CHILDHOOD NUTRITION
by Dr. Lawrence Wilson
© August 2022, LD Wilson Consultants, Inc.
All information in this article is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.
Contents
Nutrition Is Critical At Every Stage Of Life
Development And Food
For Babies
For Children
Become Informed
Plan Family Meals
Shopping
Teaching Children About Nutrition
Friends, School And Parties
School Lunches
Eating Out
______________________________
NUTRITION IS CRITICAL AT EVERY STAGE OF LIFE
From before birth, nutrition plays a critical role in children’s health. Before birth, the nutrition of mothers-to-be is critical. Modern pre-natal care is one of the most disgusting failures of the medical and natural health professions.
As a result, the birth defect rate in the United States and many other nations has doubled since 1950! For details about proper prenatal care, read Prenatal Care.
After birth. Junk food, in the form of sugars, soft drinks, white flour products and hydrogenated vegetable oils destroy children's health.
FRUIT IS NO BETTER, AND FRUIT JUICES ARE OFTEN WORSE THAN JUST SUGARY FOODS BECAUSE THEY ARE SO HIGH IN SUGAR. IT MATTERS NOT THAT IT IS “NATURAL” SUGAR – IT IS JUST AS BAD OR WORSE.
Also, caffeine and hundreds of “FDA-approved” chemical additives harm children’s health immensely.
Vaccines and overuse of medical drugs also do a lot of damage.
As a result, most children today are very unhealthy and the incidence of obesity, diabetes, cancer, ADHD, learning disorders, delayed development, depression and autism are increasing around the world.
FOOD AND DEVELOPMENT
Excellent nutrition is ABSOLUTELY required for the vital process called development. For details about this very important subject, read Introduction To Development and Children And Development.
II. RECOMMENDATIONS
OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS
For details about the development diet, read Food For Daily Use, Food For Occasional Use and Forbidden Foods.
FOR BABIES
Breast feeding is best for babies. A problem is that the quality of most mothers' breast milk is poor. Mothers must follow the development program to have good quality breast milk.
Babies need some breast milk for about three years. Physicians often tell mothers they can stop breast feeding at six months or so. This is terrible advice!
One reason for this advice is that the breast milk is of such poor quality the child cannot survive on it and may reject it. The answer is not to stop breast feeding. Instead, the mother needs to follow at least The Basic Development Program. The Full Development Program is even better. Do not stop breast feeding!
Egg yolk. Starting at 2-3 months of age, all babies need a little egg yolk. It needs to be cooked for only about two minutes so that the yolk is still runny.
Other food. In addition to the above, some babies at about age 1 and beyond may need a little mashed, cooked vegetables once or twice daily, and perhaps a little roasted sesame tahini and roasted almond butter. Some may also need a little soft goat cheese or plain goat yogurt. We try to address these needs when a person sends in a hair sample for a mineral analysis.
Nutritional supplements. Most babies want a few nutritional supplements starting around four to six months of age. One can use the basic program or better, send in a hair sample for a full development program.
Sunshine. All babies need some time in the sun, preferably a few minutes each day. If possible, take the baby's shirt off and expose the skin to the sun for about 10 minutes. Watch to make sure the baby does not get a sunburn. However, a little sun is superb for babies.
Foot reflexology. All babies need and love two foot reflexology sessions every day. Spend about five minutes on each foot. Begin gently. However, if the child tolerates it, use firm pressure on the foot reflexes.
Hand reflexology. This is also very good once or twice daily.
Reddish heat lamp therapy. All babies require the frequencies found in the reddish heat lamp starting around the age of four months. Shine a reddish heat lamp on the abdomen or back for the following amount of time:
- 4 months to 1 year of age: 10 minutes
- 1 year to 1.5 years of age: 15 minutes
- 2 years to two and a half years of age: 18 minutes
- 3 years to about 5 years old: 20 minutes
- 5 to 7 years old: 30 minutes
- 7 to 9 years old: 40 minutes
- 9 to 12 years old: 45 minutes
- 12 to 15 years old: 50 minutes
- 15 years old to adult: 60 minutes
For many more details, read The Baby Manual.
FOR CHILDREN
Deep breathing. All children need to learn and practice deep breathing each day. It is excellent for general health and for development. It can be done as a spa morning routine or also excellent is to do it together as a family while sitting at the table before meals.
Posture. Be a model and help children develop good posture.
The pulling down procedure. Begin doing this with your children starting as early as age 2. Just sit together, perhaps with the child on your lap, and explain what to do.
