Food is medicine. Or food is poison. As any integrative medicine doctor will tell you. Faced with children who limit their palate to a few favourites or a child who refuses fresh fruit and vegetables it is often easier to give in and go for convenience.
Parents want to feed their children healthy meals but often they are just not sure how to do it. Drawn from author Catherine Barnhoorn’s personal experience, Mila’s Meals is a comprehensive guide on how to prepare nutritious and delicious meals for your children (and yourselves). It offers advice on substituting dairy, gluten, refined sugar and artificial additives with natural alternatives, the benefits of organic meat and produce and, of course, healthy meal recipes and food ideas that will set your child on the road to a lifelong journey of better healthier eating. All the meals are gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free.
“It is amazing how quickly you change something when it is in the best interest of your child! Already noticing the physical effects of gluten, sugar, and dairy on myself, I quickly realised that when I breastfed Mila after consuming these foods, her colic was worse. I immediately went on a completely gluten-, sugar-, and dairy-free diet and the result… less colic for Mila, less eczema for me and in six months I lost the 25kg I had gained during my pregnancy.” But when Mila was six months old and needed to start solids, I realised that my decision to raise her on a “free-from” diet meant that I was going to have to put in some extra effort. I was acutely aware of the fact that babies have very specific nutritional needs and by eliminating some foods (like dairy) I was going to have to replace the nutrients found in them with other food sources. So began my journey into nutrition and my recipe development.”
Barnhoorn is a champion of made from scratch meals. However even the most complex dishes are easy to follow. By making them less daunting, she opens up a world of flavours for children to discover and enjoy.
“Encourage your child to eat from the rainbow. The phytonutrients in fruits and vegetables give them their different colours with each colour group providing a unique set of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Phytonutrients protect against diseases and promote health. Using the rainbow as a guide is a great way to ensure your little one is eating the widest range of nutrients.”
Mila’s Meals is a massive 500-page book that covers a lot of practical and personal ground. From unlearning myths about the food a baby can eat, to choosing to cook guided by your conscience over convenience and replacing artificial additives with natural flavours.
Read deeper and, more than joyful recipes, the book is about rediscovering how to enjoy the experience of preparing food and the bliss of eating well. It is a comprehensive guide to building a healthy lifelong relationship with food authored by an integrative nutrition health coach and mother.
Parents who have time before bed can get an insight into Barnhoorn’s journey into motherhood and how she applied her new-found knowledge.
What good is creating a guide to better eating for your child if parents are too tired to use it or are short of a child’s favourite? Barnhoorn shares some easy to prepare meals that can be made in bulk and kept in the freezer as well as a guide to pantry essentials that make busy days a little easier.
“Knowledge is nothing without action – so I created recipes and food ideas that are do-able – for busy moms and dads that don’t have the time or the desire to be in the kitchen for hours every single day.”
At the end of the day Mila’s Meals is food you should want to cook. The recipes are flavourful, nutrient-dense, and often family friendly and, definitely unique.
Wholesale book orders can be placed through Blue Weaver Book Distributors by contacting Nicole Stuurman at orders@blueweaver.co.za
Individual books can be purchased directly from Catherine at www.milasmeals.co.za/shop. (Each copy bought directly gets signed by Mila with one of her unique drawings.)
Alternatively, you can purchase it from leading bookstores across South Africa.
You can follow Catherine and Mila’s ongoing food and health journey on Instagram (@milasmeals) and Facebook (@MilasMeals)
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