Help me fill them up!!!

[rach321]

My kids are always hungry, always asking for food. They get 3 meals a day and 2 snacks. They eat reasonably healthy, typical day looks like this

Wake up: juice for 4yo and coconut milk for 2 yo ( he's dairy free)
Breakfast: bowl cereal with milk and then they usually have extra cereal afterwards then either a banana or some raspberries and apple
Snack: raisins and breadsticks or crackers or peanut butter and jam on toast
Lunch: ham, tuna, pretzels, grapes/apple, cucumber, followed by yoghurt and fruit if still hungry
Snack: crackers or something similar
Dinner: minced beef and pasta with garlic bread and ice cream for pudding if they eat most of it!

Where am I going wrong ? They never seem to be full! I try not to put things like cheese etc out at lunch because ds2 loves it but can't eat it so its not fair to put it in front of him! Should I be putting stuff out and letting them serve themselves as much as they like? I'm really clueless none of my friends kids seem to eat as much as my two!

[deb]

The coconut milk is great - full of healthy fats and generally very filling. A lot of the rest of the day, though, is higher-carb, which is filling at the moment but doesn't fill for long. Fruit especially is healthy and all, but not generally filling, especially over the long term. If you can give a dip made with full-fat yogurt and maybe some olive oil and seasonings for veg, or just full-fat yogurt as a fruit dip, those foods might last them longer while they're burning off all those calories.

I'd up the protein and reduce the carbs; I'd also up the good fats: coconut oil, avocadoes, olive oil, fish oil, flaxseed oil, ghee (can be tolerated by some dairy-free as it greatly reduces or eliminates the milk solids; work on avoiding vegetable oils like corn or canola though (not as filling and high in omega-6's). Coconut oil is fantastic for cooking even in higher heat, as is ghee, but the others are for lower-temp cooking (olive oil) or not heat like in salad dressings (flaxseed) or alone (fish oil). Animal fats like lard or tallow or chicken fat are good as well, especially if you can get them from high-quality sources (pastured), and duck fat is AMAZING; I've had my kids demand seconds of green beans, okra, and cabbage cooked with bacon fat. Eggs are another good food for filling up; we fry them up in coconut oil, and you can add whatever other meats or veg or seasonings you like to it for flavor and extra nutrition.

[rach321]

I'm trying to put my plan in place for the new year - we are with relatives all over Christmas so pretty much out of our control but once we are back in our own house I want to start afresh. I want to start afresh all round so will be stocking up on the protein - those dips made with yoghurt will they work using soy yoghurt? I try not to give ds2 too much soy but struggle to find a good dairy free yoghurt alternative! Any recipies please send them my way! I know we are too carb heavy generally in this house but I need fresh ideas to get out of the rut. Ds2 not a big fan of chunks if meat but will eat sausages etc

[skatty]

I agree more protein, especially at breakfast, eggs are great for breakfast and snacks. I find things like fruit and cereal make me more hungry unless I eat it with protein.

[Tay]

what I noticed a difference between your typical day and mine is that I would usually give the kids for lunch similar foods and amounts as for dinner (meat, rice/potatoes/pasta, veggies).

[EllenS]

Agree with Deb - protein and fat is key to satiety, especially early in the day.  Any problems with nuts? I see you are not vegetarian/vegan but DS 2 is not a big fan of meat?

We try to do a hot breakfast several times a week with oatmeal that has peanut butter mixed in, or pancakes or muffins made with some or all almond flour substituted for wheat flour.  Or we do a granola (either homemade or store-bought) that has almost as much nuts as grains.

Eggs can be done many easy ways - boiled, scrambled, baked (aka "shirred").  Egg in a hole is always a hit around here.  Tuna on toast also fun for lunch or dinner.  You can make "popcorn" for snack by toasting cooked or canned garbanzo beans in the oven with olive oil, salt & pepper.

Hummus is also very popular for snack and good for dipping crackers or carrots in.  We do trail mixes from scratch or store-bought.   

A fun way to do chopped meats or fish is in rice balls - you mold a ball of sticky cooked rice around a filling of finely chopped meat, veg, or fish, etc.  They can dip it in sauce - it's fun and they will usually eat more of anything if they are having fun and making a mess.

[rach321]

Fab ideas EllenS - I love the idea of rice balls - DS2 loves rice, he would definitely go for that. My kids are strange - they don't like pancakes but they would probably go for some muffins - would have to make any nuts in them small as DS1 freaks out if he finds a big bit of nut in something! We do eat a fair amount of eggs but I guess I need to get into the habit of doing them for breakfast more often. Need to get my recipe books out of storage and come up with some menu plans.

[deb]

Oh, yeah, you did say no dairy, even after I remembered it further up my own reply. LOL I blame it on Monday.

We don't do soy here, but I guess you could use soy yogurt. You can also make yogurt out of coconut milk, although I haven't done that yet, or use something like guacamole. When serving chicken, use the dark meat - it's tastier and higher in fat, and you can always dredge that in something. I actually use shredded coconut as "breading" sometimes, add some salt and garlic powder for flavor, and fry it up - works a treat on chicken AND fish!

