Getting Children to Eat Vegetables – is Wheatgrass a Viable Alternative?

 


One shot of wheatgrass claims to be the same as eating a kilo of vegetables! 

It isn't always easy getting your children to eat healthily but this is a great recipe to really ensure your children are getting a fantastic source of vitamins and minerals in one simple shake. If they are quite fussy then add more apples and pineapple to make it sweeter!

Most mornings I make a delicious juice/smoothie for the whole family.  The measurements aren't exact as I am making it up for 4 people.  Just experiment and see what works for you but this is a rough guideline to the ingredients.


I usually use about 4 apples, 1/4 pineapple, half cucumber, 1 stick of celery, 1 or 2 peeled limes and a good couple of handfuls of spinach. 


 I juice all this together, making sure the spinach is between the apples, otherwise it doesn't juice very well.  I then put the juice in my blender with an avocado and 4 cubes of wheatgrass.  It tastes absolutely delicious and creamy and there is no way my children would ever eat all this on a plate! I alternate this juice with a banana smoothie and a selection of berries so they don't get too bored!


Whether you are looking to undertake a formal cleanse, or simply trying to add more nutrition to your diet, these reasons alone are enough to consider adding wheatgrass to your daily lifestyle.

What is Wheatgrass?


Wheatgrass is one of the richest natural sources of vitamins A, D, E and K, and the complete B complex. Wheatgrass is also a natural source of Laetrile (Vitamin B-17), well known for its anticancer properties. 

Wheatgrass is the richest source of chlorophyll in all the plant kingdom. Chlorophyll is the "blood" of plants, with a molecular structure very similar to that of the haemoglobin molecule in human blood. 


Wheatgrass contains many carotenoids, which are found in red, green and yellow pigmented fruits and vegetables. Carotenoids act as scavengers against harmful molecules flowing naturally through the body, or toxins inhaled from cigarette smoke, air pollution and other sources.

Where to buy it?
Frozen Wheatgrass
You could also try Mega Greens
You can also grow your own wheatgrass but you will then need a special juicer so frozen is simple and convenient.  Based on average usage of 30 mls per day (2 cubes) the 112 cube pack (£62.50) will last one person for up to 2 months.  So this is about £7.80 per week.  Yes, it comes at a cost but try trading it for a cappuccino, a bottle of wine, meal out or take away and you're sorted!  You can't put a price on health! It's easy to use, just add frozen to blender or just defrost, stir and drink! 

What it will do for you

Drinking wheatgrass juice and other green sprouted juices helps your body to build red blood cells which carry oxygen to every cell.

Chlorophyll helps to wash drug deposits from the body, purifies the blood and organs and counteracts toxins. Wheatgrass helps to remove toxic heavy metals (lead, mercury, aluminium) that have become stored in the tissues.

Wheatgrass juice helps to increase the enzyme levels in our cells, aiding in rejuvenation of the body.

Wheatgrass - is one of the most direct and concentrated forms of the sun's energy. When wheatgrass is made into juice, it is the optimum energiser. Nutritionally, 1 shot of wheatgrass juice is equivalent to 1 kilo of fresh vegetables and contains 103 vitamins and minerals, and thousands of phytonutrients. The juice made from wheatgrass is 70% chlorophyll and is very high in vitamins A, B-complex, C, E and K. It cleanses, purifies and feeds the body by oxygenating the white blood cells, which in turn boosts the immune system. It is also beneficial for people who wish to lose weight or cleanse their bodies. One shot of wheatgrass juice a day makes you feel great in every way.

What's so great about wheatgrass juice?

Delicious wrap with gorgeous frothy beetroot, carrot and apple juice!

A great idea for lunch that your digestive system will really thank you for.

Buy some wraps - I usually get the wholemeal variety, there are also a spelt variety which is a much gentler sort of wheat.  If you are wheat intolerant try these which you can get online. Corn Flour Wraps
I have searched the supermarkets for wheat free wraps to no avail.  Please post a comment if you know where you can get them.

Now for the rest of the ingredients and the list is endless. Here are a few examples!  These ingredients also make a great salad if you don't fancy the wrap.

