Real Food Wednesday: Building a Nourishing Tradition

As most of you know, for the past few months, we have not had a house to live in. Along with a situation like that comes the upending of many of your daily habits. For a little while, it was unnoticeable, but as of late, I am beginning to see the affects of not having the same availability as we have always had.

When we first got our son, I was bound and determined to maintain a wholesome & nourishing diet for him. I had gotten a copy of Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon a couple of years before our son was even born. At that point in my life, the whole concept of this nourishing food was pretty overwhelming. However, when we got him, I knew I wanted to give him the best start I knew how. So, I jumped in...at least for him.

For the first two months of his life, he had been exposed to heavy amounts of second hand smoke, and lots of processed formula. {I believe that parents need to make decisions that are the best for them, and that they have to follow their convictions, as they see fit...so, no judgments if you happen to have used canned formula. However, God gave me the conviction and the opportunity to be educated in a non-conventional way regarding infant nutrition, and so I wanted to do all I could to adhere to that.} When he came to us, and it became clear that this was going to be a long term situation, I began him on the baby formula recipe from the back of Nourishing Traditions. (I used Goat's Milk that was pasteurized, which is not optimal...however, it's what I could do at the time.)

At first, we struggled with some constipation issues, because there are lots of beneficial fats and oils, that his little body wasn't used to. But, after about 2 weeks, and some diluting methods to help build him up, he became very regular...and remains so to this very day. Not only that, but his lungs were able to heal very quickly. What I thought would take months to clear up, actually took about a week and a half. He went from having sinus and lung issues that you could hear, to sleeping soundly with almost no breath sounds in about 10 days. It actually used to freak me out! From that point on, he has been the healthiest child you could possibly imagine!

When he weaned off of formula, I wanted to figure out a way to keep all that nutrition, that he was getting from the formula, into his "big boy" diet. At that point, the thought of deciphering a way to add all of those nutrients into our regular food was daunting. My simply solution?...adapt his formula into a SMOOTHIE! Now...let me clarify, at the point that I threw this together, the thought of making my own yogurt and such was not even on the radar. And trust me...this is just thrown together. So, adapt as you will...but, this is what I do:

1 cup of yogurt (whatever flavor you want)

1/2 cup frozen berries (you choose)

2 tbsp. ground flax seed

1 tsp. extra virgin coconut oil

1 tsp. brewer's yeast

1 tsp. cod liver oil

1/4 tsp. bifido bacterium infantis (I use LifeStart which is a blend)

1 crushed acerola tablet

1 tbsp. raw honey

{throw it all in a blender and blend:)}

If you don't make whole food formula...some of these ingredients may seem a little strange...but, he LOVES it...sucks it down!!

I realized the other day, that many of the reasons that I began my son on the Nourishing Traditions baby formula, still need to be addressed, even as he is nearly 4 years old. That didn't necessarily dawn on me, until a few weeks ago, when he started having issues with growing pains in his legs, in the middle of the night. I was racking my brain trying to figure out why, after all this time, he was suddenly having these episodes...especially since his growth rate has slowed, significantly. It also led me to the realization that much of his behavior issues have been timed around this, too. So it dawned on me...for the first time in his whole life, the quality of his nutrition has slipped. He's not getting all the nutrients that he was getting on a daily basis, before...and, we're both suffering for it! I realize that regardless of what they eat, three year old boys are going to be nutty. However, the same way that eating too much of the wrong things, and not enough of the right things, affects the mood and overall ability to handle life in adults...it's going to be even worse for a developing little body. Well, it ends here! I'll keep you posted on the progress;)

I'm off to get some ingredients today, and as soon as I do...I'll post pictures of the process to go along with the recipe! We are also going to begin our relationship with green smoothies...so, I'll let you know how that goes, as well...for all of us!