Coffee enemas. These may be more difficult, but children need them, including young children. Some children take to them easily. For young children, place the child on his or her stomach to insert the coffee. Older children can do them with their parents.
The spinal twists and hand twists. These are excellent for children each day. Another option is to visit a chiropractor. However, never, ever leave a child alone in a room with any doctor or practitioner. We are very sad to have to say this. However, today babies and children are often implanted with electrical devices in medical and chiropractic offices. So, in general, do as much as you can at home.
Other. Other excellent healing procedures for children are the neck pull, use of the bidet and the genital bath.
OTHER ADVICE
* Do not give children wheat products for best nutrition. Instead, give them some blue corn chips as part of a meal of cooked vegetables and meat, preferably. Children also need some almond butter and sesame tahini or hummus daily.
* A thermos of thick vegetable soup with turkey, chicken or occasionally beef is also okay, although we prefer just cooked vegetables. Avoid packaged convenience foods. Many may look like food, when indeed they are not good.
* Also, do not buy and do not give your children ‘food bars’ that are sold in health food stores and supermarkets. They are almost all much too sweet, terrible food combinations, and should be avoided.
* Also avoid trail mix and granola bars. They are too sweet, hard to digest and bad food combinations.
* Drinks. Children and adults should not drink with meals, but many children are dehydrated and need much more water between meals. Excellent drinks for children are spring water, some bone broth, and most children can have up to 4 ounces of raw goat milk or raw cow milk if they tolerate it. Other beverages are a few ounces of carrot juice, or herbal teas.
Never give your children sugary drinks, such as soda pop, Kool-aid, vitamin drinks that are mostly sugar, sweetened tea, fruit juices, almond, soy or rice milk or other sweet drinks. Definitely avoid Gatorade, Recharge and other sports drinks. Pasteurized cows milk is also not a good food for many children.
Most parents want to feed their children correctly, but are not well-informed or are so busy and tired themselves that excellent nutrition often falls by the wayside. Yet parents are the key to a child’s nutrition.
BECOME INFORMED
* Know that ALL babies today are born nutritionally deficient and toxic, no matter how normal they appear. Many go into adrenal burnout at age two or even earlier, in some cases.
* A lot of so-called “excellent” nutrition advice is terrible. This includes advice to eat salad and other raw food, fruit, vegetarian or low meat, fermented foods, and intermittent fasting in cases of obesity. We find all these dietary recommendations extremely unhealthful. Together, we call them the “killer diet”. It does not work! Read the links for details.
* As a general rule, children do not need drugs and vaccines. They need their mothers to follow a development program from before their birth and at least while breastfeeding. Then they will not get sick nearly as much.
Babies need some breast milk until around age three, even if you must add some cooked vegetables and shredded meat (not overcooked meat) earlier because the breast milk of most mothers is not good enough.
Then children need a diet with lots of the preferred, cooked vegetables and often some fat with every meal. They also need fresh meats (not a lot of sausage and other processed meats).
All babies need some cooked, runny egg yolk every day. F , a little soft-cooked egg, and some goat cheese or plain goat yogurt, and some blue corn chips. We wish these were not fried and greasy, but they provide certain mineral compounds that cause rapid development that are not found in other foods. If you cannot find them in your area, yellow corn chips have a little of these precious nutrients.
Most older children, especially teens, also need to rest more and drink more water – never soda pop, Kool Aid, Gatoraid, sports drinks, coffee or other beverages. Alcohol and drugs are also killers for children.
* In spite of what doctors and government agencies may say, sugar in all forms, including fruit, damages children's health. Sugar’s empty calories actually deplete the body of vitamins and minerals. Sugars also upset calcium metabolism and the insulin mechanism, and contribute to hypoglycemia, obesity and diabetes. One can of soda pop may contain up to 8 teaspoons of sugar.
Fruit is high in sugar, too yin in macrobiotic terminology, contains acids that damage the teeth, and is no longer a healthful food. For details, read Fruit-Eating.
* Children are exposed to huge amounts of toxic food additives such as aspartame (Equal or Nutrasweet). Aspartame causes over 90 adverse symptoms, according to a 1994 Department of Health and Human Services report. Many are very serious, such as anxiety attacks, memory loss, diabetes, brain tumors, seizures and death. Aspartame accounts for over 75 percent of the adverse reactions to food additives reported to the US Food and Drug Administration.
Other harmful chemicals include caffeine in soft drinks, MSG in soup mixes and nitrites used to preserve packaged meats. These can have horrendous side effects in many children.
