"So what's missing from our children's diets?"
follwed by a picture of a kid eating a mud pie. Not unlike this, I suppose:
Yep, there's my girl with super-immunity, who only gets SICK once a year!
Yep, there's my girl with super-immunity, who only gets SICK once a year!(photo courtesy of Michaela Claar)
You can read some points about the rest of our nutrition/immunity conversation in this article, and this one, and this one.
So, to sum it up:
Early exposure to nature (dirt, animals, etc.) helps the body build up immunity and reduces allergies and asthma- Early exposure to common viruses and bacteria does the same thing to help children resist or recover quickly from common childhood illnesses
Use fewer chemicals in the home for cleaning (plain soaps, hot water, and vinegar usually disinfect just fine) - To boost the immune system, include the following in your diet: Vitamin C and other antioxidants in fruits, veggies, especially berries, calcium in milk and in supplements, and iron in meats and beans. Zicam, Airbourne, or high-quality supplements containing Echinacea and golden seal (these are expensive but effective, and my nutrituionist recommends products form Australia where they are regulated) can help when you feel a cold or flu coming on.
- Let Them Eat Dirt!
11 comments:
This sounds good. I hardly ever get sick and when I was a child, I ate catfood. You should ask your doctor if that subject was covered at his conference.
Does Mississippi Mud Pie count? That stuff is yummy!
Thats what Darrin was trying to tell you when we were down there. Love you.
That is the dang cutest picture, too! My daughter used to eat ants, does that count?
EEEWWW that is just icky. Anyways. Yes Jamie I got your package. Everything is so cute. So thank you very much. We got it Yesterday. love ya~
Lacy, I'll bet cat food has great Omega 3's! Mike, MS Mudpie is probably what makes ME the sick one, but I agree with you! Laura, Darrin was trying to tell me about a show he watched about Pica, people who eat dirt and boost their iron levels...works for Heidi! Justine, I think ants, like other insects, have really good Omega 3 acids, too, so if that's the case then your daughter should be extra smart, right? Something like that. The doc told me the reason fish are high in Omega 3's is because they eat insects.
Interesting. My son never gets sick and he's also the dirtiest...Makes sense!
Question: Does Heidi eat dirt to be funny or does she actually like the taste? GROSS!
Can they "flavor"enhance it?? I was never a dirt eater...the whole texture thing didn't work for me...Hey my nephew LOVED slugs and snails...sucked right out of the shell...HMMM.
Okay, I'm down with the exposure to natural elements, but ... but ... what about worms? I had a traumatic childhood episode with pin worms and I was told it was because I played in the dirt and then bit my nails (I was a nail biter) and there were worm eggs in the dirt left under my nails. :(
Skagg, Heidi eats dirt, sometimes with a sppon. She only gets to play outside in 15-minute spurts because she cannot resist eating dirt. The only place we even have dirt in the back youard is under the side deck and Rich is putting pavers there to slow down her consumption. She never eats soil, like the dirt in our flower barrels, beds, and boxes, so that's good. And Lisa, I was worried about pin worms, too--those things are SO NASTY and Dr. Oz talked about them on Oprah on MOnday coincidentally. I amalways worried that she is goingto catch some nasty parasite or disease, but she just keeps on truckin'! I read about the risk of worms & disease, but they are usually found in dirt contaminated with feces or industrial waste, which is not so much of a danger in pristing Montana (just kidding--since our yard was a field three years ago, I always worry about deer or raccon poo or something like that, but the doc pointed out that our soil was turned up when we built our foundation and the dirt she usually eats is probably pretty clean. But it's still a dnagerous habit, I think. We try to limit her to a few spoons a week!
My daughter's had a run-in with pinworms before... At the end of the first week of kindergarten she came home with strep, mono, and pinworms! it was so embarrassing, i felt like i had the dirtiest house ever. I called the walmart pharmacy to get pinworm medicine and all 3 walmarts were sold out of it. they said pinworms are really common and the medicine's always on back order, but nobody talks about it or admits they have it because they assume pinworms equal a dirty environment. oddly enough, that made me feel better!
Post a Comment