Anyway, onto the subject of children because I really feel we have a lot to learn from them.
Not only do they remind us how to live in the present; watch a young child playing and see how their emotions can switch from joy to anger and back to happiness in an instant. They truly live in the moment for this is our natural state of living. The past is no longer relevant for it has happened and bears no reflection on our lives anymore, other than if we attach ourselves to the memories of the past and use them to judge how our futures will be affected. Our future has not happened and so is not relevant; the future is a manifestation of our current thoughts, of which our emotions are a guide. That is, if we feel good, we are clearly thinking good stuff and our future will be the physical manifestation of that good stuff. TUT is a great site for reminding me of this.
Young children live a fairly natural life in that, for them the future is no longer relevant (eg ask any child how they got on at school and they will struggle to remember because they have done what we all could do - move on and forget). Young children are far more interested in the current moment for the shields that us adults have developed to hide our true soul selves have not yet been put up. I get great pleasure from watching my three girls as they offer a reminder of how I could be living (and indeed how I strive to live!)
Now the second lesson I learn from watching children is how their appetites are so balanced. This is because they have only been eating cooked foods, sugar and grains for a short while; all these foods interfere with body biochemistry and stop normal appetite from working properly. They are also fairly toxic free - how many children drink diet coke, alcohol, pharmaceutical drugs and other highly toxic substances on a regular basis? This means their bodies work as they are designed.
You only have to watch a child at meal times to see this; give them a meal they hate and they will not eat it. But that doesn't mean they'll be weak/shaky or not be able to concentrate later on, for these things are signs of when your body cannot regulate its blood sugars properly. Normal hunger is felt at the back of the throat, not in the head (lack of concentration), or the stomach (excess acidity due to having consumed too much or the wrong foods), or in the body (weakness/shaking). Here are 3 great pages that describe true hunger by Herbert M Shelton. We are designed to go without foods for hours and if we cannot, then it is not because we have not eaten enough, it is because we have been eating the wrong foods that have spiked our blood sugars, that have sapped our mineral reserves and that have created acidic conditions that increase the parasite/candida load that, in turn, continues to fuel appetite. Richard Anderson has written lots of articles about how to maintain a good body biochemistry, to which I often refer.
Thankfully, children's bodies are in much better balance to adults and they also are able to listen to their in-built appetite control mechanisms: they will stop eating when they are full, even mid-mouthful, and go off and play, completely forgetting the meal that was on the table. They know what they need and listen to their bodies, rather than deciding in advance that they will be eating certain foods.
Of course, our natural desire is to eat large quantities of colourful sweet foods - this is a pre-historic survival mechanism and used to be fulfilled by eating fruit. These days, unfortunately, our natural desires are fulfilled by eating sugar-laden junk and, given the chance, our children will opt for the same.
So, we can both learn from each other here - we can be inspired that it is possible to have a completely normal appetite and can work towards this by cleaning up our diets, eating a large proportion of raw vegetables and some fruits, reducing parasite and candida load that fuels appetite, maintaining an alkaline state and a keeping stress and toxins low. Gradually, our appetites are restored to normal and we simply lose interest in food until we are naturally hungry.
And we can teach our children to keep their wonderful, natural appetites by feeding them nutrient rich, organic raw foods as often as possible and keeping them away from foods that rob the body of its balance (sugar, fizzy drinks, white flour). I'm not saying bring children up eating only raw food, since they find it hard to thrive on bulky, low calorie foods when they are growing.
I reach a compromise and try to make 30-50% of their diet raw by giving them side salads, adding raw vegetable purees onto cooked food and giving them fruit as a mid-afternoon snack. They eat mainly organic, vegetarian foods, vegetables with both main meals, rarely eat cows milk products (they eat goat's and sheep's yoghurt/cheese and drink rice milk) and they eat wheat based products at most once a day. Of course, they eat chocolate but I only buy the dark variety and just a small amount. We are increasingly eating more raw chocolate but as it is not available in France we have to order this and it gets eaten very quickly once delivered!
If they are ill, we use natural remedies (homeopathy, colloidal silver, Reiki (links to my Reiki Master), EFT) and they have never had antibiotics. That way, we achieve a balance of healthy eating and recognise that food is a social activity and I see that it is important for them not to feel too different from their friends.
Oh yes, and plenty of sunshine, taking care not to over-expose, but never using sunscreens unless we cannot avoid being out all day.
The result is that my children are rarely ill, they laugh constantly and they are a joy to be with. Thank you for choosing me my lovely girls!
What did I learn?
- Children's appetites are an indication on how our appetites could be.
- Eating clean, raw, nutrient-rich, organic foods, staying alkaline and reducing parasites/candida go a long way to restoring this natural appetite.
- Remember to live in the present and to keep your thoughts positive and happy. Your emotions reflect your thoughts; if you're feeling good today, then tomorrow will bring more of the same.
