Hi, my name is Kate; I am the founder of Nurish^TM_. When our son Owen arrived in 2007 my life changed forever in such an amazing way. I not only became a mother to him, but in a way I became a mother to all children. His birth woke me up on so many levels, gave me a renewed sense of purpose, and made life feel more complete. This missing ‘peace’ was now sleeping soundly in my arms. I made an early commitment to myself and to him that I would take care of him to the very best of my abilities. Paying special attention not only to his physical health and wellbeing, but also his mind and spirit.

I chose to breast feed because it was ‘best’ and once we began to transition to solids I pureed his food out of fresh vegetables in addition to seeking organic, healthy baby foods. It was when we began to transition out of baby foods and onto solids, in late summer of  2008, that I began to worry about my promise. I realized I had never been taught by my parents to eat healthy and found little to no guidance from pediatricians and experts.

The information online was limited, sometimes conflicting. I found myself struggling to find the time to care for Owen and read various books to get a paragraph here and a little bit there. I figured there just had to be a more simple and convenient way to feed Owen a healthy variety of foods in proper portions without the fuss. A bunch of measuring cups and a few months later, I received the idea for a product line that I believe will change the way parents train their young children to eat. And with that my second child — was born.

As I mentioned, Owen is now four and a lover of healthy food – including fresh fruits and vegetables. But that isn’t all — he is also in excellent health and has fine table manners, too. Every year at his annual check-up the pediatrician remarks how healthy he is. He rarely gets sick, I seriously can’t remember the last time, and if it happens he recovers quickly. I am convinced now more than ever my method and tools work! Food profoundly impacts long-term health – especially in a small child’s developing body.

Over the past two years we’ve seen a distinct increase in the amount of dialogue around the state of our nation’s kids and issues concerning children having access to enough of the right foods to prevent disease and ensure optimum development. We at Nurish have been very involved at both the local and national level and will remain active. It is our mission to help support and nurture healthy families. All of them.

In the next month or so, you will see many changes taking place as we move-into our new website. I am looking forward to introducing you to a few of our friends, as well as our product line very soon. In the meantime, I hope you will join me here daily to discuss and apply a variety of topics, products and tips for raising healthy families from the start^TM!

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Yesterday I had the supreme pleasure of attending Slow Food San Francisco’s First Annual Childhood Obesity Bay Area (COBA) conference at the Commonwealth Club in downtown San Francisco. The presentations were very compelling including Dr. Alan Greene’s ‘obesity tsunami’ demonstration depicting the growth rate of obesity in the U.S. over the past 10 years, as well as Stanford’s Dr. Donna Matheson and her fascinating research on family-based childhood obesity prevention methods.

Especially thought-provoking was former FDA commissioner Dr. David Kessler’s biostatistics research into the effect of processed food (sugar and fat) on the human brain. I also enjoyed slow food advocate and mom Lena Brook’s plea for parents to become involved in their local communities and schools to drive change at the micro-level, while encouraging corporations and government to drive change at the macro-level. There were a number of folks who shared their insights into school lunch reform and community/curriculum garden programs. It was a full and productive day.

During breaks we were encouraged to mingle; I was able to make my way around the room, introduce Nurish, and hear folk’s stories. I was fascinated by all of the various types of work taking place to solve childhood obesity and its related issues. But, beyond the statistics and latest findings, there was a reoccurring theme that surfaced in many of my conversations. It seemed the vast majority of people had a personal understanding of how precious and valuable ‘having’ one’s health is. These people were survivors; no, warriors. They were parents of children who had overcome illness; parents that had lost children; people impacted by food allergies or other dietary related disease; still others who work tirelessly to heal and/or teach our children. Each one with a strong sense of justice and respect — willing to roll up their sleeves and be a part of the solution.

It was a deeply moving experience, especially as I began to connect the dots and reflect back on my own story including the loss and recovery (via better nutrition) of my health from Multiple Sclerosis and my new work of empowering parents and children to eat healthy. I feel as if everything I’ve experienced up to this point in life has prepared me for the conversations I had yesterday. I am so blessed to find myself among an amazing community of warm, welcoming new friends. It is remarkable what’s possible when folks determine to stand together and make a difference. Perhaps our opportunity then is to simply be who we are, and live-out our heart’s purpose in the service of others. In this way we each do our part, in big ways and small ways, to ensure the health of our earth, our children and generations to come.