Chopped mange tout, courgette, celery
Grated raw beetroot, carrots, butternut squash, radishes
I like it spicy so I always add some chopped chillies (not good for IBS but great for constipation)
Alfafa and or sprouted seeds (you can get these in bags in fridge department of Holland and Barrett, cost about a £1)
Flaxseed oil and cider vinegar which I mix together with some black pepper - use good dollop of oil, our bodies need lubricating just like our cars!
Cherry or any type of tomato, cucumber, cress
Herbs like fresh parsley or coriander
Red onion and garlic (great antibiotic and anti fungal)
crumble some feta cheese over the top
I always sprinkle sesame seeds over everything as they contain loads of calcium

I either mash up an avocado and spread on the wrap like butter or I use hummus or both. Then I spread out all the ingredients over about three quarters of the wrap, then pour over oil and vinegar mixture and roll up. If you put too much on top then it's hard to roll! It's absolutely delicious and really filling.

The drink in the photo is beetroot, carrot and apple juice. Looks like red wine but won't make you feel lethargic! quite the opposite, it will increase your energy levels, instead of feeling a dip in energy that we often get in the afternoons.

Too much dairy!

Does your child often look like this?

Simply try eliminating or heavily cutting down dairy from their diets.  Normally toddlers eat so much dairy that they become so  full of mucus that it literally pours out of their noses and they have endless coughs.  If you write down the amount of dairy in your child's diet over the course of a week, then most people find it is usually quite a lot.  If you are worried about calcium then rest assured milk is certainly not the only form of calcium.

I know my son, who is now 12, developed eczema as a baby, due to the large proportions of milk I was giving him.  With homeopathy and a radical change in the milk, cheese and endless yoghurts I was giving him, I was glad to find that it eventually disappeared for good.  It took about a year of homeopathy and a radical change in diet for this to happen. After having my second child 3 years ago I was much more prepared. She eats very little dairy and after I finished breastfeeding I switched her over to oat milk which you can either make or buy in the supermarkets.  She rarely eats yoghurts and cheese and has only had a couple of minor colds/coughs since she was born.  I am sure that her minimal intake of dairy has something to do with this.   I am not saying that our children must never eat dairy, I just wanted to highlight just how powerful eliminating dairy from our diets can be for adults as well as children!  A very interesting website is NOT MILK  in particular The Famous Milk Letter  Full of very informative articles!

An interesting video explanation on how homeopathy works on colds and coughs



Below are a couple of very interesting and informative videos with regard to vaccination. I urge any parent to make an informed decision before vaccinating their children. 


An excellent website to help you make this hugely important decision is INFORMED PARENT  

Another very interesting video about the massive increase in psychiatric drugs that are administered to children.

For children with dairy allergies the following health problems can occur. Colic in babies, eczema, asthma, recurring ear, nose and throat problems. Most common symptoms are excessive mucus production, respiratory complaints such as asthma and gastrointestinal problems.

COLIC AND GASTROINTESTINAL PROBLEMS.

LACTOSE INTOLERANCE
One problem which causes colic is lactose intolerance. Lactose is milk sugar and some children lack the necessary enzyme, lactase, to digest the lactose. Because this milk sugar is left in the gut to ferment, the side effects can include the most uncomfortable wind and bloating.

SOLUTIONS TO LACTOSE INTOLERANCE
* Breast feed your baby for at least the first 6 months but longer if possible
* Add lactase enzymes to milk to ‘pre-digest’ it several hours before drinking it (available from good health food shops).
* Avoid milk, especially skimmed milk which has more lactose
* Drink lactose-free milk (found in large supermarkets)
* Drink calcium enriched soya milk (in moderation as soya can lead to allergies as well).
* Cheese usually does not cause a problem as it contains low levels of lactose and yoghurt is often fine as the bacteria in it have pre-digested the lactose, milk sugars and proteins.
*Butter has only a trace amount of lactose and is almost never an issue as it is almost 100% fat. 

