Vitamins to Help Fill the Nutritional Gaps of our Picky Eaters, Autism Included
If you are a parent you know that many kids have food aversions and sensitivities. This is especially true for kids on the spectrum. And it’s so much more than a child being a picky eater. Tastes, textures, smells, new foods, and more can make meal time a nightmare. I experience it with 3 out of my 4 kids and only one has autism so I know that food challenges can be universal.
I also know personally that when I eat better, I feel better. I know that water, fruits, veggies, and grains are all so important for me. A poor diet can affect my sleep, my attention span, my overall well-being and more. This is the same for our kids.
When my son Cooper was 5 years old his diet was awful. Basically, everything was beige. No fruits, no veggies, no real meat, water. And after nonstop health issues related to constipation and his ears, I knew it was time to make changes for him. But I felt so intimated by making changes to his diet. He lived on dairy, chicken nuggets and veggie straws. And food challenges wore me down immensely. But after visiting a Naturopath, an amazing man who understood our challenges, I knew it was time to fill in his dietary gaps.
First and foremost, I knew I needed a good vitamin supplement. I knew that any diet changes I could make would not happen overnight so I wanted to get a nutritional support supplement into him right away. Cooper, and two of my other children, now take Simple Spectrum.
Studies show that the developing brains of children have specific nutritional needs, which is why Simple Spectrum was designed. The creators understand that it’s difficult to encourage healthy food choices in kids, so they decided to fill in the vitamin and mineral gaps to give parents like me and you peace of mind; we can rest assure our child are getting the important nutrition for brain health, even if they forget to eat their veggies today.
Simple Spectrum was designed with our kids with sensory needs in mind and is an unflavored dissolvable powder without gluten, casein, added sugar, soy, binding agents, artificial colors, preservatives, GMOs and dairy. The highest quality vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in the most bioavailable forms.
Because I know you will ask! Yes, Simple Spectrum is unflavored and easily mixed in water or your child’s favorite drink. Due to the nature of ingredients, it may have a slight “vitamin” taste, but the mild taste is easily masked by juice or diluted in water. You can even mix it in a smoothie, yogurt, or similar food as well.
(If you want to try Simple Spectrum, use code COOPER for free shipping!
Secondly, I dove into diet changes, but not all at once. I started by swapping out the foods my son would eat for healthier options. Some worked, some didn’t. I also cut out dairy completely.
Dairy can cause constipation in people, especially kids and when Cooper was younger, he lived on dairy. Milk was the only liquid he would drink, and yogurt was his main source of protein. I knew that he needed to water. I knew we needed to reduce his dairy consumption. But, and it’s a huge but, it felt like climbing Everest. We did it though. Slowly, and small changes over time. Like everything, figuring out what would help Cooper was trial and error.
And then I focused on fruit. I started with introducing sweet, nummy fruit pouches and eventually transitioned to strawberries. None of these changes were easy and I wish I could say they happened overnight…they didn’t. But what did happen rather quickly once I filled in his dietary gaps with a good vitamin supplement and food was his health. It improved drastically. His ear infections cleared up. His stomach troubles stopped all together. He slept better and could focus better too.
Improving our children’s health through what they eat and drink can feel like climbing Mount Everest. But I can tell you it’s worth it. When we feel better we sleep better, learn better, enjoy life more. The same goes for our beautiful kids.
Finding Cooper’s Voice is a safe, humorous, caring and honest place where you can celebrate the unique challenges of parenting a special needs child. Because you’re never alone in the struggles you face. And once you find your people, your allies, your village….all the challenges and struggles will seem just a little bit easier. Welcome to our journey. You can also follow us on Facebook, subscribe for exclusive videos, and subscribe to our newsletter.
