dietary changes?

[Shannon Nelson]

I would be interested to hear what folks here have seen as far as
needed changes in patients' diets. My understanding has been that
*sometimes* the diet will spontaneously change to a more appropriate
one, and that in other cases initial effort by the patient is needed.
Any thoughts/observations?

I'm specifically wondering about a 12-year-old who eats (IMO) WAY too
much cereal-and-milk (also likes meat, ice cream, sweets, SPICY and
SALT), and WAY too little of anything green, raw, or otherwise
living.... Is this something I should be bugging him about or not? In
the past months he got a very clear benefit from calc-p (energy and
ability to do schoolwork both improved greatly), but it didn't seem to
go as "deep" as I had hoped, and I wonder whether his diet is acting as
a maintaining cause?
Thanks for all thoughts!
Shannon

[Tanya Marquette]

shannon,
from my experience, i would say to all your questions.
any of your questions could have a possible yes answer.
i think you need to trust your perceptions and move
forward.
i have had major dietary changes with rx. some of them
remained long terms and others were transient. and that
goes for both positive as well as negative changes. and
while it would be much nicer if the rx help create better
improvement in a quiet and subtle way, sometimes it is
necessary to try and instill better eating habits with
intentional effort. i recall being given lyc and went into
a deep craving for chocolate for about a month or so. it was
horrible, and i hadn't been eating chocolate for years prior
to that. other times i had cravings for vegetables and fruits
and went into a state of wanting to eat very healthy. it seems
that you would take advantage of any changes to work on
promoting better eating habits. of course teenagers are
prone to eating high carb and fat diets, if given their druthers.
and of course, dietary imbalances could be a maintaining cause.
again, you have to use your insights and work with his resistances.
i assume you have used his predilections in the case taking
already.
good luck
tanya

[DCR]

Diet is one of the most important maintaining causes I see. Please don't wait for a remedy to magically transform a child's diet from poor to good. Diet is a combination of habit, culture, availability, etc. I could go on for ages about this since I see the devastating effects of poor choices every day in my practice. Diet is most certainly a maintaining cause. I just had parents wheel in a stroller and the toddler had french fries in her hands. They thought it was so cute. They said 'she won't eat anything without her fries'. Ugh. I guarantee that toddler did not get up and go to McDonalds and order those fries. Asking a remedy to do it's work when the child has a poor diet - is like asking a mechanic to repair a jet engine with a string and rock. Without the right components, the body can't work properly and the remedy can't work properly.
I have seen the right remedy reduce cravings (for example reducing salt cravings). But I do not believe it will spontaneously change a child from eating burgers and fries to broccoli and carrots. That must be a matter of family education and motivation to produce long term health and energy.

[Shannon Nelson]

Ah, the good ol' "resounding maybe"!
But yeah, that's what I've figured... And yes, I've been figuring his
tastes into the analysis. The thing that seems a little bit odd--tho
not really that much so, sigh--is that he *used* to have very good
spontaneous food choices, and used to really enjoy good food of all
sorts. But ah, adolescence...! (Plus "life moving on", I guess.)

Thanks for the thoughts!

Shannon

[talking2trees]

Any chance for the patient to begin accepting some responsibility for
their health should be taken, and diet is one of those areas that I've
found needs a little encouragement from the health practitioner to
make better choices for themselves.

A good approach may be just to pick ONE thing in their diet, and
instead of going without, replace it with a healthier alternative.
Maybe going with rice milk instead of cow's for their cereal, and see
if he can get the discipline down so you can make another change down
the road. And get the parents on board...it they're buying potato
chips instead of vegetables, it's awful hard to instill good habits.
The parents might need to change some of their habits too for their
child's sake (which is even a harder battle!).

Blessings in health,
Cristi Lewis, CHom.

--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, Robert & Shannon Nelson
wrote:

[Shannon Nelson]

Hi Donna,
Yep, there are a LOT of factors!
This is my son, who *used* to eat very well, and availability of better
choices is not an issue (except that he is more likely to get a bit of
variety when I sneak up on him and just stick it in his face
and what healthy habits is *that* encouraging! argh.)

I've definitely seen the food thing to work both ways--remedy
involvement aside: that eating better makes one feel better, *and*
feeling better can make one inclined to eat better. Well, he/we will
work it out. This is one of those times when I wish that someone
*else* were giving him the advice, as at the moment he is not
hormonally programmed to appreciate too much of it from me!

Thanks again,
Shannon
Hot In Pursuit of that Teachable Moment!

[DCR]

Ah yes - the mother motivation factor is slipping and the hormonal
motivation factor is about to kick in. I send my sympathy. (and a smile).
This is the time I have found external motivation to work exceptionally
well. First - clear skin in the teen years is always a motivation. Second
- performance in sports (or academics depending on his personality) is a
great motivator. Put food choices in those terms and you may (and I
emphasize may) see results.

Best wishes.
stroller
I

[Shannon Nelson]

Good idea, I'll have to find ways to caaaasually mention more of those
connections--he's heard it all before, but couldn't hurt to put it back
before his mind's eye!
)

[Shannon Nelson]

Thanks Cristi, good ideas!
At least (looking for the good news) his cereal is whole-grain,
preservative-free, and his milk is unprocessed, and from a local
grass-fed cow. (Rice milk seems too sweet for us.) But i think I do
need to just let the cereal run out for a while, as I think he does
better with protein for breakfast, rather than starch! At the moment's
he's on a "do it my way" kick, but I think his willingness to take more
responsibility will kick in (again) later, so I'll plan to be ready!
)
Shannon

[Gail]

Hi Shannon,

Thanks for the chance to think about kids and food choices. I just twigged - adolescence opting for carbs and fats - what are their bodies asking for? Don't all their puberty hormones need fats for their synthesis? Maybe this desire does have an instinctual base - but the fats we have easily and readily available aren't always the best fats which gives them the added attraction of assisting the adolescent need to separate themselves from the parent. So what could the carbs be giving them... maybe concentrated energy, especially if they're in the middle of a growth spurt or active in sports... maybe some sort of calming effect because it's such an anxious period? Might be interesting to look at the grain family issues from a homoeopathic point of view. I just remembered there was a Saccharum Album case recently at http://www.interhomeopathy.org/index.ph ... vids_case/

and there was a summary of the themes...
The Themes of the Grasses might be seen to be:
v Feast or Famine. All or nothing. Monomania.
v Fighting within the family - sugar fights carbohydrate for dominance. [Sugar and cereal carbohydrates are all Gramineae]
v Nurture or domination
v Enslavement / Addiction
v Empty, weak and without support: full, heavy, clinging, dominating.
v The Road of Excess leads to a Palace of Wisdom [Sex, food, attitude!] to excess.
v Formication, itching, crawling, prickling sensation. Something alive and moving inside.
v Knotted sensation
v Heaviness, weight
v Burning pains, consumed by fire. [Ardent, passionate, intense]

Gail.
--- In minutus@yahoogroups.com, Robert & Shannon Nelson wrote: