Top health tips for all ages from Dr. William Sears
In case you’re not familiar with his
work, Dr. Sears is a pediatrician (with 8 kids of his own!) who has
written over 30 books about childcare.
Basically, he knows his stuff.
The timing of the lecture couldn’t have
been more appropriate since Michael will be starting on solid foods in a
few months. When that time comes, I obviously want my baby to receive
the best nutrition possible, so I was eager and open to hearing what
Dr. Sears had to say.
(I’m pretty sure that Dr. Sears does not suggest eating blankets.)
The fact that Dr. Sears actually talked about nutrition for all ages was just an added bonus.
The basic point of his talk was that the
foods we eat all throughout infancy have the ability to shape our health
and behavior as adults.
Rather than processed fake foods, recommended ones for infants include:
- Breast milk
- Homemade baby food
- Avocado- at 6 months old
- Salmon- at 7 months old (I personally cannot picture a baby eating fish!)
(Photo taken by Jen of Dr. Sears during the lecture)
By feeding a baby the right foods, you can actually program their taste buds, so they learn to prefer
healthy foods. As a result, kids who grow up eating real food get sick
less often and have less behavioral problems, such as ADD.
Dr. Sears has a really cute approach for
getting children to eat healthy foods or, as he calls them, “grow”
foods. For instance, if you tell a child who loves soccer to eat
his/her soccer foods, so he/she can play well and win the game, it makes
healthy foods more relevant to that child.
I’ll definitely try this one with Michael once he develops an interest beyond sticking his hands in his mouth, that is.
Dr. Sears also suggests raising children to be grazers by having them:
- Eat twice as often
- Eat half as much
- Chew twice as long
This way of eating (which I practice
myself a lot of the time) helps to lessen constipation, steady one’s
mood, and decrease the likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease.
One easy way to teach a toddler to graze is to provide them with a nibble tray
(an ice cube tray would work well) filled with healthy foods. It
should be accessible to the child, so he or she can graze all day long.
As far as his advice for adults, he’s an advocate of The 5 “S” Diet- a diet rich in:
- Seafood (salmon, tuna, sardines, and anchovies)
- Smoothies
- Salads
- Spices (turmeric, black pepper, rosemary, etc.)
- Supplements
As you probably already know, none of that will be a problem for me!
I definitely thought of Dr. Sears (and Jen) when I blended up my smoothie the next morning.
I’m really glad that I went to the lecture, and I hope that some of these tips were interesting to you too.
How do you get your child/children to eat healthy foods?
Were you raised on a healthy diet?
Have a great day!
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