How we feed our kids.

[Phteven]

You are so not poisoning your children. Considering how damn unhealthy our children are compared with earlier generations and the very real possibility that the generation we are raising are going to be the first generation for hundreds of years to have a lower life expectancy than their parents I think that an old fashioned diet is very possibly a healthier diet than a 'modern' one.
Cutting out foods just for the sake of cutting them out is bull****. If it fits your macros eat that shizz. Cutting out fruit because of the sugar (in the absence of a diagnosed intolerance) is utterly counterproductive from a health POV. Fruit is packed full of trace nutrients, vitamins and minerals. The benefit of a diet with lots of fruit outweighs any supposed harm from the sugar.

Maybe I'm getting old but I can't even keep track of what is poisonous any more.

[Trillian]

Well if you are poisoning your kids then I am too I am aware of what they eat for sure and we do have a reasonable amount of packaged foods, but when you look at what they eat over the course of a day, then they don't even eat much of that. I think there is a lot to be said for eating whole foods and eating in a more traditional way. And no matter what type of food you cook or eat, you still need to eat it in moderation. that's where the harm is done, eating too much of anything is never a good thing.

[Yael]

I think you are doing a great job feeding them.

We are doing the full elimination diet because of extreme allergies, and we have just passed the dairy & gluten tests so they are back in, but before we started this crazy diet ours sounded close to yours. I used to buy crackers, a few of those tea biscuits that are barely sweet at all (and they were a treat), pretzels and mayo, and a few other things from a jar (which I never really even thought about until I had to do everything from scratch), but that was about it. My kids ate weetbix & milk (with a tiny sprinkling of sugar or honey) for brekky, cut up veggies for snack, sandwiches normally with tuna for lunch and more veggies, and fruit for afternoon snack. Dinners weren't my best because my kids grew more and more picky, but they would polish off a big salad at dinner, and even when I made home-made pizza once a week I still considered it healthy because I knew exactly what was on it - fresh pizza base without a lot of added junk, tomato paste, cheese & fresh veggies. Yeah it has white flour, and all that, but If you have a balanced diet I really don't think it's such a problem, but I'm not a health nut. We used brown rice, but I buy sushi every so often and I don't care!

I hate being on this diet, I've out on weight, and I'm eating so much more unhealthily because of the lack of veggies (leek, cabbage & potatoes only), and a whole lot more sugar and baked stuff (like pancakes everyday for the kids because it was the only thing they were eating when we were gluten free).

Even though before I was doing sugar free, it was for me only (not the kids), they still got their treats on the weekend, because once a week isn't a problem in my book. I didn't care how much fruit they ate as they don't have a weight problem, so they only sugar I cut out was in processed foods (surprised and how much sugar is added to simple things like pasta sauce, but then again I always made my own anyway), so it was mainly cakes and sweets which I could do without anyway.

I don't get the need to do extreme diets for dieting sake. I have an allergist, paediatrician and dietician involved, because I seriously believe you can't cut out this many food groups without medical supervision (things like monitoring my son loosing weight and working out how many calories he is having each day etc). As much as everybody goes on about a gluten free and dairy free diet for autism spectrum kids, there is not a lot of scientific evidence to support it, and as the paed said, don't just stay on it because you think you should, do a questionnaire before and after and actually evaluate behavioural changes, and if there is no difference, it is silly to cut those things out. I have found no difference (but I know he reacts to preservatives and colourings)... I just don't get people doing fad diets cutting out stuff myself, and especially not to growing bodies.

I'm sorry, I've been rambling. Your kids eat a great variety, they get what they need, and if sushi is the worst of what they eat then you don't need to worry. If they lived on sushi 3 times a day forever then you might have problems... Everything is about moderation. And your kids aren't picky and eat your amazing cooking so seriously you are doing a good job!

[onthefly]

How did your brain get to "poisoning"?
I've only cut things out because they make DS and DH sick! I wouldn't do it for some philosophy. And salt, sugar and fat are highly underrated foods, in my opinion.
I do have an anti-fruit bias, though.

[nothing2lose]

Zazou - rat sak. Avoid it at all costs, no matter what the nutritionists say.

[Phteven]

Rat sak huh? I'll keep that in mind.

[glenny_c]

Zazou - rat sak. Avoid it at all costs, no matter what the nutritionists say.

Lol. I give my baby boy rat poison on a daily basis! Just one of the things keeping him alive. Guess that just proves that we all do what's best for our family and we shouldn't compare to others. Hugs. I think you're doing great!!