PROTEIN PROBLEMS
The other main reason for allergies are the thirty proteins found in cow’s milk.
• Casein, the main protein to cause problems, is a large molecule and is so dense in milk that in formula feeds its percentage has been reduced to reflect human milk. It is really designed for small cows, not small people. In the stomach these proteins coagulate into a large, hard to digest, lump which then takes a lot of work to break down. Goat’s milk forms into much easier, small lumps and human milk into tiny little globules. Goat’s milk has a different form of casein which is much better tolerated by children.
• You may have seen posters in your doctor’s surgery urging breast feeding because of the increased risk of insulin-dependant diabetes in children. The reason that cow’s milk is believed to be the culprit is that an anti-body, Bovine Serum Albumin is thought to attack the pancreas in susceptible children, accounting for the sharp upturn in this disease.
• Milk protein allergy can lead to the symptoms of asthma, eczema, digestive problems, constipation, diarrhoea and also to headaches and dark circles around eyes. In the worst cases anaphylactic shock have even been reported.
• Mucus build-up is one of the key down-sides of too much dairy and this can lead to one of the most common plagues to affect young children - glue ear. The simple measure of cutting back, or cutting out milk and cheese can usually eliminate this avoiding the long and uncomfortable road of antibiotics and operations to insert a grommet into the ear. 

WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR ON LABELS
Usually it is sufficient just to cut back on dairy products - cheese once a week and a couple of yoghurts a week along with a bit of milk in desserts is unlikely to be a problem for most children. Removing a food from the diet completely can sometimes lead to further problems as no natural resistance is built up and therefore the intolerance may become worse.
In some cases however there is such an acute allergy that all dairy products, including yoghurt and butter, have to be avoided and this includes packaged products containing dairy. There are many unfamiliar terms for dairy components to look out for in this case, and, in addition to the obvious (milk, cheese, cream, butter, yoghurt) include:
* Buttermilk                     * Lactic acid
* Casein / caseinate     * Lactobacillus
* Crème Fraîche            * Lactose
* Ghee                            * Quark
* Kefir                             * Whey
* Lactalbumin

CALCIUM FROM OTHER SOURCES
The main worry for parents who need to take dairy out of their child’s diets, or who may want to cut back as a preventative measure, is where to get calcium in the diet. Here are a few interesting points that may help to relieve some of this anxiety:
• Calcium is best used by the body with magnesium, and while dairy products are rich sources of calcium they offer only tiny amounts of magnesium. This means that while we can take in the calcium, we don’t necessarily use it for bone and tooth health unless it is balanced by magnesium.
• The foods that give the best ratio of calcium to magnesium are green leafy vegetables such as cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli and kale. Nuts (all types) and seeds (sunflower, pine nuts, pumpkin) also give the ideal ratio. Sesame seeds are a good source of calcium and can be added to cereals and porridge giving a crunchy texture. Sesame seeds which are a good source are found in Hummus through Tahini Paste. Other sources of Calcium – oily fish such as sardines and mackerel (also give omega oils/essential fatty acids which are good for eczema) and dried apricots (organic as non organic contain sulphites); black strap molasses (also provides magnesium, potassium and iron).
• Children aged 2 to 7 need 1300-1700 calories. One of the temptations of whole milk is that it contributes significantly, at 100 calories per 150ml (1 small glass). However it fills up young tummies quickly, cutting their appetite for other foods. Better to quench their thirst with water or diluted juice, and include high fat foods in their meals such as olive oil, avocado, egg yolks, oily fish, coconut cream, tahini, almond nut butter and fresh nuts and seeds (beware of choking hazard).
• Between the ages of 2 and 7 youngsters need 600mg of calcium a day. If they have a varied, whole-food diet sufficient calcium can be obtained. Even tap water from ‘hard-water’ areas or still mineral water provide significant amounts of calcium.

This is an example of a menu will give around 600mg of calcium:
2 eggs 50mg
Handful of dates 25mg
1 orange 50mg
1 carrot in matchsticks 25mg
1/2 portion broccoli spears 35mg
Sunflower seeds (can be ground as cereal 20mg
topping but avoid if your child has nut allergies)
1/2 small tin pink salmon 75mg
1 calcium enriched soya yoghurt (on cereal) 100mg
2 slices wholemeal bread (or bread sticks) 50mg
2 portions of green vegetables 80mg
1 portion of baked beans 50mg
Fruit salad (kiwi, pear & melon) 40mg

Goats milk 
Easier to digest as it doesn’t contain aglutinin so less clustering of fat globules.
Goat milk protein forms a softer curd (the term given to the protein clumps that are formed by the action of your stomach acid on the protein), which makes the protein more easily and rapidly digestible. Theoretically, this more rapid transit through the stomach could be an advantage to infants and children who regurgitate cow's milk easily. Goat's milk may also have advantages when it comes to allergies. Goat's milk contains only trace amounts of an allergenic casein protein, alpha-S1, found in cow's milk. Goat's milk casein is more similar to human milk, yet cow's milk and goat's milk contain similar levels of the other allergenic protein, beta lactoglobulin.
Goat's milk contains slightly lower levels of lactose (4.1 percent versus 4.7 percent in cow's milk), which may be a small advantage in lactose-intolerant persons.

