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Need ideas for 2 and 3yo plz!

AziahAziah Raw Newbie

Hi there everyone! I have been raw myself for 2 weeks (yeaa!) and my kids for 1 week. After seeing good results for all of us I have no intention of going back to SAD (or quasi-SAD considering all our food allergies). Mostly because I threw all our SAD food out – lol!

ANYWAY! I am struggling with “meals” for the kiddies. I have no problem munching down on a salad or quickie lettuce wrap or some juice for myself but I feel neglegent giving my kids just a sliced up banana for breakfast. I tried making mylk out of nuts and another out of bananas…and smoothies…and they want nothing to do with them. I tried dehydrator cookies and pancakes and burgers. Again, they want nothing to do with them (which just frustrated me as that was a lot of work!). I even tried the banana ice cream which I think is phenomenal and they only take a couple bites. Now they will munch on fresh fruit. My oldest can eat 5-7 apriums (apricot/plum) in one sitting but, again, I feel neglegent. I am so used to giving them a meal with all the “food groups”. Their meals used to be something like “grilled chicken with cooked veggies and applesauce”. Now I just slice up some fruit. One will eat “crazy bread” (from the dehydrator) with sliced avocado and the other eats some salad…but that is going to get real old, real quick. I just whipped up some banana-bread to make PBJ sandwiches…but again, that is going to get old.

Any suggestions??? I seem to always be stuck when it comes to lunch and dinner. I have TONS of RAW cookbooks but the cabbage salads and stuff like that…I know they will never eat.

Thanks to any and all! ;0)

Comments

  • anngoingrawanngoingraw Raw Newbie

    Hello!!

    There is a thread here that can be useful:

    “kids going more raw?” http://goneraw.com/forums/3/topics/5544

    I think that fruit, seeds and nuts can be easy to eat. Greens can be “camuflaged” in a fruit smooth. I would try to make with them some sprouts, it can be atractive for them to taste what they have grow.

    Good luck, and keep you going!

  • pianissimapianissima Raw Newbie

    interesting how your children are more interested in whole foods, no? ideally we’d all be there with them =) the fact that they don’t want complex foods is GREAT! so don’t fret (though i understand about the work involved)

    fruit is great, but variety is key. different colors suggest different nutrients…

    so i’d appeal to their sense of sight with some “rainbow plates.” red: tomatoes, stawberries, radishes; orange: oranges, clementines, tangerines, cantalope; yellow: bananas, yellow squash; green: any greens (you can make delicious green apple sauces with greens such as spinach, pear and apple all blended together… call it “martian sauce”?), also cucumber and avocado wedges!; blue: blueberries; purple: blackberries, purple cabbage…

    jicama is a nice sweet crunchy snack they might enjoy. you can cut it into sticks, with carrots, celery and apple for some fun (mess-free) finger food…

  • MeditatingMeditating Raw Newbie

    If you have a spiral slicer, they may enjoy raw spaghetti. Also, if you can get them involved in makimg parts of the meal, children often won’t turn noses up at their own creations.

  • bittbitt Raw Newbie

    what about some dips or pates with cut-up veggies? celery, carrots, cukes?

    green smoothies might go over well if they like fruit.

    crackers with avocado or pate on them?

    get them invested: have them pick a recipe to help you make. then they will probably be more likely to try it.

  • sweetpeasweetpea Raw Newbie

    I think keeping it simple for kids is best and giving them what they enjoy. Nice not too green coloured smoothies and soups and buckwheat bread with raw veggies sliced really thinly.

  • have_merseyhave_mersey Raw Newbie

    They will get used to whatever it is. Be calm, and make sure you eat the exact same thing often and show enjoyment. I took care of my sister growing up, and I swear she “hated” EVERYthing. Fruit,beans,vegetables, everything. BUT I just started giving her small bowls of it and eating it with her and it helped. Part of it too is that she knew she had no option, you eat it and get the other healthy thing you like after, or you just eat it. It sounds mean, but it isn’t. Kids (in my opinion) are given too many decisions that they aren’t old enough to make. She now loves fruit and beans, and things like that. Even if you have them take only a few bites, the more times you eat something the better it becomes. Which was another thing that helped. It does seem like you get an appreciation over time. Sometimes the things you hated the most you end up loving the most if you keep trying. :) I know this from my personal experience,my experiences I had with my sister, and now my neices. With them I noticed it’s easiest if you just get your and their bowls ready, set it down without making any sounds or unusual movements and eat. They usually pick at it and then start eating. Even if they don’t love it, they don’t hate it and they just eat it. But if their mother gives it to them, the WAY she does it makes them say “ew-ie no, I don’t want it”. It is about the way you do it. And of course making sure that they know that there isn’t an option to not eat it(I explain what foods build muscles and bones too). It’s not as mean as it sounds. Also cutting cute and fun shapes. It takes a little extra time, but they love that. And games. Like “pretend you are a giraffe eating leaves” and they hold up their spinach leaves and bite peices off. Just make it calm and/or fun. :)

    I wish I explained things better. That sounded mean, and blabbery.

  • have_merseyhave_mersey Raw Newbie

    also…Though I hate plastics, I use an old half gallon milk jug to bring the nut milk for my neices. It’s all about packaging. You can also give them strawberry flavoured milk/nut milk with only enough strawberries to flavour it, not to turn it into a smoothie. Before I went raw I used to make bean burgers and wrap them in crinkly paper and put it into a paperbag. My oldest neice is very watchful and picky and eats fastfood ALL the time (nearly all her meals sadly), but she ate those just fine when the packaging was right. :) You might look at bento box pictures to give you creative ideas for kid food.

    again, also: I made a mushroom version of terriyaki(spelling excuse me I’m tired) chicken in the dehydrator and it tasted pretty well. It had just about every vegetable in the house in it:), then cauliflower “rice”. Though to an extent I think trying to sub rawfood with SAD food is a disaster because they compare it. Luckily your children are young enough that they won’t know much of a difference and are easily trained to the lifestyle. I’m glad for you starting now, I really wish my parents had.

  • AziahAziah Raw Newbie

    Thanks everyone for all your advice! Every little bit helps! ;0)

  • anngoingrawanngoingraw Raw Newbie

    I have found a sub-forum at “the garden diet” forum for moms and families, perhaps it helps:

    http://naturalparadigms.com/phpBB3/viewforum.ph…

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