Recipe for a Healthy Body, Healthy Child, Healthy Planet + Pediatric Nutrition Resources (again)
It’s been a week of running (physically here-there-everywhere), business start-up crunch time (every day seems like crunch-time right now :-D <— Oh Hey, there’s an new post on Your Kind Kitchen’s website with all the doctors/dietitians/medical professionals/organizations we follow for best health guidelines), finally settling into a swell groove of homeschooling, and processing how our country can possibly move forward with such division and a president who refuses to accept his clear defeat. The life-lessons to teach Q these days seem as endless as they are often sadly alarming.
We’re privileged that we have the ability shake off those tensions in our local (free) parks and enjoy this unseasonably warm weather (with a breath of worry over the state of our climate to come). Is it a small joy to be running through a forest without a shirt in November? Sure. Is it unsettling too? YOU BET.
But over here we’re all about moving forward and enjoying the present as much as possible; because life is short and there is just as much to appreciate as there is work to be done.
Continue for: the health benefits of a little cardio; examples of what we’ve been eating (plant-based feasting is the biggest/cheapest/easiest thing an individual can do to lessen their environmental impact, better physical health, and it’s compassionate to boot! <—Win, Win, WIN); pediatric nutrition resources again; some homeschooling gems (though Sunday’s dump for the weekly theme is going to be one heck of a treat, so stay tuned).
Live Kindly, Feast Kindly, Grow Forward!
Plant-Based Whole-Food Wonder: Crystal gifted us some more of her amazing Plant-Based Whole-Food cheese sauce (<—you can make something similar by trying any of these recipes) and I threw some potatoes in our food processor to get them to hashbrown size, folded in that cheese sauce (added just a little pickled jalapeno brine to punch it up), topped it with some hemp-heart-parm, baked it until it was crispy, and it was AMAZING. This’ll definitely be another Your Kind Kitchen offering.
We served it with some roasted squash, quick-pickled cabbage, and greens dressed with balsamic and topped with sunflower seeds.
And continuing on with our tostada obsession, we had the above (but with green cabbage) when an old/dear friend came over for the last yard lunch of the season.
Lentil Taco “Meat” (not lentil loaf, as I mentioned in the notes: you can make these tacos just with good ol’ lentils too) with: quick-pickled cabbage, arugula, roasted corn, and cashew queso.
And Q had the option to have tacos again (because he hates potatoes unless they are fried or baked to a crisp, so he wanted nothing to do with the hashbrown casserole), yet he chose “Beans and Greens” soup!
He’s unexpectedly unconventional, even when the options are unconventional. :-)
Here seen: “Beans and Greens Soup” (kidney beans, cannellini beans, homemade tomato sauce, sauteed kale, and a lot of alliums: mix ‘em all together and you get one deliciously easy/filling soup) served with greens and homemade whole-oatflour pretzels.
This soup will be another Your Kind Kitchen offering. :-) And recipe as soon as I can get some solid time-management footing… <— as is, there was Broccoli soup that was made and consumed before I ever remembered to photograph it. :-)
Hashbrown Casserole Pt 2: make a big pan (or order one from Your Kind Kitchen in January) and you have food to fillingly feast on through the week.
And in a week where I had no time to while away afternoons whipping up baked treats, we fell back on old easy loves like chocolate mint nice cream.
Another easy dessert option: whip up a batch of breakfast cereal cashew cream and throw it on a banana, a little almond butter, crushed up plant-based proteins (put whole-oats, walnuts, and some unsweetened coconut flakes into whatever blender you have and lightly process), and top it with some essential flax meal.
How many of you are feeding your children any of the things above, but have questioned the health of a plant-based family? Have you pondered the hypocrisy in that? Have you looked into the research about how every single one of the things above are TERRIBLE for anyone’s health let alone a growing young soul?
So the above may simply look tasty, and if you’re anything like Old Me you’re erroneously worried that plant-based foods won’t meet the nutritional requirements for you or your kiddos… and if you’re like Old Me you’re eating pizza at least once a week and not thinking a lick about the nutritional swill that meal is giving you.
I get pretty fired up about pediatric nutrition, because I once was completely failing at this while doing all the things society and our immediate doctors were telling me was a-ok. (<— Q had failure-to-thrive, and we were serving: grass-fed milk, organic/antibiotic-free/grass-fed/local meats, eggs from organic-fed/well-loved chickens from a neighbor, every meal came with vegetables, and processed junkfood was extremely rare.)
Q’s pediatrician is a sweet and keen soul who’s been growing along with us. As I mentioned in this previous essay, he tried all the standard Western medicine approaches to sorting out why Q was so persistently sick and had developed failure-to-thrive. He (and we) thought we were giving him everything he needed to thrive, but it wasn’t until we dove into research regarding nutrition that we learned that animal products were playing a key roll in his sickness.
How many of your American pediatricians ask at the yearly exam how many glasses of milk your kiddo is drinking each day? Now that you’ve heard me harping about the dangers of dairy for so many months, have you wondered how it is that they are so behind on the health harms? (<—Even Canada has cut dairy from its dietary recommendations.) There are many reasons why this could be, but one of the biggest is that doctors are given almost no education on the roll of nutrition and health. (<—Though there are Elder nutritional pioneers trying to change this.)
