Healthy Recipe Tuesday

I have had a few questions from my friends,so I thought I would answer them today. The first was what symptoms Riley was having to make me take him off dairy. Obviously if a child has a food allergy , you would probably know right away. They would have trouble breathing, swelling, and a number of very noticeable life threatening symptoms. When a child has a sensitivity to milk, they can show several different mild symptoms that could happen a couple of hours after they drink milk or 2 days after they drank it. Some symptoms of a milk sensitivity are dark circles under the eyes(allergic shiners), eczema rash around mouth, knees, elbows, or armpits; sleep problems, runny soft stools, asthma, and chronic ear infections. Riley was allergic to milk protein when he was a baby but seemed to be ok when he turned 1. It wasn't until recently that I put a couple of things together. He has had the dark circles under his eyes for a while now , he had the runny stools, complained of stomach aches, had sleep issues, and every once in a while he got a rash around his mouth. I never thought about food allergies. But since I took him off milk, he has started sleeping through the night and later in the morning, he has normal bowel movements, and no stomach aches. He has had ice cream a few times and like clockwork a few hours later he has a stomach ache. So no more milk for my Binky.

The second question was why don't I put him on soy milk. Soy is a little scary to me. There are so many conflicting studies, that I don't even want to risk it. The studies say that soy is high in Phytic acid and the amount of phytic acid is not decreased when it is cooked like other vegetables. Phytic acid is an enzyme inhibitor which means that it prohibits your body's ability to absorb things like calcium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. Nuts, seeds, and grains have this as well and that is why it is recommended that you soak or even sprout them before you cook or eat them. Also if you purchase non organic soy products, they are probably made from genetically modified soy grown in the US. GMO foods have also been linked to food allergies. And lastly we don't know the extent to what the phytoestrogens in soy do to babies that drink soy formula or children that drink soy milk. Some believe that it is what has caused early puberty in kids. I am not sure what I believe, but I would rather be safe than sorry when it comes to soy. From what I have read, the only safe soy products are those that are fermented like soy sauce, tempeh, and miso.

I did want to say one thing about eating organic . When you purchase a conventionally grown piece of produce, you are getting ripped off. You may think that it is healthy because it is a fruit or a vegetable. But that piece of produce has been grown not just with chemicals but also with only 3 nutrients. Phosphorus, potassium, and nitrogen. That's it. No micro nutrients like selenium, calcium, magnesium, nothing. The vegetables and fruit get these micronutrients from the soil. If the soil is only given 3 elements, that is all the vegetables will take up. Our bodies need the micro nutrients to fight off disease , illness, and cancer. When our bodies don't get these, we get sick. I guarantee that if you switch, you will notice a difference in how often you get sick. And when you aren't going to see the Dr all the time you save money. Just a thought.

My cookbook today is a ebook that I purchased and it is a Rawfood cookbook for kids. It is called
"Monkey Mike's Raw Food Kitchen" by Joanne Newell. It is a really cool book. Everything is made from whole fresh fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. There are some yummy nut milk recipes in it and you can purchase it at http://www.rawmom.com/ . It is the only raw food cookbook for kids that I have ever found online. Eating raw food really is the best way to get everything your body needs. When you cook foods over 105 degrees, you start to loose the enzymes and nutrients from the foods. So feed your kids lots of fresh raw fruits and vegetables.

Sorry but I don't have a recipe today and it's late and my toes are freezing so Good night everyone.