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When it came time to make the switch to solid foods, I decided I needed to get smart about what and how much I should be feeding ‘little o’ (that’s one of our many nicknames for our son Owen). I didn’t find a lot of immediately applicable advice, which is a problem for a pragmatic mommy. So I put on my old ‘market research’ hat and hopped online for the latest academic research regarding toddler feeding practices. Out of this research Nurish^TM was born (because no parent should have to spend that much time ever again!). Though we’ve packed a lot of nutrition science into the design of our products, I promise these feeding accessories are fun, time-saving and simple to use for the whole family.

Now I do want to share a few highlights with you, because I am on a mission to help parents and caregivers learn that waiting until your kids pack a lunch is way too late for teaching a child to eat well. To underestimate a baby-to-toddler’s propensity for learning is absurd – consider their ability to go from crawling to walking, 10 words to over 100, speak a foreign language! For goodness sake, babies are little sponges and you can train your young child to eat well for life. Waiting to do so just means working against established behavior (read: knocking your head against a wall) later. Anyone that’s ever been on a diet understands that changing eating habits can be a challenge.

By cooperating with your baby’s natural course of development – you can successfully train his/her taste buds and eating habits before the age of three. What mom eats while her baby is in the womb is where it all begins. The process then continues, as mom breast feeds and passes on certain flavors through her milk. Primetime for baby’s first tastes of real food and food relationship building begins around 4-6 months and carries on through 24 months. According to research, a child’s taste buds and eating habits are largely set for life by the age of 24 months. And once a healthy foundation is in place, it can be reinforced at every meal as children grow, learn and take on more of their own self-care outside of the home.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

Feed your child fruits and vegetables early and often

Research proves repeated exposure to vegetables, in infants of 4 to 6 months, results in all infants increasing their intake after repeated exposure. What you need to know is that ages 4-6 to 12 months form a sensitive period for the introduction of solid textures, as the tongue learns to move solid food around the mouth in preparation for swallow. In one report, early exposure to fruits and vegetables at six months predicted consumption of fruit and vegetables at seven years. That means a child who ate carrots at six months, preferred them at age seven. Weaning practices therefore contribute to later childhood diet – and possibly to childhood obesity. There is no rule saying you have to begin with rice cereal – that is simply food marketer speak. Smash a banana or avocado and let your baby’s first tastes be real food. For more information visit White Out.

Work with your child’s strong need for a ‘sense of order’

Toddlers, ages 12-18 months, become increasingly reluctant to try new foods during the second year of life – what researchers refer to as the “neophobic phase”. This coincides with the child’s developing “sense of order” and need for repetition and structure. During this process, toddlers become more aware of the local details of food, and refuse to eat food that doesn’t look “right.” Foods are identified as “known” or “unknown” and new foods and some previously accepted foods will be rejected on sight. Children of this age are also able to form sophisticated categories: foods (e.g., raisins) and non-foods (e.g., animal feces); foods they like and foods they don’t like; things that are disgusting and things that are okay, etc. At some point between 18-24 months, most children move out of the “neophobic phase” because of: imitation of other’s behaviors; development and comprehension of food categories; less emphasis on local features of foods; and repetitive exposure to new foods. It is a good idea to note here that children with Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) or Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs) may stay at this stage a little longer.

Accept you are your child’s #1 influence when it comes to eating healthy

This was a tough one for me – I finally had to face-up to my own irregular eating habits. But facts are facts, and this is the future of our kids we are talking about. So, here it is…are you sitting down? Children imitate other adults–and their parents’ eating behavior, and will try new foods that they see their parents eat. There, I said it. You can’t feed your child an orange while eating Doritos and expect they will prefer oranges. By nursery school children will imitate the eating habits and food preferences of other children, so our best bet is to train them as early as possible at home.