Interested in feeding your children delicious health? Want to move away from our Standard American Diet and the diseases it perpetuates? (If the planetary perils weren’t enough of a pull?)
I’ll redirect you to this horrifying/illuminating video again (and again, and again <—it’s showing how cardiovascular disease starts in children), and the following studies that show the same thing:
Evidence of the Beginning of Atherosclerosis in Infancy and Adolescence”
“Cardiovascular disease risk factors and atherosclerosis in children and adolescents
“A Few Unpleasant Facts About Atherosclerotic Arterial Disease in the United States and the World”
Compelled?
If you have a kid and want to transition them to plant-based whole foods, first: start eating plant-based whole-foods yourself. Our children see what we do and will learn from it.
Second, here are some great resources:
“Nutrition for Kids” from the Physician’s Committee for Responsible Medicine
“Children who are raised on healthful vegan diets have a reduced risk for heart disease, cancer, obesity, diabetes, and other conditions. Adolescents raised on a plant-based diet often find they have an easy time maintaining a healthy weight. They also have fewer problems with acne, allergies, and gastrointestinal problems than their peers who eat animal products.
American children often have fatty streaks in their arteries before they finish high school. Children who eat a plant-based diet limit foods high in saturated fat and cholesterol, which can contribute to heart disease.”
“Diet, Children, and the Future” from Dr John McDougall
“All Children Should Have Their Cholesterol Checked Between Ages 9 and 11” from Dr Michael Greger
“Plant-Based Eating for Kids” from nutritionist Emma Roche (who also wrote the book “Whole Food Plant Based on $5 a Day”)
“Pediatric Plant-Based Nutrition Quick Start Guide” by Dr. Jackie Busse
“Raising Plant-Based Kids with Flexibility and Love with Dr. Laura Pridemore (pediatric series)” (Any of Pediatrician Dr Yami’s podcasts are SO HELPFUL.)
Nutritionist Kiran Sidhu’s ever-helpful Facebook Page titled “Raising Healthy Plant-Powered Kids” where she posts free videos and segments about pediatric nutrition and even offers individualized supports.
And the ever important “Plant-Based Diets: A Physician’s Guide” put out by the National Institutes of Health to our medical professionals.
We followed the advice of the research, studies, doctors, dietitians, nutritionists above and now we (and most importantly Quill) are in the best health of our lives and the energy is ever lasting.
What do you have to lose other than bad habits and a harmful diet? What you gain is health and a healing environment your kin will inherit.
Q Running to hug his grandmother.
Q running in Rand Tract this week.
Usually we run oneway (ie we run to a destination and then wander back, or wander and then run back to the car) and this week he wanted to run all the way to the end of the trail and then back again. :-)
He ended up getting so sweaty he took of his shirt!
Mama Bear and Cub: I’m 38, I’ve never enjoyed exercise, and yet here I was running an unexpected 2 miles on an 80 degree November day, smiling from ear to ear, and full of more stamina and energy than I’ve ever had in my life.
Pizza wasn’t giving me that power. :-) Plants do.
What are the health benefits of exercise? According to the CDC, exercise can:
Reduce your risk of heart diseases. Exercise strengthens your heart and improves your circulation. The increased blood flow raises the oxygen levels in your body. This helps lower your risk of heart diseases such as high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, and heart attack. Regular exercise can also lower your blood pressure and triglyceride levels.
Help your body manage blood sugar and insulin levels. Exercise can lower your blood sugar level and help your insulin work better. This can cut down your risk for metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. And if you already have one of those diseases, exercise can help you to manage it.
Improve your mental health and mood. During exercise, your body releases chemicals that can improve your mood and make you feel more relaxed. This can help you deal with stress and reduce your risk of depression.
Help keep your thinking, learning, and judgment skills sharp as you age. Exercise stimulates your body to release proteins and other chemicals that improve the structure and function of your brain.
Strengthen your bones and muscles. Regular exercise can help kids and teens build strong bones. Later in life, it can also slow the loss of bone density that comes with age. Doing muscle-strengthening activities can help you increase or maintain your muscle mass and strength.
Reduce your risk of some cancers, including colon, breast , uterine, and lung cancer.
Reduce your risk of falls. For older adults, research shows that doing balance and muscle-strengthening activities in addition to moderate-intensity aerobic activity can help reduce your risk of falling.
Improve your sleep. Exercise can help you to fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer.
Improve your sexual health. Regular exercise may lower the risk of erectile dysfunction (ED) in men. For those who already have ED, exercise may help improve their sexual function. In women, exercise may increase sexual arousal.
Increase your chances of living longer. Studies show that physical activity can reduce your risk of dying early from the leading causes of death, like heart disease and some cancers.
And you don’t need a park to run around in! You could do jumping jacks in your home, dance around, do some yoga by following some free classes online, lift various things around your house, the options are endless! <3
Even more running. :-D
This week, we took advantage of the weather, the freedoms of homechooling, and the generosity of my brother’s family gifting us a Christmas zoo membership, to run around at Syracuse’s zoo.
