sweet, super cheap and super bad for you. Here are a couple articles explaining way better than I can about the dangers of HFCS. Here and here.

Hydrogenated Oils/Vegetable Oils (Canola, Soybean, Corn and more). These are toxic poisons! This is an easy to read and understand post about it, and here is a more in depth one.

Soy: This is a huge frustration of mine. That people think eating soy is healthy when in reality it is so terribly awful for you (Unless it is traditionally prepared (fermented). PLEASE read about the dangers of soy! Here and here.

I will leave you with this snippet from Michael Pollans book, In Defense of Food.

In 1960 Americans spent 17.5 percent of their income on food and 5.2 percent…on health care. Since then, those numbers have flipped: Spending on food has fallen to 9.9 percent, while spending on health care has climbed to 16 percent of national income.

I'm not the only weird one

Wow. I can't say enough good things about the Weston A. Price conference I attended over the weekend. It was so refreshing to be around people who didn't look at you funny for bringing your own glass jar of homemade yogurt to eat. In fact, there were even glass jars of yogurt to buy there!

I have known about the Weston A. Price foundation and what they support and believe in for a few years now after reading Sally Fallons book, Nourishing Traditions, and count myself very blessed for that. They have done so much research and have such a passion for sharing it with others, and that passion is contagious. It was just the kick in the pants I needed to get me on fire for providing good quality, nutrient dense food for my family.

And oh the food! The food was delicious! It was so nice being away from home and being able to eat GREAT quality food. Most of the food/ingredients were provided by an Amish farm in PA, who were there as a vendor as well selling all homemade yogurts, kefirs, raw milk butter, raw cheeses, kombucha, raw honey, mayonnaise, fermented pickles, beets, and salsa, muffins/breads and lots of other items. We were given just a lunch on both days, and man did we stuff ourselves! THE Sally Fallon even brought some of her own raw milk blue cheese that her farm in Maryland makes. So yummy!

Parts of it also made me a bit furious as well, to be quite honest. We watched a documentary called Farmageddon. It showed story after story of family farms being raided by the USDA and FBI and local police for the selling of raw milk. You NEED to watch this film. It is on You Tube and if you go to the Farmageddon site it will have a list of other viewing options.

I can't wait to share more of what was discussed! But for now, I need to head into the kitchen and get dinner going.

Away for the weekend

I know I promised a follow up to this post, and I haven't forgotten! I was so busy last week planning for our trip, and will be away again this weekend from Saturday until Sunday. So, it will have to wait until next week.

I am going out of town with my MIL and SIL bright and early tomorrow morning to a Weston A. Price Regional Conference. If you have never heard of Weston A. Price before, you should check it out! They have lots of great info on traditional eating, raw milk and the dangers of soy (just to name a few subjects)! I am super excited for this opportunity to go, and will try very hard to take lots of good notes to share with you. Have a wonderful weekend!

My secret love

I have a secret.





I love cereal. Yup. Now you know. Any cereal. All cereal. From Cheerios to Captain Crunch. Raisin Bran to Waffle Crisp. Organic Peanut Butter Puffins to Puffed Kamut. I never met a cereal I didn't like. In fact, I am drooling just thinking about all the yummy cereals there are to eat. But here is the thing: I don't eat it. Oh, I have eaten plenty of cereal in my day. I grew up eating the Standard American Diet (SAD). I'd have cereal for breakfast, snacks and sometimes dinner. But not anymore. I have rarely bought cereal for about 4 years now. Because, now that I know what I know, I just can't buy it.

You see, cereal. It's not good for ya man. Yes, most of it has HFCS and processed white flour which are obvious red flags. But what about Organic cereal you ask? Sure there is no HFCS. It's made with "whole grain" and organic ingredients. That's all fine and dandy. But the issue here isn't necessarily about the ingredients. It's how it is made. ALL cereal is made using the same process called extrusion. Which is basically using high heat and pressure to make corn take the shape of a "flake". Or whole grains in the shape of a hexagon (Crispix anyone?). It destroys all the nutrients and messes up the protein structure making them toxic to our bodies. You can read a lot more about it in this great article here.

I have been thinking about cereal a lot recently. Don't ask me why. Just dreaming of what used to be, I suppose. Then today a blogger I love re-posted that article, and I was again reminded that my relationship with cereal just isn't meant to be. And then, out of the blue, just minutes after reading that article Dean sends me this picture saying "I'm getting you one".

Thankfully Lucky Charms is not high on my list of fave cereals (although I can't say I hate it) so I was able to turn him down without much despair.

All this said, I must confess. Even knowing what I know, I have occasionally given in to the temptation and have...gulp...eaten cereal. Sometimes while at my family's house I will grab a handful from their pantry. And a couple months ago when Dean and I had our anniversary trip....I brought a box of cereal with us for my i'monvacationguiltypleasure snack. In the evening, when we came back to our room after the entertainment for that night was over, I'd have a glass of wine and some organic gluten free Envirokids peanut butter and chocolate Leapin Lemurs. It. Was awesome.