Oh, egg-fried rice is also good, and you can fry that up in some good fats as well.

[rach321]

Thanks Deb - more good ideas!!

[creations]

Don't really have any ideas for you but just wanted to say that I recently experienced a massive increase in my DS's protein intake because I moved it to breakfast.  He used to be a bit picky about protein, and then it became worrying, like one mouthful in a week!  So we now have sausages for breakfast.  A butcher will usually make a batch of sausages to your preference for example chicken thigh rather than reconstituted pork mush with just a short period of notice (well, more notice over the Christmas period) so you can be sure they are really healthy sausages.  My DS will eat it cold so I can cook two at once and give him one today one tomorrow which saves a bit of time in the morning.  He'll also eat close to a full egg in the morning this had reduced down to not even one bite offered later in the day.
He used to have cereal or pancakes for breakfast plus tons of fruit then want lots to eat at snack time, lots more fruit, some crackers or pancakes etc.  Now he is sometimes so full from his breakfast that he doesn't even want his fruit and will skip snack or just have one piece of fruit and is satisfied until lunch time.
So, in my experience, it has made a big difference.

[rach321]

Thanks creations that's really useful to know.

[EllenS]

This is similar to our almond pancake/muffin recipe (we just adjust the liquid to make pancakes vs. muffins)

2  cups blanched almond flour (or you can use part wheat and part almond.  we sometimes make our own flour by grinding almonds in a coffee grinder or pestle)
 1 teaspoon baking soda
 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
 2 large eggs

 1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)
 1/4 cup oil, (melted coconut oil is good, but you can use any kind)
 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
bake 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

This is really basic, you can add 1 cup of blueberries, or pureed pumpkin with pumpkin spice, or whatever you like.

You can also use almond flour to make crackers that are very similar to a graham cracker, by keeping that same ratio of 1 egg to 1 cup of meal.  1 Tbs honey/syrup, pinch of salt, don't need the oil, maybe 1tsp cinnamon.  THen you can just make balls of the dough and smash them on the cookie sheet.  maybe 15 minutes at 375?  (I cook by the seat of my pants a lot)

[Mashi]

I make "sausages" here - it is an Annabel Karmel recipe from one of her toddler cookbooks and it is really good.  It is basically raw chicken or turkey that you whiz in a food processor with grated apple and some seasonings.  Form it into small sausages or meatballs and fry them.  The recipe is in the recipes section here and titled "THE FAMOUS SAUSAGE RECIPE."  I hated using my food processor because I hated having to disinfect every nook and cranny about a hundred times as I have a horrible fear of food poisoning from poultry, and now we don't have one, so I have used minced/ground turkey instead of a breast or thigh meat. It is definitely better with the meat rather than the mince, but it does still work - you just have to use a fork to mush your mince really well before you make the sausages.  My DS loves them and he is a picky meat eater.

[rach321]

Fab thanks ladies - I will be trying these out in the new year!

[roimata9]

I make coconut "yoghurt" Using a tin of coconut milk/cream, a tablespoon of honey and the granules from a couple of probiotic pills. Mix well and leave in a warm place for 24-48 hours. The first time I made this I left it too long and it got pink and purple growth on it - only use it if it stays completely white!

My LO eats like anything too. I give him 4 meals a day, rather than 3 meals and two snacks. He also gets snacks if we're out and he's hungry. Some snacks I've found really good are fruit/seed balls (soak some dried fruit and blend with seeds or nuts and coconut then shape into balls. You can add cocoa etc for extra flavour), jerky (takes ages for him to chew!) or a mix of toasted coconut flakes, toasted seeds and toasted slivered almonds.

I always try to get protein in him at breakfast. Cereal doesn't cut it for him. I usually make savoury french toast, green smoothies with added protein powder (pea or egg white), boiled eggs with gf toast to dip. If we're out of other food and he has to have cereal, I use the high fat coconut yoghurt or else add flaxoil and ground seeds and nuts.

For other meals I give him meat and veges first, then if he's eaten his fill on those I'll give him some carbs. Otherwise he'll fill up on the carbs and be hungry an hour later. I also tend to toss his veges in olive oil so they are more filling (pus they taste nicer!)

This is what he had yesterday (he's 20 months):
WU BF
Breakfast 8am : 2 pieces of french toast (made with rice milk and gf bread), one orange, 200 ml green smoothie (spinach, banana, orange, raspberries and mint- no protein powder because he had egg in the french toast)
Lunch before nap 11am: 2 bowls of asian style mince with quinoa and veges (was supposed to be two serves for him, but he ate the lot), bowl of berries, water
BF
After nap 3pm (we were out so more of a snack) 3/4 cup of coconut, sunflower seeds and flaked almonds, 50g fruit leather, 50 g jerky, 200ml water
Dinner 6 pm: satay chicken, potato salad, veges, (didn't eat much vege but ate the same as I did for the rest!) coconut blondies (just have coconut and honey in them)  100ml rice milk
BF before bed

I reckon I'd be full from all that!