Here is the question I received from Kristine:
Hi Susan,
I absolutely love your DVD's! I"m a nutritional consultant in Olympia, WA and have my clients watch your videos. My question to is about 6 month year old and older nutrition. I'm currently 6 months pregnant and want to feed my child the best foods possible. How early do you recommend eating raw foods? What do you recommend instead of formula/milk?
Thanks and keep it up!
Dear Kristine,
Thanks for your letter Kristine. My recommendation for eating raw is at any age. That said, I am including Raw Dairy and Cultured/Fermented Foods as well. For formula/milk I recommend your own Mother's milk. If you are not breast feeding, and you are willing to take a look at raw dairy and cultured/fermented foods like kefir and vegetables I recommend researching the following: Sally Fallon's work with The Weston Price Foundation. She has some recipes for making healthy formula. You definitely want to steer away from soy of any kind because of the estrogenic factors. There is research showing the dangers in soy.
My experience with my own son, who is now 40, showed me why dairy (as we know it, all pasteurized and such) can be such an allergenic food. I read "Let's Have Healthy Children" by Adele Davis. Forty years ago that was about all we had. I made my son formula out of regular milk after I quit breast feeding. Adele Davis suggested raw dairy, but we did not have that readily available so I used our regular milk, thinking that it would be fine. He became congested immediately and then got a cold and infection in the ears. By the time he was 9 months old he had been on antibiotics 4 times and had to have surgery in his ears. Now, I can't totally blame the milk, but the problem compounded itself after the antibiotics, then more milk, antibiotics, milk and so on. He had allergies and candita situation for years, but we never understood it then. Now I know why and know better.
Years after eating only raw foods, I also became depleted (around menopause) and began more research with Body Ecology Diet, Weston Price Foundation, etc. I put raw dairy in my life including butter and lots of kefir and cream. I also started making my own cultured veggies. Yum! To this day I still enjoy these foods abundantly. My theory after much experience and research is to eat from the Earth and not the Factory. Simple as that. Eat as much raw as possible, meaning fresh organic foods and as much fermented, cultured as well. The most vital part of raw food culinary style is the fats, which is why you want to soak nuts and seeds and keep their Essential Fatty Acids in tact. Same with dairy. Raw dairy from a grass fed cow or goat is a fantastic food. If from a grain fed cow, not so good. Cooking veggies is absolutely fine and often a better way to eat more of them. Same with lentils and other legumes. Cultured veggies (living sauerkraut) is a great food to get kids used to, so their palate can become accustomed to the sour taste early. These foods will build friendly flora in the intestinal tract and should be consumed all through life.
Another food I am enjoying lately is bone broths, particularly broths from bone marrow. These are powerfully rich foods that can build bone and help young bodies build themselves. There are several videos on YouTube of parents that were feeding their kids too much sugar with raw juices and fruits and their kids had terrible tooth decay problems with their baby teeth. With an enhanced diet of bone broths and raw dairy and liver, the tooth decay went away (see Weston Price Foundation). So, be wary of a high diet of sugar from fruits and raw foods. Do not deplete the child of the fats and proteins he/she needs to formulate their body.
One of the redeeming factors regarding my own son is that he was born with a very strong body and continued to grow that way. During pregnancy I ate cooked liver every day, lots of raw veggies and a starch like squash or a potato for dinner. Had I not given him that pasteurized dairy and antibiotics I think he would have been allergy free. Dr. Greene has a lot of information about the use of antibiotics and allergies that is good to know should anything arise where antibiotics are needed.
Eat and feed organic foods from the Earth and not the Factory, and eat only from animals that are as healthy as you want to be, that are grass fed and raised humanely. That is my recommendation. Just my opinion!!
Good luck and keep up the great work! Thank you ! Chef Teton