Let Them Eat Dirt by B. Brett Finlay & Marie-Claire Arrieta PhD

Author:B. Brett Finlay & Marie-Claire Arrieta, PhD [Finlay, PhD B. Brett]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Algonquin Books
Published: 2015-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

11. How can parents promote the development of a healthy microbiota through diet?

This is a good one to answer because there’s no better way to influence the development of a diverse microbiota than through diet. Offering a healthy diet rich in vegetables and fiber is probably even more important than not being overly clean with babies and children. As we mentioned in chapter 6, when babies start eating solid foods they should be given a diet varied in vegetables, fiber, and fermented foods. A child can be exposed to many good sources of microbes while playing and interacting with people, but if these microbes are not fed the right foods, they won’t flourish in a child’s gut. If a child’s diet is mainly based on refined carbohydrates (white flours and sugar) and high fats, his digestive system will digest and absorb most or all of the nutrients in the upper part of the digestive tract, leaving little nourishment for the vast numbers of microbes inhabiting the large intestine farther down. The microbiota in the large intestine feed on fibers and foods that are somewhat resistant to digestion in the upper part of the digestive tract and if none of that makes it down they will starve and diversity will decrease.

While offering babies lots of vegetables, legumes, fiber, and fermented foods is a good idea, convincing a two-, three-, or four-year-old to eat their carrots and celery is a whole different game. Once babies realize that they can make their own decisions, they will try to get only what they want, and upon tasting french fries or ice cream they will undoubtedly shun anything else, especially if its green. This is when teaching them good eating habits becomes extremely important and extremely hard at the same time. Even the most dedicated parent can easily give in after the thirtieth time their toddler asks for candy, especially if this happens late in the day when the patience levels are low.

Claire found that her daughter became a lot less resistant to eating all the healthy stuff when, one day, when Marisol was three and a half, Claire told her that she had a huge collection of little bugs in her tummy. She made the story very elaborate and whimsical; the bugs all had different colors and shapes, they sang songs, had parties, and simply loved living in Marisol’s tummy. They actually called her tummy their home, and they were the happiest little creatures that ever lived. They also had superimportant jobs to do, like chopping up all the food she ate into really small pieces so it could reach the rest of her body to make her grow. Her little bugs were also her poop factory and they made sure that she recovered when she got sick, too (all only slight exaggerations from the real facts!). Claire also said that these bugs were always hungry because of how busy they were and that Marisol’s job was to feed them every day. Without food they would starve, get supersad, and even die.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.