diet — Babylicious by Figur8

Health and Nutrition: Boosting the Immunity of a Picky Eater

May 15, 2013 by Shen-Li Leave a Comment

The boys have been getting sick a lot lately. We’ve made so many trips to the doctor’s in the last few months that I’m seriously concerned about their health. I suspect it that a large part of the reason is due to Hercules starting school in November. Unlike Aristotle, who is a bit of a germaphobe, Hercules is filthy. He puts anything to his mouth, including the soles of his shoes, so it is hardly surprising that he picks up a lot of germs. Throw him in with a bunch of other little kids who can’t keep their germs to themselves and it’s really a recipe for sickness.

Of course, the boys’ diets leaves a lot to be desired since they don’t really eat veggies or fruits – Hercules is marginally better than his brother in this department but not by much. Additionally, I haven’t been consistent with the vitamin supplements and now that Hercules has weaned, he hasn’t got the protective benefit of my breastmilk either.

To give their immune system a bit of a boost, I’ve been trying to improve their nutrient intake…

Wood’s Cold Shield

Contains immune boosting ingredients: Vitamin C, Zinc and Echinacea. I give this to the boys whenever they are coming down with something because it is supposed to help reduce the severity of the illness and shorten its duration.

Colostrum Supplements

Colostrum is the stuff that is produced during the early days of breastfeeding. It is supposed to be high in antibodies which helps to strengthen the immature immune systems of young babies. Now it seems that taking bovine colostrum supplements may be beneficial to the immune systems of children and adults. Before you rush out to the pharmacy, let me first warn you that the jury is still out on whether it really does provide added benefit to the immune function. Even if it does work, you’ll need to do your research on your supplements to make sure you get the quality stuff.

We were given a tub of colostrum powder by a doctor we saw when Hercules was sick. The doctor says that all of his patients who have been on it have found it really helps. The powder mixes up like milk powder and tastes a bit like skim milk. Hercules and Aristotle won’t take it neat so I have tried to mix it with Milo. Hercules managed to get through half a cup before he told me something was “wrong” with his Milo. That’s what you get when you have kids with sensitive palates. I blame their father.

In the end, the person who has benefited from that tub of colostrum powder has been me. Is it helping? Well, I don’t seem to be getting sick quite as often or as badly since I started taking it. Or perhaps it’s just placebo? Who knows…

Nutrition: Getting Children to Eat Vegetables – is Wheatgrass a Viable Alternative?

November 21, 2010 by Shen-Li Leave a Comment

Although wheatgrass has been on the Mum radar for quite some time, until recently, I never really gave it much in depth thought. What really got my notice was an ad at a BoostJuice Bar that claimed “one shot of wheatgrass is equivalent to eating a bowl of vegetables”. When you have a child that projectile vomits if you try to sneak even the tiniest piece of lettuce into a mouthful of his favourite noodles, an ad like that is bound to capture your notice.

I’ve had plenty of remarks about all the things I should have done with Gavin when he was little (which apparently would have prevented his food fussiness if I had just done it when he was younger) but believe me, I tried them all and then some (see Annabel Karmel, The Sneaky Chef, PediaSure and Probiotics). It wasn’t until I had Gareth who is much more open to trying new flavours that I finally came to terms with the guilt that has plagued me for over two years and accepted the fact that Gavin’s food fussiness is largely inherited and possibly very little to do with my management of him. After all, how do you sneak food into a child’s mouth when he can smell you coming from a mile away (and I mean that literally because Gavin’s keen sense of smell is like that rat in Ratatouille who could detect rat poison in food just by smelling it)? You can’t feed a child anything if he won’t open his mouth – we tried force-feeding him medicine once only to end up with vomit all over him and me. We also tried “a spoonful of sugar”, but in his case, it didn’t make the medicine go down.

Okay, I’m digressing… Back to wheatgrass.

Although the claims for wheatgrass benefits include its ability to treat numerous medical conditions, there isn’t much of the scientific literature to support these claims. Then again, neither is there any scientific literature to debunk these claims either which suggests there is room for more research. However, these aren’t the reasons for my interest in wheatgrass. What I wanted to know is whether a shot of wheatgrass really does provide the equivalent nutrition as a bowl of vegetables.

According to Health Psychology, there isn’t sufficient information to answer the question whether one shot of wheatgrass is equivalent to a kilogram of vegetables. The nutrition table on Wikipedia, however, seems to suggest that the nutrient content of wheatgrass is comparable to the equivalent amount of broccoli or spinach, while the Nutrition Supplements Center states that:

“Wheat grass has nearly a gram of protein per teaspoon, but contains no cholesterol or fat. It provides eight of the essential amino acids, and thirteen of the non-essential amino acids. It contains Vitamins A, B1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, and 12; C, E and K, as well as 15mg of Calcium, 8mcg Iodine, 3.5mcg Selenium, 870mcg Iron, 62mcg Zinc, and many other minerals.”

The American Cancer Society warns that because wheatgrass falls under the category of nutritional supplements which is unregulated (unlike pharmaceutical products), there is a lot of variation between different wheatgrass preparations.

What I found particularly interesting were the historical experiments with wheatgrass conducted by Charles Schnabel on chickens. He fed fresh cut grass to dying hens to nurse them back to health and discovered that not only did they recover, they were also able to produce eggs at a higher rate compared to the healthy hens. Later studies found that hens supplemented with wheatgrass were able to double their egg production.