Different minerals
Although the mineral content of goat's milk and cow's milk is generally similar, goat's milk contains 13 percent more calcium, 25 percent more vitamin B-6, 47 percent more vitamin A, 134 percent more potassium, and three times more niacin. It is also four times higher in copper. Goat's milk also contains 27 percent more of the antioxidant selenium than cow's milk. Cow's milk contains five times as much vitamin B-12 as goat's milk and ten times as much folic acid (12 mcg. in cow's milk versus 1 mcg. for goat's milk per eight ounces with an RDA of 75-100 mcg. for children). The fact that goat's milk contains less than ten percent of the amount of folic acid contained in cow's milk means that it must be supplemented with folic acid in order to be adequate as a formula or milk substitute for infants and toddlers, and popular brands of goat's milk may advertise "supplemented with folic acid" on the carton. Folic acid sources are wheatgerm, spinach, peanuts, sprouts, asparagus, sesame seeds, broccoli.

GROWING OUT OF THE PROBLEM
There is a divergence of views between the medical profession and the more naturopathic approach to health. It does seem that many children grow out of milk allergies and, as their age moves out of single figures, symptoms such as asthma and eczema often resolve themselves. However, the less orthodox view is that the body is learning to adapt, as a survival mechanism, but that the symptoms will reappear in later years - thirties or forties - in another form, such as migraine or irritable bowel syndrome. Surely the most sensible approach, as no one can be really sure how the problem will develop in any given child, is to make sure that there is variety in the diet and not too much dependency on any one food group. Variety reduces the opportunity for allergy.

You can't see it, hear it, smell it or feel it but it's all around us...

Low-level radiation is a silent killer, because we can’t see it, feel it, hear it, taste it, or smell it. I am not talking about just nuclear weapons, but rather the levels of exposure we are continuously exposed to on an every day basis.
When you use a mobile phone your head is absorbing microwave radiation. There is no denying this fact. What can you do? Should you throw out your mobile phone and give up? Ideally yes, but obviously this isn't going to happen.  I am very guilty for talking excessively on my mobile and I have now found out that your cordless telephone in the house is even worse!

Do you have anyone in your family suffering with headaches, sleep problems, depression, anxiety/panic attacks, recurrent infections, fatigue or rashes or unexplained symptoms?

Do you feel you are doing all the right things with your health with a healthy diet, supplements, exercise but still not feeling 100% but can't quite put your finger on it?

Could the missing link be your exposure to electromagnetic radiation from mobile phones, baby monitors, WIFI, phone masts and satnavs outside your house?

Mobile phones emit a large burst of microwaves about every 8 minutes when they are switched on, to link to the local mast, so even if you rarely actually use your phone, while you are carrying it with you, you will be getting irradiated every 8 minutes or so, and the microwaves can be detected up to 6 metres away from the phone, so will also be affecting people around you (babies, children etc).

Other sources of this radiation are phone masts, if you can see one from your house you will be getting fairly high levels of radiation.



One might argue that we are exposed to so much radiation in our modern world, why bother trying to neutralise the radiation omitted in your house.  We cannot control what goes on in the outside world but I believe that our bodies and immune systems will be strong enough to deal with all the electromagnetic pollution in the outside world if the 16 or so hours spent at home, particularly when we are asleep, are radiation free. It is particularly important to clean up our sleeping environment as your body has a good chance of recovering from damage/stress from electromagnetic exposure in the daytime, as sleep is when your body heals and repairs.  If however, you are exposed to these stresses at night then your body cannot heal, and symptoms and problems are more likely to result.

You can hire meters for a week from the Healthy House to check out the radiation levels in your home.

Since I started researching the damages of Electromagnetic Fields (EMF), as I was particularly concerned about the effects I was getting from my mobile.  My phone would get extremely hot and so would my ear and the whole side of my face.  This has bothered me for some time but like the rest of us, I simply put it on the bottom of my list of things to do.

