Most parents shop the baby aisle of their health food or grocery
store looking for baby food, see organic baby food and then purchase
their preferred brand, or the one they have a coupon for, without giving
it another thought. Most of us grew up on regular baby food and we are,
more or less, healthy and whole. Having suffered no evident negative
effects from commercial varieties, it can't be that bad, right? However,
it's less about what you grew up with and more about raising a healthy
baby in a world where hormones, pesticides and other chemicals in food
are the norm. As we are all too aware, today's world is not the one we
grew up in.
Do chemicals found in the baby foods really affect
your child's health? Many people mistakenly believe that chemicals in
our food are digested and expelled as waste; however, in reality, they
get absorbed by the body and accumulate. It is safe to assume that, if
it happens in adults it happens in babies, too. When babies who had been
fed a diet of regular baby foods were switched to organic baby food,
the noticeable levels of pesticides and fertilizers that had been
present in their bodies reportedly disappeared. While the adverse
effects of chemicals haven't yet been proven harmful to children, the
possibility does exist that they could damage a baby's internal organs
or cause health problems later in life.
While changes in your baby
may not be noticeable once you have stopped feeding them commercial
baby food and shifted to organic, your baby will notice the change.
Unlike adults, babies' bodies use food for survival and growth. Babies
and children eat substantially more food per pound of body weight than
adults; they also process food differently. Some studies have found that
pesticides and other chemicals have a significantly greater impact on
children than adults.
While you will notice organic baby food
costs more when compared with standard commercial brands, you can reduce
the cost without affecting your baby's health. Various traditionally
grown foods, including bananas, broccoli, mangos and sweet peas, contain
very low levels of pesticides and are safe for consumption by your
baby. Switch to organic baby food for foods containing high levels of
pesticides including apples, strawberries and spinach. To save even
more, make your own! Buy or grow organic vegetables so that you know
what is going into your baby's system. If you need help with preparation
tips or baby food recipes, a simple search on the internet will yield
hundreds of options.
In our modern day society, children seem to
get sicker more often and tend toward obesity. For these reasons alone,
it's a good idea to get your child to start eating healthy food as early
as possible. The best way to do that is by feeding them organic food
from their first bite of baby produce without the hidden dangers of
pesticides. Feeding your child good, wholesome foods will set them up
for a long, healthy life with good eating habits.
Marty Rich has been a professional chef for more than 27 years.
He is dedicated to helping everyday people, like you and me, learn to
create easy, simple meals with the freshest of ingredients. For more
information on organic living please visit http://www.chefmartyrich.com.
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