In a perfect world, we’d all have time to grow our own organic vegetable garden. But if you’re like me, and you’ve got picky eaters, no time and a limited budget, here are a few suggestions that I recently discussed on Good Morning America. Feel free to click on www.drgreene.com and www.AllergyKids.com to learn more:
Get back to basics. Slowly!
My kids were addicted to dino nuggets, blue yogurt and fluorescent orange noodles! So I began by picking ONE THING in an effort to reduce their exposure to the chemicals in their diets, and I considered these my initial options:
- 1. Cut the Colors
2. Less is More
3. Organic Options
1) Cut the Colors
A great fist step is to try to reduce the amount of fluorescent colored food products your kids eat. As you try to reduce their exposure to these artificial colors, they might have a bit of a conniption not getting blue yogurt, but you will feel so much better about the choice (and so will they!).
Here are a few examples:
Blue yogurt: Replace blue yogurt with WHITE yogurt and allow your kids to mix in any of the following: jelly, honey, chocolate chips, cheerios, even sprinkles (especially for those of you who have kids (like mine) who may not adjust well to this transition).
Fluorescent orange mac n cheese noodles: Replace the bright orange brand with the white cheddar brand (it really does help reduce your child’s unnecessary exposure to synthetic chemicals).
Or if your kids are like mine and freak out, then stick with the bright orange, only don’t use the ENTIRE packet of bright orange powder the next time you mix the box up - use 90% of the pack of fluorescent orange powder mix, then slowly cut back to 70% of the pack, then 50% of the pack?..until they are less dependent on seeing that bright orange bowl of noodles!
2) Less is more
Look for the following on food labels:
- Ingredient lists with FEWER ingredients
- Ingredients with SHORTER names
- Ingredients that you can PRONOUNCE
- Ingredients that your GRANDMOTHER cooked with
3) Organic Options
Oh, how we wish that organic food was easily affordable! Because by law, organic food is not allowed to contain these synthetic chemicals, genetically engineered proteins and chemicals and all of the other harmful substances we’ve been discussing in our posts this week!
Unfortunately, it is these safety laws that make organic food more expensive, since organic farmers must adhere to strict standards and testing when it comes to ensuring the safety of their products.
So if you can’t afford an entirely organic shopping cart, then choose ONE THING in your kitchen to convert to organic, consider choosing something that your children consume a lot of (in our case it was milk, in yours, it might be bagels). Just making that one change will help reduce a huge heaping serving of chemicals in your kids diets!
As we converted our family over to a more organic diet, our pediatric bills actually dropped…..a lot! So the money we saved at the doctor’s office helped pay for that extra nutritious food!
NOTE: given that different children have different allergies and sensitivities, make sure to read ALL labels before feeding your children, especially as manufacturers often change their ingredients unannounced.
Start with Baby Steps
The important thing is to remember not to make the perfect the enemy of the good and that ANY start is a good start!
And Remember….
This is a slow and steady process. It will not happen overnight (even though you may want it to!), so you may want to consider approaching it the same way you approached potty training or weaning your child from the sippy cup…a slow and steady process!
Additional Resources
Learn more about the importance of reducing your child’s exposure to environmental toxins at www.drgreene.com, , Healthy Child Healthy World and the Environmental Working Group
Learn about Additives and Nutrition Action at the Center for Science in the Public Interest
Additive Free and Preservative Free Food at Feingold Association
Additional Books, Films and Resources at AllergyKids.com
