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
Leave a Reply