* Bleached white flour and hydrogenated vegetable oils found in hundreds of prepared foods are very harmful.
PLAN FAMILY MEALS
* Make eating and family meals an important and a pleasant task. Food is your connection with the earth, with nature, with each other and a basis for good health. Eating in a hurry or while riding a car wastes some of your food, as it is not well-digested.
Move away from the “pit stop” mentality - that eating is like filling the car with gasoline, and that meals are basically a waste of time. In fact, family meals are one of the most important times of the day. Begin with a prayer, do the pulling down procedure together at the table, perhaps holding hands, and make mealtime the most important time of the day. Your children will deeply appreciate it and it will have very beneficial effects upon your health and that of your chidlren.
* Commit to preparing simple meals at home. Consider taking cooking classes if needed, perhaps even with your child. Use a food steamer, crock pot or pressure cooker for an easy, tasty meal.
Frying, roasting, baking and broiling are not as good cooking methods. They are high temperature and produce AGES in the body. Microwave ovens damage the food, so do not use them.
* Plan your family’s life around family meals, not the other way around. Family meals are much appreciated by children. Make meals relaxing and enjoyable. Start by saying grace to set the mood. Studies prove this simple act can enhance the quality of the food. Light a candle or use special napkins or plates to make meals special.
* Have the family sit together at the table and maintain a happy, peaceful mood. Following the meal’s blessing, you can ask each child in turn to say the best thing that happened to them during the day. Definitely turn off the TV, phones and radio during meals.
* Discuss meal planning with children and give them healthy choices. Children like to participate in such decisions. Pre-planning the week’s menus can save time and money.
*Also involve children in preparing meals. Many children love having their own chef’s hat and apron, and love to imagine they are running a restaurant.
* Find creative ways to entice children with healthy food. Make up child-friendly names for healthy concoctions like ‘Danny’s Delight’. Lightly cooked ground turkey and shredded vegetables, topped with a little chile sauce on a corn tortilla makes ‘Slippery Joes’, a child’s favorite.
* To make vegetables more appealing, cover them with cream, grated cheese or some almond butter diluted with water. Try new vegetables along with the children.
SHOPPING
* Read labels as much as possible. Fewer ingredients are better. A good general rule is if you cannot pronounce an ingredient or don’t know what it is, don’t eat it. Buy organically grown meat, dairy and produce as much as possible. These contain much less toxic pesticides, growth hormones and other harmful chemicals.
* Avoid the big four: sugar, refined flour, hydrogenated oils and chemical additives. Especially avoid aspartame, (Nutrasweet or Equal). Xylitol, sorbitol, or stevia are not as harmful. However, do your best to avoid all sweeteners and to move away from the sweetening habit entirely.
Look for hidden sugars under names like dextrose, sucrose, maltose, corn syrup, invert sugar, fruit juices, barley malt, rice syrup, maple syrup and honey. If these are among the first three ingredients, the food is mostly sugar.
* Shop at health food markets to find better quality food. Shop the outside isles of the supermarket.
* Keep basic foods stocked at all times including plenty of the preferred vegetables and meats such as natural chicken and turkey, natural hamburger and lamb. Meats can be frozen, but not vegetables.
Skip fruit, which we know is easy to eat, does not require preparation and is sweet, but not healthful. Dried fruit and fruit juices are the worst of these. If you must use fruit juices, dilute them with a lot with water.
Children do not need fruit or sweets at all. However, most children need plenty of quality fats and oils in their diets, such as those in raw or quality pasteurized dairy products.
If you cannot buy all fresh food, canned vegetables are actually better for development than frozen vegetables. Eating out is usually worse because most restaurants cut corners.
* Avoid most frozen and most canned food. Exceptions are:
1. Canned sardines – three to four cans a week for adults and less for children - are an excellent food. For children, mash the sardines and mix with cream, mustard, or bean dip and most children won’t even know they are there.
2. Frozen meats, if this is all you can find of good quality meat, is okay.
3. Canned dried beans, such as great northern beans, once in a while, are fine.
* Do not buy junk foods such as candy, cookies, donuts, soda pop, pop tarts, ice cream and other sugary or poor quality items (We hesitate to call these foods). Buy only quality food, preferably fresh. It is worth going shopping a few times a week, if needed, to do this.
* Snacking. Instead of snacking, encourage your children and the adults in the family to have a small meal in mid-afternoon, perhaps, or after school.
