v: Weeds v: Of Weeds and Weans iv: Of Of Weeds and and Weans Weans winning the argument, at least in early childhood. But, as far as I’m concerned, this does not extend to pretending to like those ghastly little hell cabbages that appear on holiday tables all over the UK; a person must have limits.
The turn of the year changes the mood. By the end of the month, spring’s harbingers— Galanthus nivalis (Snowdrops) —will begin to appear. Imbolc draws near. And, because January is December’s hangover, all is gastronomical piety and good intentions. Naturally, this extends to our children. The festive period allows a degree of laxity with regard to sugar, junk food, processed and convenience foods, adherence to special diets, and other limits— but now, it’s time to rein it all back in. We reach instead for deeply nourishing, immune supporting, liver toning, detoxifying, and blood sugar regulating foods to put into our kids’ wee stomachs. It’s not just healthy food time, but medicinal food time.
Even if, despite your best efforts, consuming fresh vegetables is a struggle in your house, there are a few simple things you can do to make the food on your table as healthy as possible. Buy organic as much as possible. Aside from the much lower levels of pesticide residue than in conventionally grown food, organics are typically higher in nutrients, and often taste a lot better. Compare a tin of conventional tomatoes with a tin of organic ones, and I think you will be surprised by the difference. I certainly was. Offer a wide variety of whole foods to include the broadest possible spectrum of nutrients, vitamins and minerals for growing bodies. Offer, and ideally consume, fermented foods every day. In addition to cultivating a healthy and diverse microbiome, fermented foods are a great source of Vitamin K, which aids in healthy bone growth, and B vitamins for a healthy nervous system. Additionally, microbial activity renders the food both more digestible and more nutritious, as the friendly wee critters liberate nutrients and make them far easier to absorb. So even if you cook some of your fermented foods— like sour cucumber soup, sourdough bread, miso gravy, Weinkraut with apples —there will still be great benefit in eating them. Add medicinal foods wherever you can, to improve immunity and resilience, and to provide the best possible materials for your child’s growth.
However, getting medicinal foods into them might seem a bit of a challenge, with children’s notorious aversion to vegetables being a particular stumbling block. I have no answers here; only that eating vegetables and healthy foods yourself is a good start, at least in front of the children. Acting like eating vegetables and other healthy foods is normal and enjoyable goes a long way towards
So what do I mean by medicinal foods? Well, for the most part food is fuel, both in the carbohydrate sense of providing energy to the body just as petrol does to your car, and in the nutrient sense of providing the raw materials for body processes, like calcium for bone production. Medicinal foods go a step or two further: they may be extraordinarily antioxidant, like Curcuma longa (Turmeric) or
Medicinal foods for a healthy New Year Joseph Nolan It’s Health Kick January, and immunity and optimising health are on our minds— for a change. It has also been a long, rocky December: anxious, sugar-coated, and weighed down with boxes of Quality Street. Time now for healthy foods and the hope of new habits, and for preparing our kids for whatever 2022 is going to throw at them, and at us.
17
