For all the conveniences our modern world has to offer, it poses some very really threats to your children’s health. These threats come in the shape of chronic lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, obesity, allergies, ADHD, learning disabilities, cancer and asthma, to name a few.
To combat these dangers, it’s important to understand the following. What children eat and drink, directly impacts on their state of health and their ability to fight disease and illness.
Chemical additives
Commercially grown foods are all sources of chemicals, which are completely foreign to the human body. These include pesticides, fungicides and artificial fertilizers, amongst others. Adults can, to some degree, deal with these harmful compounds through developed detoxification systems.
Children however, are particularly vulnerable to the damage caused by these chemicals. This is because they consume more food and drink than adults, proportionate to their size, but their detoxification systems are still developing and are unable to cope with the assault.
When a synthesized chemical enters the body, the detoxification system will try and eliminate it as efficiently as it can. These compounds have two effects when this doesn’t happen. The first is that they can have a tendency to mimic the hormone oestrogen – causing potential hormonal fluctuations and imbalances.
The second is that the chemical itself can displace key nutrients stored in the body and thus cause enzymatic dysfunction. In essence, this means that the body cannot ‘run’ as it should, creating an ideal environment for the onset of disease.
Clean food and drink
Try and feed your child organic-only foods and drinks. If your immediate reaction is to think of the expense, rest assured that organic food is, in the long run, a far cheaper way to go from a point of view of saving on doctor’s, dentist’s and other medical bills. In addition, more nutrients are delivered to the body for use, per gram of food eaten, making it a more economical choice.
We do need to make the distinction though, between the terms ‘organic’ and ‘healthy’. They do not mean the same thing. For example, one can buy organic biscuits, containing both organic sugar and refined flour, but these are not considered healthy from a nutrient-delivery perspective.
Stick to whole foods at least 90% of the time. These are foods that naturally grow, or are raised on the earth, or in the sea. Whole foods grow strong, healthy, happy children.
Tanya Wyatt
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