| Recently we've had a food challenge to deal with in | | | | there's a way of preparing food that avoids this |
| our family, and several friends and coworkers | | | | problem. Well, we're not completely closed to new |
| suggested that we should consider using a home | | | | ideas (both my wife and I were vegetarians for a |
| dehydrator. It's quite possible you're now having the | | | | length of time back when we were in college) and |
| same response that we had: "What's a home | | | | certainly when it comes to the kids' health we're willing |
| dehydrator?" Let me start at the beginning. | | | | to try something unusual if necessary. |
| One of our kids has always been a picky eater, at | | | | She gave us a reading list, and we began finding out |
| least compared with his siblings. There's never been a | | | | more about raw food diets, and we quickly learned |
| real pattern to his likes and dislikes, but he's definitely | | | | that a home food dehydrator is pretty much a |
| the child we've worried about slightly when it comes to | | | | must-have tool for for this style of eating. We rather |
| nutrition. After a routine blood test, our family doctor | | | | assumed that this was used simply for drying fruits |
| called us recently to let us know that everything looked | | | | and vegetables for snacks, but it turns out that there |
| fine, but he was surprised to see several vitamin | | | | are hundreds of recipes available for food ranging |
| counts lower than he would have expected. | | | | from crackers and cookies through to casseroles, |
| Turns out that Jughead (our online nickname for this | | | | salads ... even a type of pizza. |
| particular child) has trouble processing certain nutrients | | | | We bought ourselves a Nesco Gardenmaster home |
| including vitamins B and C, and while this isn't a huge | | | | dehydrator, a model that several raw food experts |
| concern it's definitely something we have to keep an | | | | recommend, and we've been experimenting for about |
| eye on. We were referred to a nutritionist, who went | | | | a month now. Some of the foods were an immediate |
| through our family diet, asked some very specific | | | | success, including fruit leathers and dried banana chips; |
| questions about Jughead, and then asked if we ate | | | | some are going to need a little more time before our |
| many raw foods in our family. A bit taken aback we | | | | whole family lets out a cheer as the serving dish is |
| explained that no, we usually cook our chicken, | | | | brought to the table (a "Sea Veggie Pizza" was |
| potatoes, spaghetti etc. - after all, doesn't everyone? | | | | particularly uninteresting to us). |
| Thankfully the nutritionist didn't laugh us out of her | | | | But on the whole we've been very impressed with the |
| office, but instead explained that raw food referred to | | | | new addition to our kitchen and to the new foods in |
| fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds and other plant based | | | | our diets. Jughead has found several foods that he |
| foods that were prepared in a way that didn't use | | | | enjoys a lot, and we plan to continue experimenting |
| heat. It seems that the heat of the cooking process | | | | with our new home dehydrator. |
| has a detrimental effect on certain vitamins, and that | | | | |