Q surprised me yet again, by wanting to run a much larger circuit than I expected: we ran the whole outer rim because he wanted to get into to see the octopus as quickly as possible (the whole zoo is a one-way trajectory due to COVID).
And we stopped for a spell by the penguin section where this little buddy spent many minutes swimming back and forth and eyeing Q.
Notes from his homeschooling spreadsheet under the Science section (<— Each day we accomplish: ELA, Math, Art, Music, Science, Social Studies / History):
"Discussed habitat loss, food chains, and behaviors of penguins while at the zoo. Q is (understandably) concerned that environmental changes may bring this species "to die away like the Dodo", but was also sad to see penguins in such a small space. We discussed that the Dodo was hunted to death, whereas the penguin may just lose the ability to feed itself and its offspring. Also discussed the growing amount of plastics in the ocean and how that is decimating bird species as they regurgitate that nonsense back to their chicks. He mentioned the movie Happy Feet and how it taught him that humanity’s needless zeal for fish is starving species that need those fish. Talked about how though he is sad to see the penguins in captivity at the zoo, they are getting cared for better than those left to withstand humanity’s destructive impacts in the wild."
He continues to chug through his ELA book, and ends every exercise with a doodle. Here seen: a bladderwort.
And math remains his favorite subject, but with alterations to make it more his style. :-)
That zero face paired to the +4 may be one of my favorite of his drawings to-date. <3
And because everything is about challenging ourselves over here, when he finishes his workbooks he does additional math in his journal and then works on a theme of the week. This week’s has been carnivorous plants and it’s such a delight I’m saving it until we have the full lineup. It’s some of his best work yet.
Music class over here is a mix of traditional scale work (he works on my childhood keyboard), playing with his drum set, listening to and discussing an array of songs, and sometimes watching fun videos like the above for inspiration. Q kept saying in absolute wonder, “She is so impressive! Just look at how fast she can play! That must take so much strength and practice!”
What’s the most impactful thing you can do as an individual to help your kin, community, millions of species, and planet? Transition as plant-based as possible.🌎♥️
Why? Plant-Based foods are environmentally imperative 🌎. They also promote ideal health💪 (which takes stress off our overburdened health care system), are inexpensive🙌, delicious🤤, & compassionate. 💕
Why imperative, though? 🤔We’re approaching (& have crossed) climate tipping points that will doom our kin & millions of other species. 😱📣Reducing/eliminating animal products is the *most impactful thing an individual can do* to prevent worse. 🌎🔥
Why? Animal Agriculture creates more emissions than the entire transportation sector combined, it’s tied to water waste/loss/pollution (<-- freshwater is our most precious resource💧), land loss/deforestation (<-- exacerbates climate change by reducing our ability to sequester carbon🔥🌎), ocean acidification (<-- FYI 50-85% of earth’s oxygen originates from oceanic plankton🌊) & vast species loss/extinction/suffering💔📣🌎
Plus, consuming animal products is tied to increased risk of cardiovascular disease❤️🩹, diabetes👎, cancer👎, and chronic disease👎; whereas Plant-Based feasting is linked to preventing/reversing some of our most common diseases (<— like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer); plus it promotes ideal health & robust strength (ie Olympians, Weightlifters, Endurance Athletes are thriving via PBWFs too). 🎉🙌♥️
What organizations are promoting plant-based diets for best health and environmental stability? National Institutes of Health, Mayo Clinic, Yale, the United Nations, Harvard School of Health, American Heart Association, American College of Cardiology, American Cancer Society, American Diabetes Association, The American Academy of Pediatrics, National Kidney Foundation, even the Parkinson’s Foundation.
We’re all overwhelmed in one way or another, but for the sake of our kin (and the millions of species we share this planet with) we need to start pivoting forward. As someone who once rarely ate green things & used to eat animal products at every meal, I can assure you that is possible, affordable, enjoyable, & purposeful to pivot Plant-Based. In fact, our whole family is now healthier/stronger than ever. 🙌♥️
Anecdotally, our son had failure-to-thrive, was also plagued with perpetual ear-infections/sinus-infections, and had an omnipresent runny nose. What was he eating? Grass-fed milk, organic/antibiotic-free/grass-fed/local meats, eggs from organic-fed/well-loved chickens from a neighbor, every meal came with vegetables, and we limited junkfood. He was healed via a plant-based diet: he’s launched out of that diagnosis and the last time he had a sinus-infection (or was sick at all) was in 2019 when he had some cheese at a school Christmas party. Before shifting to PBWF’s he was sick every month, and how he’s a robust, vital, thriving kiddo. 🙌🎉♥️
If you think any of the above sounds over-reached/absurd/impossible, please go read the links above. I understand the inclination to hackle-raise (<—because I was once totally there) but the science is clear: any step we make forward is imperative (<—and again “STEPS” is the focus. Don’t leap, just start making steps!). It’s as simple as starting with one meal a week and growing from there.💕
We have the ability (deliciously, healthfully, kindly, inexpensively) to *preserve/protect* the planet we share with millions of species & our kin. How are we going to use that power today?✌️🤟🖖
