Natural Birth and Baby Care.com

Healing Our Children

Because Your New Baby Matters: Sacred Wisdom for Preconception, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting

This book - Healing Our Children, by Ramiel Nagel - will open your eyes and capture your heart. It's Nagel's unapologetic treatise on how to properly nourish (and raise) young children. I've always been a firm believer in how important a good pregnancy diet is, but Nagel's compelling, well-written, and extensively referenced work has me convinced that diet is of paramount importance.

Before I write more on Healing Our Children - which I give my highest recommendation - I do want to say I disagree with some of Nagel's worldview and thoughts on child rearing (though I agree with most of his beliefs on baby care.) The book covers many aspects of raising children. All of it will make you think and I've never seen better information on feeding babies and children, so pick up the book and take what speaks to you. I promise the nutrtion information will!

My copy of Healing our children has tiny sticky notes poking out all over it from pages filled with information I want to refer back to. I've already made changes to my children's diets based on the information I learned.

Nagel wastes no time launching directly into the heart of the book - why are our modern day children getting sick? Are we really just innocent bystanders while various "pathogens," "disorders," and "bad genes" take our children's health? Nagel's first several chapters answer just that question. He does it in clear language and has photos all throughout the chapters showing the striking differences between children being fed nourishing foods and children suffering on modern, processed foods. He also discusses the havoc industrial foods have wreaked on the dental health of our children - including his own daughter. Her severe tooth decay is what prompted Nagel to begin his research and it's evident he now has a passion for teaching on children's health issues.

Nagel presents a very different paradigm of approaching disease than what you and I were taught in school - and what our doctors and media sources are telling us. It is not that we are innocent victims of microscopic terrorists - it's that we've allowed our bodies to become places where disease can thrive. And the solution to these menaces we call "disease" is to begin to give our bodies, and most especially our children's bodies (even those children yet to be born), their full nutritional birthright.

If you're looking for a book of "politically correct" nutrition that will tell you to eat only vegetable oils and low-fat foods during pregnancy, and remind you to feed your children skim milk after they turn two, Healing Our Children is not the book you want. Nagel's nutrition guidelines are based upon those of healthy traditional peoples. These communities had healthy pregnancies, easy labors, and abundant breastmilk. The babies were vigorous and plump, and the children strong and healthy. They weren't plagued by asthma, attention problems, poor vision, or juvenile cancers, arthritis, and diabetes. These children were robust and happy.

Nagel recommends feeding children foods high in quality traditional fats (not industrial processed fats like soybean oil and shortening), and nutrient dense foods like organ meats and shellfish. If you're wondering, Nagel is also a proponent of giving children plenty of produce and also grains (properly prepared and in moderation), but he points out that children under 2 often have trouble digesting veggies and grains and that such foods should be served with traditional fats so the child can absorb all nutritients.

Healing Our Children also covers preparing for your coming children. The section on preconception nutrition is extensive and clearly written. Nagel presents the ideal situation and preparation and also acknowledges that you may have your own timeline for trying to become pregnant. He says to work with your timeline but keep in mind just how vital your nutrition is for the health legacy of your yet-to-be-conceived child. The guidelines extend to outline proper pregnancy and lactation nutrition. Nagel is a big fan of breastfeeding, which is refreshing to see since most books about traditional nutrition don't address how to make sure your breastmilk is rich and nourishing.

If you're lost on how to get started Nagel has good information on how to locate quality traditional foods and some cookbook recommendations for you.

There's information on having a safe and healthy birth for your baby, which I thought was well-written (and of course emphasizes the importance of good nutrition). I differed in my postpartum time from Nagel's wife - he suggests that women may not be too hungry in the initial postpartum period. I was ravenous! So in this place I found a difference, however, you can easily eat how you want in your own postpartum time!

Nagel moves into chapters on raising babies and young children. As I've already said there is a lot of good information here, especially about why your baby and young child greatly desires your presence and close physcial contact. You can read this section and take what speaks to you.

The chapter on vaccines will give you an incredible amount of food for thought -as will the chapter on schooling. These two chapters were really compelling and you'll enjoy considering them no matter what conclusions you reach.

Nagel gives a chapter with specific feeding recommendations and protocals for babies and young children. I liked this chapter - it was a good summary of the principles he covered throughout the rest of the book. It's very easy to refer to. It gets me excited to think about when Galen will be ready for solids ;) It also has a chart listing nourishing alternatives to traditional lunch and snack foods - I've already turned to the chart over and over!

Healing Our Children closes with challenges to take the information you've learned and apply it to your life and the lives of your children (even those not yet conceived!) Nagel also has a passion for helping to heal the lives of all children, which is why he says the book is called "Healing Our Children."

All-in-all I give Healing Our Children my highest recommendation. The nutrition information alone is golden. Read this book even if you're just contemplating pregnancy - and certainly if you're trying to conceive, pregnant, nursing, or raising children. Read it even if you're a grandmother! Like I said, my copy is already well-marked and referenced. Give your children and grandchildren a better future now - read Healing Our Children!