Hand-in-Hand Parenting Expert, Kelly van Rooyen, and Functional Medicine Specialist, Dr. Rav James, recently teamed up in a series of four short videos to discuss the vital importance of nutrition, and food culture for healthy families.
They discussed everything from easy, healthy recipe ideas (for growing brains) and WHAT NOT TO EAT, to how we can nurture better co-regulation in our families.
PART 1: Brain Power Smoothie
✔️ What is an easy way to feed the young brain everything that it needs for a morning full of learning, fun, and play?
✔️ And if our children are used to bread, cereal or flavoured yoghurts, how do we get them to slowly start embracing sugar-free, dairy-free, and gluten-free options?
✔️ How do we slowly start to improve the way children see and interact with food as medicine?
PART 2: Normalizing Healthy Eating 🥕
✔️ Why is it important to avoid praising or reward around children’s mealtimes?
✔️ And what’s an example of versatile healthy cooking?
Why we love it:
* Sugar-free, gluten-free, and dairy-free
* Easily made in big batches and frozen
* Home-made
* Kids love it
Ingredients:
* 2 Small carrots (grated)
* 2 Baby marrows (finely chopped)
* 1 Large onion (finely chopped)
* 4 – 5 Cloves garlic ((finely chopped)
* 1 Handful basil (finely chopped)
* 2 Celery sticks (finely chopped)
* 1 Can of tomato
Method:
* Fry the onions in olive oil on a gentle heat
* Once the onions are sautéed, add the rest of the ingredients and continue to cook on low heat
* Stir regularly so that the veggies start to soften
* Add one can tomatoes (I cook my own tomatoes and then freeze them)
* Once all the veggies have softened, add one to two cups of water, according to the consistency that you like
* Finally, using a hand blender, blend everything together
PART 3: Snacking, a Home-Made Chocolate Spread, and Outbursts at the Dinner Table
✔️ How to approach emotional outbursts at mealtimes (and the reasons why you might be experiencing this at your dinner table)
✔️ And Dr. Rav discusses the sugary snack trap and demonstrates a no-added sugar version of home-made chocolate spread 🧡
PART 4: What NOT to eat
✔️ What tricks are played on us as we shop for our families?
✔️ How can we move away from pre-packaged, toxin-laden foods?
✔️ How to co-regulate so that – over time – our children are successfully self-regulating.