What’s the best way to introduce real food to your child? Share the experience with them. Give your child a choice. Even a pre-verbal child can pick a food that is visually stimulating by pointing. Show her two green veggies, e.g., broccoli and green beans, and ask, “which one do you want?” Prepare the one she chooses and then let her see you enjoying it. If you puree the food, if possible, give her a large piece (large enough to prevent choking) to play with, so she associates what real food looks and feels like with its taste. Talk about it – this is a great opportunity to teach vocabulary too! “This is green”, “it’s a green bean”, “mmmm… daddy loves green beans”, etc.

And don’t lose heart if precious spits it out – it takes somewhere between 14-20 tastes to ensure your child has enough opportunities to form a food preference or memory for the food. That can mean 14-20 separate feedings. The brain is connecting the dots in your little person’s body – children learn through their senses, so what you may view as a mess is really your child forming a relationship with his food through smelling, touching, squishing, tasting, rubbing, throwing, etc. Stock up on paper towels, jump in and have fun.

By preparing and serving a wide variety of nutritious foods in recommended volumes, as well as encouraging your child to taste and engage in messy play, you can train your child’s taste buds, as well as establish his/her healthy eating habits for life.

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At Nurish^TM we help time-starved parents positively influence the way their young children eat, as early as possible. It is our opinion waiting until children pack a lunch, is too late.

Healthy eating begins in the womb, moves to the breast or bottle, into the high-chair, and eventually onto the family dinner table. We believe children’s diets should include a spectrum of flavors; children’s palates can be trained as soon as they start eating solids.

In particular, the second year (12-24 months) is critical in a child’s development not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. As of today the USDA food pyramid excludes children ages 1-2, calling it a “year of transition” and leaving it to parents, pediatricians, food manufacturers, and disease organizations, like the American Heart Association, to fill-in the gap. As a result, the information can conflict and get confusing for a new parent.

From ages 1-2, during the ‘year of transition’, many cool things occur developmentally. In one short year, babies go from crawling to walking, from a vocabulary of about 10 words to over 100, and as far as food is concerned, by the end of 24-months a child has nearly established his/her food preferences and taste palate for life.

Parents of infants and toddlers can help their children develop a preference for healthy foods early-on by providing tastes of simple, clean, whole foods found in nature.

Nurish products are designed to help parents teach their children nutrition, as they transition them from baby foods to solid foods. We help parents take the guess-work out of meal prep by providing products that will ‘map-and-measure’ three nutritious, whole foods toddler meals throughout the day.

Stay tuned at www.nurish.com.

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As the cost of whole foods and fresh produce increases and processed food costs decrease, obesity and chronic illness continue to rise among our nation’s children. Childhood obesity is one of our nation’s leading health threats.

The Alliance for Healthier Generation states today, nearly 1-in-3 youth, age 2 to 19, are already obese or overweight. Obesity is now considered an ‘epidemic’ in the U.S. since kids are developing conditions and diseases typically associated with adults.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1-in-3 individuals born in the year 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes. In vulnerable populations that number increases to 1-in-2 individuals.

High calorie, sugar laden processed foods coupled with sedentary lifestyles is growing our waistlines and contributing to serious health issues like diabetes, heart ailments and cancers. One-third of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. And the numbers show no sign of decreasing, in a recent Datamoniter report; over 40% of U.S. kids aged 5-13 will be overweight or obese by 2012.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, in children, the obesity rate has tripled since the 1960s; the American Academy of Family Physicians now estimates that between 25-30 percent of all children between the ages of 6 and 17 – roughly 13 million to 16 million children – also are clinically obese.

The childhood obesity epidemic has become of such concern that health officials in several industrialized countries have estimated that if obesity levels continue to rise, the average life expectancy could actually drop for the first time in more than a century.

What can parents and schools do to help reverse the trend?

We founded Nurish^TM in an effort to support and nurture healthy families. Our research-driven and nutrition-based products promise peace of mind and convenience for parents, as well as a foundation of healthy habits for children.

Please stay with us as we break-down the issues, research and most important discuss ideas for how to take charge of this issue!

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