Good evening….It has been a busy day today…and I have just sat down to write…I am in agreeance with Sally from Smorgasbord Magazine who believes that good nutrition should really start before a new baby is born in other words mum should be healthy…

I know that family units have broken down in many cultures now and good eating habits are not passed down…Like my mother passed them down to me…

It even extended to when I had my children…Mum came to look after me every time and I was not allowed visitors unless I had had my rest and fed baby she was worse than the Gestapo …bless her…Every visitor got told when she thought they had been there long enough…But in all honesty, I got my rest and time to get used to feeding baby…I don’t think that happens ant more or not as much as it used to…Which is such a shame…Anyway, I will pass you over to Sally who has a wealth of knowledge and experience and then I will give you some recipes to feed your new little precious bundles of joy…

https://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/2019/09/19/smorgasbord-health-column-creating-tthe-obesity-epidemic-part-one-finding-a-point-in-the-life-cycle-to-intervene-by-sally-cronin/

For the first few months baby if mum is able should be happy being breastfed if not there are some very good brands of formula milk…

Before feeding, solids baby should be able to sit up and take the food off a spoon…

Time to start feeding baby which generally is around 4-6 months…How much will the baby eat? Well much depends on when you introduced food…A baby who has been eating food from 4 months will be eating more at l months than a baby who starts eating food at 6 months.

When you start feeding baby then feed only one fruit or vegetable at a time this way it is easier to determine whether or not a baby has an adverse reaction to a food..generally by their poo…which is a good indicator.

What to start with? Avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, squash, eggs, pears, apples, mango, young coconut flesh, apples…All of these can either be mashed or lightly steamed or cooked in water…Never add sugar as this starts baby off on the road to only wanting to eat sweetened foods…

A bit about young coconut flesh...Young coconuts, also called immature coconuts, are green or orange on the outside. When you open them, they mostly contain coconut water and are lined with white flesh that looks a bit like jelly. Available everywhere here but  it can be bought frozen in a speciality food store.

Here in Thailand…Coconut – a first baby food?

The first solid food eaten by a Thai baby is three spoonfuls of the custard-like flesh of young coconut fed to him or her by a Buddhist priest.

BABY FOOD IDEAS USING COCONUT

• Add a little coconut milk (or a very little coconut cream) to a mashed ripe banana.
• Mash a baked, peeled sweet potato with 2 fl oz (1/4 cup) coconut milk and a little pinch of ground ginger for an unusual and tasty treat!
• Use coconut milk to thin pumpkin or butternut squash purees.
• Cut up fresh sweet potato, pumpkin or butternut squash into 1-inch pieces, place them into an oven-proof dish and pour coconut milk over the top. Bake for around 30 mins (until tender), then mash and serve!
• Use coconut water to cook rice – it adds a very subtle coconut flavour.

• Add a little coconut milk or cream to cooked oatmeal for babies an exotic breakfast treat.
• Use coconut milk in smoothies.
• Instead of simmering veggies in water, try simmering them in coconut milk instead!
• Poach a boneless piece of white fish in coconut milk!
• For older babies, add freshly grated coconut to cooked rice.

This is an example of how coconut is used to feed young children here…The soft jelly in a young coconut is easy to digest and has many nutrients…

Once the baby reaches about 8 months it is time to start combining foods. Raw ripe fruit or vegetables can be offered as children love to eat with their hands at that age maybe make a small dip like a fruit puree so they can dunk…they will only need guidance a few times and they will do it themselves it will be messy but to me there is nothing nicer than seeing a baby enjoy a piece of fruit or vegetable  however messy they get. That happy look on their faces is priceless…

You can start offering fish lightly poached in milk with some vegetables or some chicken or turkey again poached and mashed with some vegetables…Even tofu if you are bringing your baby up to follow a vegetarian diet…

Just be careful if you are giving bread or toast as it can get clumped together and cause a baby to choke…Always watch them at all times never leave them alone with food…

If you start baby on the right food as soon as they are ready to eat you will not have fussy kids…They will eat what you eat…Even here…the home of spicy food …Babies are started with vegetables and fruit, eggs and soft coconut flesh, then chicken or fish and rice…Chillies are not introduced until they are about 3 or 4 and then only in small amounts …Our granddaughter is 7 now and eats everything we eat although we do hold back on the chillies for her on most things although now she will eat quite spicy if it is a Thai beef salad which she loves…

Feeding babies what we eat from the get-go means we don’t get fussy kids…It always worked for me…Fussy kids turn into fussy adults…

How is my eating going…Well, I seem to sticking at this weight no matter what I eat…I would like to lose another 14 lbs although my son thinks it would be too much…So I have opted for 7lbs to keep the peace and then we will see…

How is your healthy eating going? Is it producing results?

Wacky Diets…TB 12 Diet…

Ever heard of the TB 12 diet?

It’s a diet made famous by NFL player Tom Brady. In fact, it’s also called the “Tom Brady diet”.

Tom Brady, the Gwyneth Paltrow of sports, has a book out now that features approximately four million words about water, and water consumption, and different types of water, and how water can protect you from the sun.

Brady says he drinks up to 300 ounces of water in a day, which is around 2.5 gallons of water. His urine must be as clear as the sparkling depths of Lake Tahoe, but really, a bunch of water consumption for an athlete isn’t all that weird.

What is weird is that Brady 1) differentiates between a bunch of different types of water, 2) wants you to add his quack-ish TB12 electrolyte drops into your drinks, and 3) thinks he gets fewer sunburns because of all the water he drinks.

I don’t think we need another Gwyneth…why can’t anyone just eat normal healthy food and bedone with it? Oh, silly me there is no profit for the individual to be had is there???

That’s all for today I hope your healthy eating is going well and if you are expecting or have a young baby then I hope these tips will help guide you to ensure your baby starts off and continues to eart well throughout their life…

 

About Carol Taylor:

Enjoying life in The Land Of Smiles I am having so much fun researching, finding new, authentic recipes both Thai and International to share with you. New recipes gleaned from those who I have met on my travels or are just passing through and stopped for a while. I hope you enjoy them.

I love shopping at the local markets, finding fresh, natural ingredients, new strange fruits and vegetable ones I have never seen or cooked with. I am generally the only European person and attract much attention and I love to try what I am offered and when I smile and say Aroy or Saab as it is here in the north I am met with much smiling.

Some of my recipes may not be in line with traditional ingredients and methods of cooking but are recipes I know and have become to love and maybe if you dare to try you will too. You will always get more than just a recipe from me as I love to research and find out what other properties the ingredients I use contain to improve our health and wellbeing.

The environment is also something I am passionate about there are now regular columns on my blog this year. It is important that we are mindful of the world we live in…These honeybees dining on forget me knots say it all to me…

Exciting for me hence the title of my blog, Retired No One Told Me! I am having a wonderful ride and don’t want to get off, so if you wish to follow me on my adventures, then welcome! I hope you enjoy the ride also and if it encourages you to take a step into the unknown or untried, you know you want to…….Then, I will be happy!

More and more of my blogging friends have joined me on MeWe…A social media site which is fairly new and which promises much without the restrictions some other social media sites are choosing to impose on many of us…Join me if you will on  MeWe

Carol is a contributor to the Phuket Island Writers Anthology: 

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Thank you once again for reading this post I hope you all have a lovely week, stay safe  xx