Until one day, I came across a card at a seminar that I recently attended, which caught my eye.  It was  about a chip called Green8 that you can insert into your mobile and also your cordless phone which would neutralise the radiation and stop these symptoms from happening.  I then contacted the lady at Bio Protective Systems who is called Bindi.  She is extremely helpful and in fact we spoke several times on the phone for over 3 hours and yes, my ears were definately burning!  I have bought the G8 chip and also a transformer to neutralise the WIFI in our home and there are other products on her website that she sells that she can advise you on.

I urge anybody out there who has a mobile phone to buy one of these products.  If you have children that are constantly chatting relentlessly on their mobile phones or if you are a business person talking all day on your mobile, buy this product NOW.  It will make a huge difference to the negative effects caused by mobile phones in today's societies.  My husband is very skeptical about these products claiming they can neutralise negative effects of radiation but I say, google EMF, do your own research, you are the only person that can take responsibility for your health and you cannot put a price on it.

Don't put your head in the sand any longer!

Also if you are still have a microwave oven, get rid of it!!!!! Especially if you are heating up baby food/milk it it!

Make your own super healthy raw chocolate!

I have just discovered there is a chocolate out there that doesn't have any refined sugar in it, hasn't got any bad fats in it, nor dairy, wheat or gluten.  In fact it doesn't have anything bad in it at all.  Sounds too good to be true?  I am by no means a culinary expert so to top all this good news, this chocolate is super easy to make, in fact it takes 10 minutes to whip up and you and your children will love it!  To get you started I would buy 500g cacao (raw chocolate powder, £11.50), 500g cacao butter £13.50, 250g mesquite powder £5.50, 250ml raw agave syrup £5.75, 200g cold pressed virgin coconut oil £3.80, vanilla extract (not essence - this is expensive but a million times better than the essence.  You will also need plastic chocolate moulds. Buy these from Cakes Cookies & Crafts Shop.  Or you could simply use ice cube trays. All other ingredients you can buy on line from Goji King. If you just wanted to literally make a small amount to try it then just order 250g each of powder and butter.  The start up cost is about £40 but I have made heaps of chocolate so far and still have lots of ingredients left.

Put 100g of the butter, 2 dessert spoons coconut oil and a good dollop of the agave syrup in a plastic bowl. Place it over a pan of boiling water until it all melts.  Make sure you don't get any water in the mixture. Add about 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

Measure 60g cacao powder and 10g mesquite powder together.  Add this to the melted butter and whisk together until smooth.  Pour carefully into the moulds and put in the fridge.  In less than an hour you have mouth watering HEALTHY chocolate which I guarantee won't be in your fridge for long.

Check out the benefits of cacao powder - it is one of the most powerful antioxidant foods!

I was very proud at my first attempt at chocolate making, it really is so easy and the children loved them! Now you can have your chocolate and eat it!

Mouth watering smoothie full of goodness!!

I'm often asked by clients, "what to eat in the morning if I can't have toast".  This is a delicious option which will really fill you up until lunchtime.  If you're not a breakfast person, then put it in a flask and have whenever you feel like during the morning.  Great for that train or car journey instead of a coffee and pastry!!

See the ingredients below, Linseed Oil, Hemp Powder, Linseed Meal, frozen banana, (I freeze my bananas (don't forget to peel first!), big chunk of ginger (great anti-inflammatory, anti-histamine for those hayfever sufferers) and an apple for sweetness, pears are great too and useful for constipation! Also dates or figs are nice and a tangerine and grapes! You can also add any frozen fruit which is also really convenient making the smoothie nice and chilled! Finish off with any nut milk, just buy the long life from the supermarket, oat milk, hemp, almond or soya. Use as much or as little as you want depending on how thick/thin you want it!

Just chuck in the blender, you must have a decent blender that is capable of crushing ice etc, a really good one is the Magimix and the top of the range is the Vitamix but I am sure there are some reasonably priced ones, just have a look!  This Kenwood Blender has some good reviews but personally if you can, I'd go for at least the Magimix.  It really is worth investing in a good bit of kit though, if you are serious about getting healthy! Just forfeit a meal out, a new dress, starbucks, bottle of wine etc and you'll soon have a new blender that you will use everyday for the rest of your life!!

2 minutes later and it is ready to eat/drink, just put some hot water and a dash of washing up liquid in your blender and then whizz it up and your blender is clean!  Come on!! There really aren't any "I haven't got time in the morning excuses" for this delicious jam packed nutritious smoothie!  Enjoy!