Doesn't do veg!

I've just been told ( by a kiniesologist) my 2 year old has to come off oats, spelt, wheat, corn, aplles/juice, fungus foods and grapes (fungal growth on skin). Raw would be a good place to start this 'new diet' we'll both be on but she really doesn't do veg other than steamed broccoli! She's breast feeding all the time- probably to prtect herself- so I have to keep off the same foods too. I was going to go raw vegan when she got a bit older and I had 'time' to work it out,but the universe says otherwise!

I'm in the UK so a lot of ingredients are unavailable or extremely expensive.

Any advice would be appreciated - I'm desperate!

Comments

  • I too have a daughter that doesnt do alot of vegies. But it is a blessing in descise that you have to start early. The earlier the better. It will just take some time. In the begining my daughter had a small list of vegies she would eat but over time it has grown and she now has a long list of fruits and vegies that she loves and consumes regularly. Start out by having cut vegies out on a platter for snacking like carrots, cherry tomatoes, sweet peas, even string beans. and pack them for snacks to go. Salads are one of my daughters favorites and you can put a variety of vegies in a salad. After alot of trial and error I found it better not to force her to eat anything but with every meal i would give her veggies and she only had to taste them.Over time she developed favorites. I hope this helps. Good luck

  • Young kids are tough. My sister has an 18 month old, and when they come to visit it is difficult to find snacks for him to enjoy. Cut veggies are good, but I know with her kid, chewing those was sometimes hard for him. He loves dehydrated strawberries and kiwis, I try to keep them a little chewy yet, so he can suck/chew them. I also make some raw hummus that he can dip carrots into, he kind of just licks the hummus off the carrot and redips! We are getting him in to bugs on a log (celry, peanut butter and rasins), and he seems to like those alright. On of his favorite foods though is a ball made of dates, coco/carrob powder, and coconut. Messy, but he loves 'em. My other sister just recently went vegan with her 5 year old, and she finds great ideas in the "Vegan Lunchbox," although I am not sure how much raw stuff is in there. You can make just about any food fun, and therefore edible by kids! Don't give up, good luck.

  • superfood2superfood2 Raw Newbie

    As long as she hasn't be exposed to SAD foods or junky cooked vegan foods (hopefully at age 2 this is all true, but these days people feed their babies crap at age 9 months), it should be fairly easy to introduce fruits. I would pack the fruits in and worry about vegetables later, if ever. If she only ever liked spinach and kale, all the better. Keep the fruits going; they're what her body needs.

    Also, youngins need more fat, so if you stop breastfeeding, give her some avocado and such.

    A good read is Becoming Vegan. It's not raw-based, but once you're used to eating raw, you can translate cooked things into something raw, and being gluten-free while raw is actually fairly easy.

  • Another book you might be interested in is Gabriel Cousens' "Rainbow Green Live Food Cuisine" which has a chapter on raising live-food babies/toddlers and recipes suited to them. Certainly, like all nutrition books, it presents an idealized picture of what he believes is a perfect diet for children (and no parent I've seen has had the supernatural strength to make their kids eat perfectly ;)) but it does give good starting points for easily-digested and highly nutritious foods for growing bodies.

    I wouldn't worry too much about lightly steamed vs. raw veggies (especially broccoli and string beans, which some find hard to digest when they are completely raw) if she'll only take steamed -- that's a great step in itself. Cousens himself does suggest cooking certain root vegetables, especially for young children, such as yams/sweet potatoes. And of course some good-quality fats (olive, hemp, flax, coconut, nuts, etc.) are important for absorbing the fat-soluble vitamins in vegetables, as well as being essential in themselves to growth and brain development (and in moderation, they make things taste better to young palates :)).

    All the very best with the changes ahead!

  • Thanks guys. I have been vegan for 15 years but cooked stuff mostly, just knowing other healthy people struggle getting veg in toddlers is good. Yams and 'exotic' stuff like that is raelly expensive over here, but oh the strawberries when they are in season!

    I tried a cacoa, almond cookie dough stlye pudding which she ate a bit of today- my son wolfed it down and he's not onthe diet!!!

    How do you get the bits out of smoothies? my strainer doesn't go small enough to get the approved consistency and the shop bought ones have apple juice?

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