I've had a bet with my husband for a while that I could spend the month of May eating raw 100% of the time. If you knew the size of my junk food habit, you'd feel for me. LOL. My 6.5 month old daughter is 100% breastfed with no supplements. She has had a runny nose almost since birth. Since I am her sole source of nutrition, it stands to reason that improving my diet would also improve her health.

I was talking to someone on Mothering's discussion forum about her constantly runny nose. The conversation made it's way to raw foods and she told me "Peanuts and some other nuts can also cause a lot of allergies. Mostly skin types like eczema.

Avocado is good! Olives and olive oil is super. Coconut fat organic is very, very good. And so healthy for baby. Must be organic because the extract it otherwise with so many chemicals."

Can anyone elaborate on her information, and also bombard me with as much info as possible. Assume I'm totally clueless and have even seen a salad or heard of the word juicer <<wink>>

Grazie amici

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Proud to be a tandem breastfeeding, cosleeping, mei tai wearing, natural/homebirthing, cloth diapering, never spanking, non-circumcising mama to two wonderful little leeches. Baby Boy '04, Baby girl '06. :-)

Anyone got any advice? Even if you think it's completely stupid. I've been working my way to raw by adding fresh fruits and veggies. I'd like to know if I have my bases covered before going completely raw in May. :-)

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Proud to be a tandem breastfeeding, cosleeping, mei tai wearing, natural/homebirthing, cloth diapering, never spanking, non-circumcising mama to two wonderful little leeches. Baby Boy '04, Baby girl '06. :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/20/2007 04:42PM by ReneeK.

As a bloke who has never had kids, I feel slightly awkward giving advice here, but here goes: be carefull to not transition too quickly to 100% while exclusivly breastfeeding. If you have any kind of detox, toxins could be released into your milk.

Of course eating 100% raw is going to be best for you and your baby, but don't rush the transition, go at a speed which suits you both, doing it as a bet is not the best idea!

> Avocado is good! Olives and olive oil is super. Coconut fat organic is very,
> very good. And so healthy for baby. Must be organic because the extract it
> otherwise with so many chemicals."

I agree with the avocado and coconut. But olives only if they are raw, sun dried. Any other olives are not ripe they are processed with salt or in other ways to make them edible. Olive oil is made with unripe olives (and therefore I personally don't use it).

Rob

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Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

Rob, I've been planning my transition to 100% raw for a while so I've been working more fresh fruits and veggies into my diet. Last night I had fresh, raw spinach for an after dinner snack instead of fatty or sugary snacks. :-)

I've only seen sundried olives on line. Have you ever eaten any?

Renee
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ReneeK Wrote:
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> I've only seen sundried olives on line. Have you
> ever eaten any?

Yes, loads! When I lived in Spain, I would spend many hours sat under olive trees, munching away... one of my favorite foods I guess!

Rob

--
Rob Hull - Funky Raw
My blog: [www.rawrob.com]

ReneeK,

When people ask Dr Graham about transitioning during breastfeeding, he says "There are no contraindications to healthful living". The healthier you feed yourself, the healthier you are feeding your baby.

To give your baby lots of vitamins, eat more fruits. To give our baby lots of minerals, eat more leafy greens. To avoid giving your baby excitotoxins, avoid eating spices and condiments. Eat everything as fresh as possible. The freshest form of fats are avocados or fats found in whole ripe raw fresh organic fruits and vegetables. Nuts and seeds will be older than fresh produce. Oils will even be older and less healthier than nuts and seeds. Coconut butter is saturated fat and is not a health food but a waste product for your body to eliminate.

I love avocado. Would one a day be a good starting point? I'm not worried about my weight. Are there other fruits and vegetables with healthy fats? I was under the impression that only olives and avocados have fats.

Renee
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Renee,

All whole foods have protein, carbohydrates, and fats. Even if you don't eat the overt fats (foods that are primarily fat like avocados, nuts, seeds, etc), you will be getting enough fat.

Don't make yourself eat more fat than you are comfortable. More is not better, in fact, most often more is less. Eating more raw fats than your body needs will cause you to become fat and lose health.

One avo a day is a good starting place. If your body is asking for more, give it more. If it is asking for less, give it less.

One place to look to optimize nutrition for your baby is the maximum number of nutrients per calorie. Greens have the highest nutrient (vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients) per calorie. Fruit have the second highest, Fats like avos are lower, because they are so calorie rich. A pure fat like oil is completely empty calories, as there are so few nutrients per calorie in oil.

Bryan,

Thanks for so much helpful and sound advice. I truly appreciate it.

Renee
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Hello Renee,

What Bryan has described has definitely worked for me while breastfeeding my now 2yo son. I produce more milk, my DS likes it better, and he's healthy & happy. I can definitely tell when he doesn't like something I've eaten.
Best luck to you!

Harmony

Thanks, Harmony. :-)

Proud to be a tandem breastfeeding, cosleeping, mei tai wearing, natural/homebirthing, cloth diapering, never spanking, non-circumcising mama to two wonderful little leeches. Baby Boy '04, Baby girl '06. :-)