If you must have snacks, keep only quality snacks around the house such as leftover cooked vegetables, soft goat cheese, sardines, yogurt, and blue corn chips or yellow corn tortilla chips if you cannot get the blue ones.
* Avoid buying fluoridated toothpaste. Fluoride is a poison. The same chemical is used in rat poison. Question the entire fluoride myth. Go to www.fluoridealert.org for more information.
TEACHING CHILDREN ABOUT NUTRITION
* Set a good example for your children. Eat as we recommend on this website, and do your best to enjoy it with your children.
* Explain to your children why nutrition matters. Share books, articles or videos with them. Discuss with them why we choose to eat healthy food so they can make good food choices.
* Tell children the reason we don't eat certain foods is because you love them so much. This should be the truth.
* Then gently, but firmly, insist that your children eat correctly. Give them choices of healthful meals, but do not give in to their demands or whining for sweets or other things that are not the best for them. This takes some courage and strength, at times, but is well worth the effort.
* Refer to healthy food as ‘muscle food’ and the rest as junk food. Teach children to always finish muscle food first.
* When shopping, have children look into other shopper’s grocery carts, and then at the person pushing the cart. The nutrition connection is often obvious.
* Be your children’s nutrition guardian, not another friend who tempts them or wins them over with junk food.
* No guilt. Avoid letting your children eat what they wish because you feel guilty for working all day or not giving them what they want.
* Do not reward children with sweets or other junk food. It equates eating junk food with being happy or good. This will cause problems later in life.
* Limit the phone, the computer and television viewing. They are not good for children. Also, they tend to expose your children to hundreds of junk food commercials that mislead them.
FRIENDS, SCHOOL AND PARTIES
* Controlling your children’s eating when they are with friends is difficult. The best idea is often to limit social interaction. Children do not like to feel different or strange because they cannot eat certain foods.
* The best approach is to keep your children away from other children who do not eat well or are a bad influence in any way. This can be tricky, however. Just because a parent is “health food” advocate does not mean he or she agrees with our method of eating.
This is very important and is not depriving your children of “social experiences”. It is just common sense.
* Seek out other parents who feel the same way you do and exchange ideas, recipes, books and experiences. These are the families you want to interact with, and only these.
* Help your children make good food decisions. Ask your child to pay attention to how he or she feels immediately after eating junk food and a few hours later. This can help him or her see the connection between food and health.
* Use whatever methods will help motivate your child to eat better. Your child may want to have better skin, grow taller or be strong and better at sports. Some children may want to get sick less often, have more energy or get better grades in school. Quality food can help all of these.
* Your children should influence their friends when it comes to eating - not the other way around. If you notice your child comes back with junk food from certain friends, talk briefly to both children about why these foods are not healthful. They may taste good in the mouth, but the stomach does not like them at all, as they contain harmful chemicals and lack nutrition.
If the problem persists, you may need to separate the children.
SCHOOL LUNCHES
* If at all possible, do not send children off to schools! For details, read What Is Wrong With The School System?
If you are still sending a child to school:
* Pack lunches and send the correct food only.
* Know that children often trade their food with that of others – most of whom are given junk food, fruit, nuts, and other things that are not very good by their parents.
* Tell school authorities that you object to the sale of junk food in schools, and to parents bringing junk food treats into the classrooms for parties. Sane school districts in Chicago, Philadelphia, New York and elsewhere have banned junk food from their cafeterias with good results.
Recently, the Appleton, Wisconsin high school decided to replace all junk food with healthier choices. The principal’s annual report showed vast improvements in behavior and grades. Make it happen in your school district, too, or pull your child out of public schools where junk food is often far too available to children and the general nutrition consciousness is often very low.
EATING OUT
* Ethnic restaurants often make food from scratch. Buffets allow you to see what you eat before you choose.
* Skip all fast food and most chain restaurants. They usually serve the worst food on the planet.
This section is not about nutrition, but it is so important we must include it.
Vaccinations are extremely harmful and not needed if you feed your children correctly. We don’t care what the “authorities” say. We do not recommend vaccines at all.
Do not allow yourself to be intimidated or threatened by school or other authorities that want your child vaccinated. The best idea is usually to pull your child out of school or other activities.
In many states in America, school nurses and others have a form called Request for Exemption to Immunization that can easily release you from school immunization requirements. However, they often do not tell parents about this. To learn more, read Vaccination- A Medical Abomination. This website also contains a Vaccine Refusal Form you can use.
Home | Hair Analysis | Saunas | Books | Articles | Detox Protocols
Courses | Contact Us | The Free Basic Program