Pregnant women and nursing moms take note. You can have a lifelong influence on your child’s eating habits and food choices from womb to tomb. Yes, it’s a documented fact, and it’s about time that the journal, Pediatrics, came out with this ‘discovery’ that has actually been around for eons of time. It stands to reason that if the predisposition of drugs and alcohol from the parents can be passed on to our children, then why not their predisposition for healthy food? And that being so, think of the possibilities with organic and the best quality fruits, vegetables, and whole grains. Nursing moms are often advised to stay away from gas producing foods which are known to make their babies colicky. Along with advising what to stay away from, take some good advice about what to eat and how to prepare all these healthful yummy foods, because you really are
eating for two and also giving your child his intuitive whole foods menu that will be with him for the rest of his life.

Lead Pediatrics researcher Julie Mennella points out what a lovely system it is when mom’s dietary flavors are transmitted through the amniotic fluid and milk so the baby already likes what it eats before and after birth when mom eats those foods on a regular basis. And don’t lose heart ladies if you didn’t start during your pregnancy. Even if your child is starting on solid foods but also breastfeeding, you can still begin. If at first he or she does not like the foods, but you keep eating them on a regular basis, their tastes will change to your’s. Amazing. Ain’t nature grand? Our ancestors knew it!

Eating those fresh organic vegetables and fruits and whole grains during pregnancy will make everyone healthier, more familiar and a lot easier down the road in the kitchen. But if all is introduced post natal, you can add to the taste with herbs and spices and you’ll still have takers.

To help your baby digest whole grain brown rice when he/she starts solid food, here’s a tip: wash 1 cup of brown rice several times through a strainer, place in a medium saucepan with 7 cups of water and a tiny pinch of salt, bring to a boil and simmer until rice is very soft, still liquidy, glisteny and glutinous looking — about 30 minutes or more. Push rice through a strainer straining out husks but with the pulp remaining in the bowl. Discard husks, or better still, mix into a muffin batter. The remaining pulp is what you want. Allow it to cool and feed your baby a nutritious whole grain base with the rest of his/her meal.