Nutrition in Photos

A book recommendation, photos, a quick recipe

New parents sometimes wonder why I focus so much on nutrition and less on topics such as behavior, discipline, and mindfulness.

Well-nourished children do not require behavior and discipline intervention! It is something that schools promote because they are too lazy to look at the real cause of children’s problems.

Seriously. In the first 20 years of Montessori, I can name the one child who was briefly a discipline problem.

Our own family went to the pediatrician once a year. Sometimes every 18 months. Because no one was sick. Childhood vaccines numbered about five or six at that time.

Our pediatrician owned a modest suburban house and drove an okay car. No luxuries. Because he didn’t make that much money. Because children weren’t constantly sick.

Below, I share some photos to help you start thinking,

I should mention that the children below attend a very posh Montessori school in a well-to-do neighborhood, so none of their parents lack for funds. The tone bars, shown below, are very nice, however.

Whenever I travel for volunteer work to poor areas of the world, I always wonder what is happening when the children I see there are so much healthier than the children back at home. The mother in the photo below is feeding her children in a cave. A cave. And she is able to keep them healthy and strong. The wheat is from the little fields near their cave.

So, I eat wheat in a cave without any problems. Then I come home, and wheat causes gastro issues, so I don’t eat it. When I go back to a rural area overseas, I can eat the wheat. If I didn’t travel, I’d think it was just my bad luck with wheat.

I have to mention Bluebird Grain Farms here because I can eat their grain just fine. They have sourdough cultures and the flour you need. This is not a sponsored post, but I wanted to share this source. I’d gotten organic, etc, grains from other sources, but this farm grows their own.

If you get the whole grain and lentils,

1. Soak it for several days until it gets bubbly

2. Cook it for two hours at 325 in an oven (with a lid)

3. You can soak the cooked product for another day in raw kefir or yogurt. Or just eat it.

The whole soaking and cooking process is perfect for practical life at home. It is a simple dish, so children can easily take charge of the whole thing.

Kobe Bryant’s nutritionist, Dr. Catherine Shanahan, wrote a book. It’s quite useful,

And avoid the Dirty Dozen entirely. Unless you grow your own without pesticides, fungicides, antivirals (citrus), or antibiotics. I know, I know…it certainly is unfortunate that it has all come to this. “Organic” does not mean no pesticide. More on that later.

I end this post with a plea that everyone spend plenty of time outside in the sunshine. We used to suggest vitamin D testing, but everyone always tested incredibly short of it, so I jump straight to the recommendation to go outdoors. It helps no one to sit indoors and struggle with a squirmy child…or stressed adult.

Some of you live in gorgeous spots! Enjoy the warm waters for the rest of us!