Someone was recently asking me about what to do with her toddler who is constantly hungry. After determining that it wasn’t coming from a place of boredom or seeking emotional connection, I suggested that some of his food choices be changed to foods that were more nutrient dense.
Then today I shared my thoughts on insomnia with someone else whose child hardly sleeps; melatonin production is connected to serotonin production, which in turn is affected by diet. What basic changes in diet need to be made to support serotonin production? Adequate proteins and fat, which generally means removing some carbohydrates from the child’s diet (most kids have very high carbohydrate diets – lots of grains, flours, dairy, and fruits) – and even when some of these foods are seemingly nutritious, there has to be a suitable balance of quantities.
I’ve also been asked to share ‘primal’ meals and snacks, so with all of these situations in mind, I’m sharing some suggestions! There are many more possibilities, so these are just to get you thinking in that direction.
Meals:
- soups with protein and veg (eg. turkey, carrots, onion, celery)
- omelets, fritatas, hard boiled eggs, scrambled, cooked with butter or coconut oil, and served with veggies
- sausages, hamburgers, salmon/tuna patties, steak, chicken, fish, meatloaf
- fries – carrot, squash, sweet potato
- salads with proteins and nuts, any combination
- steamed vegetables with butter, olive oil
- tacos/wraps with lettuce replacing flour tortilla
- egg salad, tuna salad, chicken salad
- eggplant parmiagan, shepherd’s pie (can replace mashed potatoes with mashed cauliflower)
Snacks:
- sunflower seeds, sliced almonds, walnuts, mixture of nuts with some dried fruit
- celery with nut butters (almond, peanut, sunflower, cashew) or cream cheese, topped with raisins
- avocado chunks
- string cheese, diced cheese, diced meat
- hummus and vegetable sticks
- berries and cream
- devilled eggs
- cottage cheese and unsweetened applesauce
Muffins, pizza crusts, breads can be made with nut/coconut flours – I’ve posted a pizza crust recipe made with nut flour and some other suitable recipes as well. I think I posted one that was a veggie base – you can blend steamed veggies with eggs and bake it to create something that you can spread stuff on as you would with a sandwich. (edited to add- sorry, I just checked and either I didn’t end up posting it or I can’t find it now. Here’s something very similar to give you an idea of what I mean – you can use steamed and blended greens or broccoli instead of the cauliflower for other options.)
And funnily enough, after I had written this post and was preparing to link to Real Food Wednesdays, I saw that the theme of the day there is Grain Free/Low Carb! So be sure to check out the post there as well as the additional links for what I’m sure will be lots more fantastic ideas!
Avivah
Avivah, I make a egg/cheese muffin with a bit of almond and/coconut flr which my kids love. It can be a very nutrient dense snack or even breakfast to go!!!
Also it is easy enough to make a bunch and freeze to have on hand. make it as plain or savory as they like!!
Aviva, where can i find the recipe you said you posted for the egg/veggie wrap?
Gila, What’s the recipe? That sound great… I’ve been looking for good breakfast options
Gilla, it sounds delish; care to share the recipe? 🙂
Hi, Gittel, welcome! I added a couple of links to the post to make it easy to find what I was talking about. Thanks for asking – I’m sure you weren’t the only person wondering!
Nice to see another Gittel on here! I try to feed my kids healthy foods and snacks, but what do you do when they are so picky? I have such a hard time getting them to expand their list of acceptable foods. They will not eat half the foods I serve myself and my husband. Any ideas?
Hi, Gittel2, welcome! 🙂
Here are a couple of past posts that you may find helpful:
http://oceansofjoy.wordpress.com/2009/08/28/kids-who-are-picky-eaters/
http://oceansofjoy.wordpress.com/2010/02/23/getting-toddler-to-try-new-foods/
Hi Aviva –
I just want to add a short thing about kids not sleeping. I spoke to an alternative medicine Dr. for myself and one of my kids who tend to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to fall back asleep. He said that it sounds like a liver issue and reccomended something homeopathic to take. I am not saying it is not a nutrition issue (most things are), but if the child has taken a lot of medication or been expossed to a lot of toxic stuff that the liver has had to filter it may also be connected to that.
Thanks for all the menu ideas
Devoiry
such great ideas! Gilla, I would also love to get that recipe!
I originally saw a recipe on mpsrealfoodlover.com for egg/cheese/bacon muffins and something similar on cheeseslave. I knew that I had make these sans the bacon!!!!
You can literally make up your own combinations and they always come out yum!
Think – onion/cheese omlette with some baking powder or baking soda and voila.
I usually use a little almond flower maybe 1/2 a cup sometimes a little coconut flour (we don’t love the taste of coconut flour on it’s own, but blended with another flour like almond is great) last week I had run out of both and used a bit of arrowroot which is great too but it is a starch.
I use a lot of eggs (big family here) maybe 8 any cheese I have on hand like mozzarella or cheddar and If I have cottage cheese I use that too. I usually saute 1 onion in some coconut oil or butter for adding flavor ( remember sans bacon which they use for flavor) and also a bit of parmesan. salt & spices or herbs of your choice. 350 for about 1/2 hour or untill ready. since I use so many aggs and a bit of coconut oil I don ‘t usually add much liquid as does mplsrealfoodlover.
sorry I dont’ have something written down with exact measurements but I make it a bit a different each time and it is always good 🙂
Thanks, Gilla – sounds very much like the quiche muffins I make. I also don’t measure and am constantly making up recipes – good ingredients mixed together compatibly generally taste good however you combine them!