Children Handbook

For the Love of Children
A Handbook
Concepts & Tools for Guiding Children
Based on the Edgar Cayce Readings

Compiled by the A.R.E. Youth and Family Staff

Chapter 5

The dietary information given through Edgar Cayce over forty years ago is very much in keeping with current nutritional guidelines for disease prevention. The general guidelines that were put forth in the readings recommended:

1. Plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits. These should be in-season, and locally grown if possible. Vegetables should be fresh or lightly steamed. Fresh juices were recommended. We are told that 80% of our diet (four out of every five foods) should be the “alkaline producing” foods, of which vegetables and fruits are the major source. (Supposedly almonds are also alkaline producing, while dairy products are neutral, and grains, meats, vegetable protein foods, most nuts, and fats are acid producing foods.)

2. Whole grain breads and cereals. These include the 100% whole wheat, rye, oat, and corn breads, grains, cereals, and pasta.

3. Nonfat or lowfat dairy products. Milk, buttermilk, cottage cheese, and yogurt. Also, lowfat cheese like mozzarella and ricotta.

4. Fish, fowl, and lamb, and vegetable protein foods. Fish and shellfish, fowl (such as chicken, turkey, duck, goose), and lamb should be baked, broiled, or poached. Vegetable protein foods include dried beans and peas, and tofu. Eggs occasionally.

5. Raw nuts and seeds. Especially almonds.

6. Six to eight glasses of plain water daily. Also herb teas and fresh juices. (Smaller amounts of water for young children.)

7. Only limited amounts of:

a. Oils and butter (high in total fat)

b. Eggs (high in cholesterol, but good sources of protein and iron)

c. Honey (a concentrated sweetener)

d. Cheese (most are high in fat)

e. Wine

f. Desserts, such as puddings, custards, cooked fruits, and ice cream

8. Foods to avoid:

a. Fried foods (deep fried foods like doughnuts, deep fried fish or chicken, french fries, and so on)

b. Refined foods (that is, foods made with white flour or white sugar, like breads, cakes, pastries, pies, cookies, candy, and pasta)

c. Carbonated beverages (soda and beer)

d. Beef (once a week or less)

e. Pork (except occasional crisp bacon)

f. Alcohol (except occasional wine)

These guidelines are appropriate for children as well as adults. It is vitally important to start children out with good food choices early in life. The eating habits that we learn in childhood are likely to last a lifetime, for as the saying goes, “As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.” Children raised on Twinkies and Ho-Ho’s think of these foods as the norm, and old habits are hard to break!

Suggested Menus:

BREAKFAST

Citrus fruit or cereal. (Do not combine these at the same meal.)

Boiled or scrambled egg occasionally

Whole wheat toast

Glass of milk (not with citrus fruit)

LUNCH

Raw vegetable salad (green leafy vegetables, combined in a salad with oil dressing or mayonnaise) and/or

Vegetable soup

One slice bread and butter

Beverage

SNACKS

Fresh vegetables (cauliflower, pepper strips, broccoli, radishes, carrots, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini sticks, or celery) to munch on or dip. Cover cleaned, cut vegetables with a little cold water so they are ready and waiting in the refrigerator. Remember to steam vegetables for children under age three.

Dips for vegetables (Let children mix instant soup with plain yogurt; smooth out cottage cheese in a blender with plain yogurt)

Peanut butter or other nut butter for children to spread on celery or cucumber sticks.

Carrot and raisin salad, or hot homemade vegetable soup

Fruit, cut in different shapes (melon wedges, pineapple chunks, watermelon balls or slices, peaches, plums, apricots, grapes, applesauce, fresh berries, pears, and cherries)

Yogurt dip for fresh fruit; or use whole-wheat pretzel sticks as skewers for fruit kabobs

Frozen fruit for hot days (bananas, grapes, cherries)

Baked apples for cold days (Fill cored apples with raisins or chopped dried fruit, drizzle with honey, add a dash of cinnamon, and top with chopped nuts. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes, or microwave, covered, on high for 2-3 minutes, until soft.)

Orange slices, grapefruit wedges, melons, orange juice, and raw apples make great snacks. However, these should be eaten alone and not with whole grains or milk, according to the Cayce readings.

SUPPER

Meat: fish, fowl or lamb

Cooked vegetables (a variety of above and below ground, yellow and green vegetables)

Beverage

Dessert if desired (especially ones made with gelatin, for children)

The following are further suggestions for optimizing your child’s nutrition, awareness and intake.

Give your child whole milk up to the age of two or three. The rationale for this current practice is that children at this age are experiencing such rapid growth that the extra fat is not harmful and probably beneficial for growth.
After age three, begin to switch children over to lowfat and nonfat dairy products. Evidence of coronary artery disease has been found in ten year olds, indicating that a lifetime habit of low fat intake should begin early in childhood to help prevent heart disease, several types of cancer, and obesity.
Be sure that foods for infants and very young children are naturally soft or lightly steamed. Youngsters under three are not capable of properly chewing such foods as raw carrots, celery with the strings, fresh corn, raw apples with peels, nuts, popcorn, etc. Fresh fruit or vegetable juices, as well as 100% fruit juices that are frozen or canned, are excellent.
Involve your children in growing food (even sprouts help!)
Let the children help you in shopping and choosing, allowing them to pick out in the produce department whatever they want. Shop at produce or farmers markets, natural food stores, co-ops as well as the supermarket.
Share cooking and cleaning up with your children, making it a fun time together.
Encourage children to listen to their own bodies (hunger signals like lack of energy or grumpiness, etc.)
For meals, take into consideration the activity level of the day and the child. The less active the child, the greater the intake of alkaline foods; exercise burns off the acidic foods faster.
Try some kitchen science projects for understanding how some foods react in combination: add baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) to vinegar (acetic acid) to produce carbon dioxide with wonderful bubbles; add some lemon or orange juice to milk, and watch the milk curdle. Seeing these reactions happen helps explain why citrus fruits should not be combined in a meal with milk, or gives another realistic sense of what can happen internally. (For a whole book full of kitchen projects, see Science Experiments You Can Eat–but try to use experiments from it that don’t use sugar.)
Keep food portions at meals small enough to be eaten easily; it’s better to have requests for seconds.
Eat wisely yourself!
Be sure that your children are really hungry when you offer them new foods.
If there’s a problem for your kids with candy or junk foods, try tips from mother and dietitian Karla Peterson: “Perhaps one loaf of white french bread a month, or a bag of potato chips to be eaten immediately. The trick is to make a practice of keeping only wholesome foods (like raw vegetables and lowfat dip waiting in the refrigerator, or orange slices or melon wedges) at home so the children learn to fill up on nourishing foods in the afternoons. My trick for getting past the candy aisle [in the grocery store] is to promise that, “We’ll get some of those when Halloween comes.” That seems to appease the children, and when Halloween arrives, we do buy one or two bags of candy, but also sugarless candy, nuts, raisins, pencils, and stickers for Halloween bags. I think the fun is in actually having permission to eat candy, and they never seem to eat it all anyway.”
Make meals a peaceful, sharing time. Encourage young children to relax just before eating, for quiet play or rest helps a child’s appetite. Mealtime is not the time to criticize behavior or discuss the day’s problems. Instead, keep mealtime conversation cheerful and happy. Try giving each person two minutes to talk, uninterrupted. Children will feel very special, and they probably won’t talk the full two whole minutes.
Serve each meal with Vitamin L: LOVE. Everyone will leave the table feeling nourished, physically and emotionally.

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