Now I realize I have been MIA for a few weeks, but that’s because life outside of my blog has been taking up too much time. I seriously miss blogging though, and since I know you’ve missed my posts (hah, I hope?), I am coming back with a bang: I want to introduce my loyal and new My Life in a Pyramid readers to an opportunity for two of you to win a copy of the awesome new ‘real food’ book, Super Nutrition for Babies: The Right Way to Feed Your Baby for Optimal Health. Though I have no babies of my own yet, I know that if (when?) the day comes to bring a new little human into the world, I would want to be as prepared as possible in knowing how to optimally feed him or her in order to evade a lot of the allergies, digestive issues, metabolic problems and other lifestyle-related chronic illnesses that are plaguing our young ones in this age.

If you start reading the ingredients on some of the baby food products out there — even the “organic” and “all-natural” ones — you’ll be shocked. Soy, an industrial food that is high in both estrogen and nutrient-blocking phytic-acid, and to top it all off, that is often genetically modified (unless certified organic), is found in a lot of baby foods and formula mixes. Even certified organic baby foods have been found to be contaminated with various toxins, the latest example being the arsenic-tainted brown rice syrup  in organic baby formula. Leaving the toxins issue aside, conventional wisdom over the past few decades has dictated that human babies be given grains as their first foods. Really? Grown humans can barely digest grains. All grains — even ‘whole grains’ that are minimally processed (not the case for all store-bought baby food) — do not have even a small fraction of the bio-available nutrients found liberally in organic vegetables, grass-fed meats, raw dairy and fresh fruits.

Which would you choose for your developing baby?

It makes zero sense to me that a baby’s first food consist mainly of a grain-based diet, which is devoid of the nutrients necessary for a child’s brain development and physical growth!  So, if you’re not going to give your baby cereal, Gerber’s mushy (nasty!) preserved vegetables and sugar-loaded fruit purees, or soy formula every morning, what are you going to feed your precious infant?

I have awesome news for you: a natural real foods diet for babies is possible. No, it won’t break the bank, and it won’t require several hours a day to prepare. It’s super intuitive and simple once you actually warm up to it and learn how to adapt it to your child’s palate and your lifestyle. It’s all outlined very neatly in the new book Super Nutrition for Babies by certified nutritional consultant  Kelly Genzlinger and board-certified pediatrician Katherine Erlich. Order your copy of Super Nutrition for Babies on Amazon, or, for a chance to win a copy, simply enter through the Rafflecopter at the end of this post. I’m giving away two copies of Super Nutrition for Babies to two lucky readers of My Life in a Pyramid!

To give you an idea of what to expect, I linked an interview with the authors of Super Nutrition for Babies below, and included two questions that I asked the authors personally. What they share is sure to pique your interest! Now I don’t have to think twice when looking for a unique (and helpful) baby shower gift  – Super Nutrition for Babies will likely become a modern staple for parents, grandparents, and caregivers who care about children’s health and nutrition.

Here’s an interview with the authors of Super Nutrition for Babies, featured on GNOWFGLINS. In addition to the interview, I asked two specific questions that have been on my mind. The authors graciously answered them below:

What are the most common misconceptions about ‘healthy first foods’ for babies?

A little sugar is ok.  This is false.  Sugar is akin to a drug, is an endocrine and immune disruptor — even in small amounts — and lends to the obesity epidemic we have in children.  Much more information regarding sugars can be found in the book.

Pasteurized dairy is good for you.  Dairy is a wholesome food type, but not after it has been highly processed and industrialized, as is pasteurized and homogenized milk.  Raw dairy is the milk/cheese/yogurt/kefir that nourishes amazingly well.

Babies need grains in order to be healthy.  Grains are actually a poor source of nutrition due to their anti-nutrients and because they ultimately break down into sugar in the body.  At the right time, and with the right preparation, grains and foods made from grains can be healthily incorporated into the diet.

Babies need to avoid the sun.  Babies need vitamin D and the sun is the best way to get it.  While burns do increase cancer risk, vitamin D is protective against all cancers.  A tan achieved by exposure to progressively increasing doses of sun acts as a natural sunscreen by increasing melanin in the skin (melanin blocks cancer-causing UV rays.)

What are the top three tips you have for busy working parents who still want to feed their babies optimally?

1. Make homemade broth, which takes a little preparation time but the actual cooking time can be done in the slow cooker while parents are at work.  Use this broth to cook veggies, meats, and grains which will make the food more digestible and more nutritious.

2. Purchase the highest quality (pastured and/or organic) animal products that are the least processed (milk, butter, eggs, beef, chicken, pork).

3. On weekends, prep and make food for the week, freezing food in small serving sizes that can be defrosted quickly and easily.

Our subscribers might want to know more about the authors of this interesting and important book; please tell us about yourselves.

I am Kelly Genzlinger, a certified nutritional consultant and mother of three elementary-school aged children.  For many years, my children battled health issues that were significantly affecting their quality of life.  When I looked to modern medicine to “cure” them, we were sadly disappointed.  As someone with an analytical mind who was desperate to help my children, I went to work studying holistic nutrition, biochemical pathways, the endocrine system, anthropology, traditional foods, digestion, and how nutrients are used by the body.   With this knowledge, I helped restore my children to ideal health.  I wanted to share this life-changing information with other parents.   Ultimately, I achieved three professional certifications in holistic health and nutrition.  Super Nutrition for Babies is a culmination of all my research, professional, and personal experience – a decade in the making.   In addition to this book, I have also written Sugar … Stop the Addiction, have appeared on local cable television shows,  been a featured speaker at wellness events, developed and taught classes, and have worked in several complementary medicine centers – all in an effort to help others understand the healing and preventive powers of natural eating.

 My name is Katherine Erlich.  I am the mother of two and a board certified pediatrician.  For 11 years, I was a regular doctor, working in a big practice, seeing lots of kids each day.  I loved my job, but so many days I would see kids for whom I couldn’t help with the conventional medicine that I had learned in school.  This was really frustrating and heart breaking – to want to help more but to not know how.  It wasn’t until my son started having medical issues for which I couldn’t “fix” that I really pushed myself to learn more and finally leave my big office and start my own holistic practice. With my new knowledge of nutrition and supplements, I saw some quite amazing improvements.  Kids stopped catching so many colds, stopped being angry or depressed; their skin improved, and their behavior calmed down.  What a pleasure!  To see the impact that nutrition can have is really quite powerful. Wouldn’t it be ideal to support children from the very beginning so that they don’t have to go down the road of chronic illness?  This is really what I hope Super Nutrition for Babies will be – a way for parents to gain the knowledge and the power to give their children the best gift ever  - the chance to be the best they can be.

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