Raising children on LFRV

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Permalink Reply by Jack on April 5, 2011 at 1:38am

Anne Osbourne, member here and 100 % fruitarian, has some experience, as do a few others. I'd say 100 % LFRV children are extremely few and far between, and we adults outnumber them something like 100:1. 100 % LFRV families are even fewer, I'd doubt there are even two dozens of them. Doug & Rozi (Graham) are obviously one, and there are a few others who sometimes frequent this site. Many don't spend much time online (the reason becomes pretty obvious once you have children... ;) The vast majority of LFRVs are young & single (or have a partner but no children), sadly (for the children of the world). Imagine a world where most parents were LFRV =D

 

There are some of us where one of the parents is LFRV, while the other one isn't. I'd say most families who even know what LFRV is fall under this description. It is tricky enough living with a non-LFRV partner, especially if s/he isn't supportive, but even trickier to keep your children LFRV. After all, they will see the other parent eating other foods, and food can quickly become a source of fight and confusion. The approach of most I'd say is to have an ongoing dialogue with your partner and make the best choices you can for your children while keeping food-related stress to a minimum. We can only change ourselves and your children are not only yours, you share them with the other parent. Pretty quickly, children start to have a will of their own, too. Making choices for a 2-year-old is quite different from making choices for a 14-year-old. Being a good example yourself helps.

 

Jack

www.lfrvfamilies.com

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Permalink Reply by Nicole on April 5, 2011 at 1:43am

Thank you very much! Yes, I figured that it would be difficult raising a child who is 100% lfrv; I guess that I just remember loving fruit and vegetables even more than other food as a child, since my mother gave me so much of it at a very early age. I guess that I would just want the best for my children, as I believe that giving them fast food, etc. at an early age conditions them to crave that kind of food and therefore eat unhealthier as an adult. I'm sure that it's particularly difficult with a non-lfrv partner. Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Jack on April 5, 2011 at 1:47am

The funny thing is, children often want what they can't get much of. Being surrounded by mangoes, strawberries, raspberries, apples, bananas, dates and such, bread is a treat to my children. "Ooooh bread can I have some?!?!?" Still, I reckon they grow up eating something like 10x more fruit than I did (and it's mostly organic too, whereas the concept of organic food was completely foreign to my parents), and I learned to love fruit as a child.

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Permalink Reply by Nicole on April 5, 2011 at 1:50am

Lucky children! Yes, I can imagine that they would be curious about the SAD, as most of the other kids are probably eating pizza, fries, etc. for lunch. Do they often eat food aside from vegetables and fruit, or is it sort of a rare instance? I am just curious about whether or not they get bored of fruit, since it is very *common* to them

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Permalink Reply by Jack on April 5, 2011 at 2:01am

Yes, they eat other foods daily. It's not that they're that curious of what others eat really, I guess they're still too young (6.5 & 3.5 yrs), it's more that my wife eats other foods, primarily cooked veg with plenty of grains (pasta, bread etc.). I'm also not 100 % LFRV all the time, it's been on and off (and I'm determined for it to be 100 % on, working on the parts I'm coming short at). And yes, they certainly get bored of fruit! Quality and variety is imperative, and in fact one of the main reasons I would like to move on, to a warmer country. Good quality and freshness definitely lead to them eating more, often so much they don't desire anything else. I'd love to see them taste the fruits somewhere like Thailand! I'm sure they'd desire little else. Unfortunately, I'm having big trouble finding quality produce here in the UK and obviously it's hideously expensive. I can easily burn £1,000 (1,600 USD) a month and still not get good enough quality in sufficient quantities. They certainly won't live on bananas only, although they might do a day or two on raspberries only =D

 

Also children need more fats than us adults and I can't get hold of good quality fruit fats here, such as young coconuts, durian etc. - mainly avocados and nuts, and my kids don't like avos (neither do I).

 

Children who have grown up primarily on LFRV do seem to react more quickly to non-LFRV foods. Our older child doesn't get much of reactions from basically anything, while our younger child is ill within hours from consuming dairy, and constipated very soon after grains; he has primarily grown up on breastmilk, fruits and green smoothies. He also craves green smoothies - that can be funny sometimes, like the other day he was shouting at the top of his lungs at me "DADDY I WANT GREEN SMOOOOOOOTHIE!!!" :D

 

Quality is a key factor, as is being present with them. If I leave it to my daughter to pick her foods, she'll primarily eat grains; if I sit next to her and keep placing fruits in front of her (without asking), she'll keep eating them until she's full. Tricky dads can also sneak greens into their orange juice without them noticing ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Nicole on April 5, 2011 at 2:05am

Hahaha, I see :) thank you for the details! It's good to know that kids don't get very bored of healthy food :)

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Permalink Reply by Usha Sunrise on April 5, 2011 at 2:22am

I remember Doug saying 811 is for adults, and children need more fats (40%-50%) because they are growing, if I remember correctly. They can be fully raw, look at Ka Sundance's family. My daughter (3) eats fruits and vegetables, but also nuts, avocado and high fat things like that. And she's thriving.

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Permalink Reply by Nicole on April 5, 2011 at 3:05am

Wow, that's very interesting. I always thought that children would be more resistant towards eating only fruit, simply because their friends would be eating different food; but that's very refreshing to hear. :)

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Permalink Reply by Mikey on April 5, 2011 at 3:14am

Roger Haeske and Karmyn are rasing there son raw

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Permalink Reply by Debbie on April 5, 2011 at 2:31pm

I think that the successful parents have one thing in common: homeschooling. Their kids are simply not exposed to and pressured by other children eating SAD.

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Permalink Reply by Jack on April 5, 2011 at 5:04pm

Home educating does not automatically mean children are not exposed to SAD-eating children. Ours are home educated (but not schooled), and most home educated children I know are very socially active, often involved in various non-curricular activities such as dancing, riding, skating, fencing etc. and just socialising where they meet lots of other children and certainly are exposed to other foods as well. However not in the context they would in a school, with immense peer pressure and no parents nearby. It would be one thing if they only lived with other LFRV children, but there simply aren't enough such families in the world yet.

 

To my knowledge, the successful (100 % LFRV) parents so far only have very young children. Doug's and Rozalind's is three years old or thereabouts I believe? Anne's is five unless I misremember and Erthmum's are also in single digits I believe. Karmyn's isn't that old either unless I misremember. It's a brand new world and fascinating to see them grow up.

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