So are there benefits from taking wheatgrass? It would appear that wheatgrass consumption has its benefits. The extent of those benefits, though, are unconfirmed. Is it better than eating vegetables? The American Cancer Society still advocates consuming a “balanced diet that includes 5 or more servings a day of vegetables and fruit, choosing whole grains over processed and refined foods and limiting red meats and animal fats. Choosing foods from a variety of fruits, vegetables and other plant sources such as nuts, seeds, whole grain cereals, and beans is healthier than consuming large amounts of one particular food.”

Is wheatgrass safe for children to consume? Wheatgrass is generally safe for consumption by children (although you should be aware of the potential for allergic reactions which have been reported in a few individuals). Additionally, since wheatgrass preparations vary in quality, it is important to check the individual product to determine whether it is safe your your child to consume. Some wheatgrass preparations may contain other ingredients that are not suitable for children to consume.

Coming back to my particular case – since Gavin isn’t eating vegetables, it would appear that if we can get him to take wheatgrass, it would definitely be better than nothing. Although it would be advisable to check the nutritional content of the wheatgrass preparation first due to the variation in quality between different brands.

Have you given your children wheatgrass? What are your experiences?

Filed Under: Feeding, health Tagged With: diet, health, nutrition

Dealing with Late Pregnancy Discomforts

October 10, 2009 by Shen-Li 1 Comment

I remember having pregnancy discomforts with the first pregnancy, but I’m sure they happened much later and towards the tail end of the pregnancy. This time around, the symptoms have been steadily getting worse.

For instance, the back pain a few nights ago was so bad I had to brace myself every time I wanted to turn in bed. I often wake up finding myself in the exact same position I went to sleep. Throw in a nursing toddler who is still performing acrobatics in his sleep and making all manner of requests in the middle of the night and it spells extreme discomfort for Mummy.

Finally deciding that the symptoms were sufficiently bad enough for me to take corrective action, I have implemented the following to help ease my ails:

1. The Benefits of Exercise

I started working out using the Pregalates DVDs that I bought online and discovered the following positive effects:

Back Pain – I have to admit I was surprised by the effect of what one session of Pilates could do to alleviate my back pain. Although the pain hasn’t completely disappeared, it is so much more bearable now. Come to think of it, I haven’t noticed any posterior pelvic pain since starting the exercises.
Groin Pain – the other improvement I have noticed is a decrease in groin discomfort. During pregnancy, due to the hormones, weight gain and stretching of the ligaments, groin pain (or rather groin discomfort in my case as the pain is not particularly excess – quite unlike the back pain) is a common symptom. Although my initial purpose for doing Pilates was to alleviate the back pain, the additional side benefit has been a reduction in groin discomfort.
Gestational Diabetes – no news from the doctor is good news. Nevertheless, exercise is part of the prescription for managing gestational diabetes. If the benefits are so good, then surely it has got to be just as beneficial for any pregnant mother.
Labour Fitness – okay, I admit, I just threw this one in and my eleventh hour efforts to exercise might actually be a case of too little too late. As labour approaches, I have been feeling rather apprehensive of whether I would be physically up for the task. I still recall the exhaustion from Gavin’s labour and it scares me to think that Gareth will be an even larger baby. Given the fact that I was actually fitter with Gavin, I thought I had better start doing something that might help facilitate the delivery. Will it help? I really don’t know, but at least it sets my mind at ease that I have tried to do something – even if I should have started a lot earlier.

2. Changes in the Diet

From the moment the pregnancy began, I noticed that it had a profound effect on my ability to consume healthy foods. I find this a real irony because isn’t pregnancy the time when you need to consume more healthy food? Instead, with the nausea from morning sickness and the changes in taste preferences, I found myself gravitating unconsciously towards unhealthy junk food.

During first trimester, the nausea was sufficiently bad enough for me to be put off eating fruits and vegetables. Prior to the pregnancy, I had been blending fruit juice using the Vitamix that hubby bought for me and consuming two to four cups of fruit and yoghurt blends a day. In the morning I would blend fruit with yoghurt and in the evening I would blend a fruit cocktail. The moment I got pregnant, I found myself unable to stomach anything so I stopped.

Recently, I’ve noticed that I find the fruit blends palatable again and have started blending fruit juice on an almost daily basis with the following benefits:

Bowel movement – although I was not really constipated during the pregnancy, the weight of the baby and the pressure the uterus places on the bowels during the act of defecating made it difficult to “go”. That is because the uterus compresses the bowels and blocks the exit of fecal matter. My apologies for the graphic description but that is essentially what happens. As a result, one can end up feeling constipated even if the stools are not particularly hard. Having started taking in more fiber on a daily basis through my fruit blends, my stools are sufficiently softened that actual “pushing” isn’t really necessary so there is less blockage of the bowels during defecation. In other words, the extra fiber has been critical to facilitate my bowel movements.
Reduced unhealthy cravings – I have also noticed that since I started drinking the fruit blends, it has helped to decrease my cravings for unhealthy junk food. I still eat some, but at least the intensity of the cravings have reduced considerably to the point of being “controllable”.
Improved diet – I think it is needless to mention that my diet has improved remarkable simply by adding a glass or two of blended fruit juice. My usual mix is a banana, some grapes, an apple, an orange, and some ice and water.

The other change to my diet has been the introduction of oatmeal in the morning. I’ve discovered some interesting oatmeal flavours from Quaker at the supermarkets which has made the dietary change much more fun. I’m sure there are others who might question the “fun” of eating oatmeal, but I have always enjoyed it since I was a child.

These have been small changes, but I was quite surprised by the positive effects they have had on the discomforts I have been experiencing during the pregnancy. If only I had started them earlier…