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Login Here Signup Here Signup using FacebookHello all! We are a family of 5 who are excited to be beginning our journey to raw. We understand it will be slow and have been loving exploring the recipes we’ve found and trying them out on our kids. I tend to be overly excitable about this kind of thing… like this is the lifestyle I’ve been searching for my entire life and I cannot wait to be there. But the reality is that we have 3 children, 5, almost 4 and 19 months. They are used to their tummies being full with eggs/breads/chicken/pasta, etc. We’re fortunate that our oldest is a tremendous eater and willing to try and love exotic flavors, and they’ve been enjoying their green smoothies twice daily for about 2 weeks now. But whenever I try to go an entire day on just the raw foods I’ve prepared they’re cranky and seeking out other foods (ie. tonight we had a labor day picnic in the neighborhood and my son was hunting down everyone’s hot dogs and my daughters were sneaking someone’s lemon bars). I’m frankly nervous about what the transition may do to their sweet little bodies (after reading about so many really tough detox stories), yet I truly believe that if they were already 100% raw or close to it they would be so much happier, healthier & more balanced. Feeling a little discouraged and confused about it and would appreciate anyone who has a success story in this regard. Thanks :)
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I am struggling to go raw myself and honestly don’t know a lot about raw nutrition for children, but I ran across this article in another thread and thought it might help: http://shazzie.com/raw/articles/raw_vegan_child
Honestly, I don’t know if I believe everything in the article, but I don’t have kids, so it doesn’t affect me much. And at the begining, it sounds like she is a meat eating, closed minded, anti raw foodie, but she is quite the opposite. She just happens to be able to look at things objectively. Try to read the article all the way through; I think it might be some thought provoking and helpful reading. Good luck!
I agree with Quiora, shazzie is 100% commited raw food vegan and she just wants the best for everyone elses children too. I have seen her daughter in real life and she is tall for her age, looks wed-nourished and is a charming child!
Also check out Kate Wood she has books out and also a website www.rawliving.co.uk she has three raw vegan children, every bit as healthy as Evie. In one of her books she talks about giving her children pasta when they realy want it but making a raw vegan tom sauce (recipie in one of her raw food books) and pouring it over the top, therefore getting 50% raw into the meal even if her kids are asking for a cooked one. Good Luck!
Jgibbs~ Hang in there and just know you are doing the best for your family and your children are young enough to really get into it but old enough to be a slight challenge!!! Your efforts will pay off with persistance… I for one am very proud for and of you!!!
Good luck to YOU!!! There is a video, that is child appropiate, like (Meet your meat) which isn’t child appropiate… I don’t have the link, but know someone on this site does… Maybe they will see this and post… After your children see it, if they aren’t too young, maybe it will help…
The video is called the meatrix. I had looked at it quite a while ago and forgot about it until queenfluff reminded me that it was a good intro to kids. Of course, just living life, talking about what you’re doing, when you’re doing it and why you do it is the best way to teach this in a way that it’s caught in vision and action. It is good to be objective – we can’t let our commitment to a lifestyle outweigh our commitment to healthy children. The Talifero’s have vegan (except for bee products) children. Google them too as well as Shazzie as mentioned above. The issue is that kids growing bodies have different nutritional needs than adults, as do pregnant and lactating women, as do people with certain health/medical conditions. What is right for one is not right for all. Keep tabs on how you and your kids feel. The fact that they are hungry and seeking “more” is telling you something is missing. Make sure they are getting a good variety of fruits, vegetables, sprouted grains/seeds (sprouted quinoa is easy and good), nuts/nut butters and some form of B vitamins. It is difficult to find the right form of B’s in a vegan diet. I include free range eggs, small amounts of bee products in my kids diets to assure this as well as vegan supplements. I also give my kids some cooked grains like quinoa, spelt, oats. And I breastfeed each child for about 2 years as well. Young coconut and it’s water in the raw form has the same electrolyte balance as in blood plasma and lauric acid (an amino acid found in breastmilk). Sesame products, almonds, and greens are good forms of calcium/iron. Sounds like your kids are getting good greens intake with their smoothies – just make sure you are mixing up what greens you use to get variety.
Thank you everyone. It is so helpful to have folks out there with such great advice. I will heed.
I have 2 kids (6 and 3) and have been adding more raw food slowly. They love fruit so that is easy, but meals are a problem. My 3 year old son will try meals I prepare but usually does not like it (I made raw taco and he asked for a corn tortilla but then did not like the meat (walnuts). At least he tries. My daughter will not eat anything I make. But she eats bell peppers and carrots raw anyways. They have both slowly become intersted in my smoothies. They will drink those. I still have not any veggies to the smoothies yet though.