Below, you'll find a video for the children in your life - maybe your own or others you know. It's about helping kids to make a connection between their microbiome and their lifelong health. The earlier they do this, the better. Children deserve to know that they’re a super-organism hosting trillions of microbes that are meant to go about their daily business in service to the body they inhabit. But that’s only if they’re happy, feel welcomed and are well fed. Instead of having a fight with the children in your life about why they need to eat their veggies, now you have a video to show them instead. Happy gut bugs, more chance of a happy, healthy child!
It’s no secret that today’s 24-hour smorgasbord of processed and ultra-processed foods are putting kids at risk of obesity, as well as a later life plagued by ill health. But what’s less talked about is that one of the more simple antidotes is good nutrition to feed the gut microbes, as well as the entire microbiome.
Our new video - that you'll find a link to below - is designed to help younger children understand why it’s important to eat a diverse range of rainbow coloured vegetables to keep their gut bugs happy and healthy.
Gut health isn’t just for kids, so in case you missed them, here are our last 2 videos for grown-ups’ gut health:
And some practical veggie tips, because even if you don’t love them, our gut bugs can’t live without them!
- Aim to eat four or more portions of raw or lightly cooked above-ground (non-starchy) vegetables, with minimal fruit, a day as recommended by the ANH Food4Health and Food4Kids guidelines
- If you’re adding more fibre to your diet increase your intake of vegetables slowly to reduce the possibility of experiencing problems such as bloating and cramping
- Because soluble fibre dissolves in water ensure you drink enough plain (clean, unfluoridated, preferably chlorine-free) water every day
- Eat as wide a diversity of plant foods as possible
- ‘Eat a rainbow’ including all 6 phytonutrient colour groups every day
- Add fresh herbs and spices as often as possible or choose good quality non-irradiated dried versions to flavour your foods. Try out different home-made herb sauces and salsas to add interest and flavour.
- Drink herbal teas - they’re a calorie-free source of phytonutrients needed to help balance countless metabolic and physiological processes in the body – as well as facilitating detoxification along with microbiome and immune health
- Incorporate vegetables into all your meals including breakfast!
- Stick to whole unprocessed foods and don’t be fooled by promises of ‘fibre rich’ ultra-processed foods with a laundry list of ingredients. You never know what may be lurking inside!
- Fresh, organic, seasonal produce is best, but some frozen veggies and fruits can make useful standbys
Experiment with fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut or kombucha – your gut bugs will thank you for it. If you’re not ready to experiment and make your own, watch out for products that are pasteurised or have vinegar in as they won’t contain beneficial bacteria. - If your pocket doesn't stretch to organic produce, don't despair, the US Environmental Working Group keeps updated lists of the Clean Fifteen and the Dirty Dozen vegetables and fruits. We strongly suggest that if it's one of the Dirty Dozen, you choose organic or go without.
If you’re signed up to our newsletter (accessible via our homepage) or following us on social media, we recognise that this information won’t be new to you, but please share it widely with others who aren’t as well informed.
Comments
your voice counts
Al Mund
05 December 2019 at 6:28 am
An ok Video but, had it also stressed the importance of eating ORGANIC vegetables, then it would have been a GREAT Video. Who in their right mind would want to advocate polluting their children bodies with GLYPHOSATE !!!
I can't in good conscience recommend this Video. Sorry !
Brian Steere
05 December 2019 at 6:46 pm
I see an infantilised culture teaching infants...
After reading that Jennifer Jaynes - author of Malice - a 'medical thriller' has been 'suicided' by two shots to the head. I looked up her work and also found
I Care About Me by Jennifer Jaynes & Elfin Morgan
Illustrated by Elettra Cudignotto
Not many pages - but using the terms 'real food'.
Meleni Aldridge http://www.anhinternational.org
05 December 2019 at 6:56 pm
Dear Al
We wholeheartedly agree with you that organic is the best way to go - if you can. That's why we talk about it constantly through all our information on the Food4Health Campaign and again in the bullet points at the end of the article accompanying this new video. However, there's a huge swathe of the population for which organic is out of their economic reach, but it's still better to eat veggies, than avoid them because you can't buy organic.
Thanks for your comment, we've now included the links to the Clean Fifteen and Dirty Dozen lists to help parents make better choices even if they can't go fully organic. It's possible to source pesticide- and herbicide-free (including glyphosate) foods that are not certified organic e.g. from community supported agriculture (box) schemes or local farms.
Our main point of this video is that its for young children - they don't make the buying decisions in the house, so the information on whether to go organic or not, is for their parents. That's why it's all in the accompanying text. We felt it was better to single out the message about why veggies are good for your gut bugs in the video for the children, and then help their parents to make better shopping choices with the information in the text.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, it really helps keep us on our game!
Meleni
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