Category Archives: Kids Nutrition

Dietitian Advice, Kids Nutrition, Nutrition Education

Back to school lunches

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Back to School. It’s that time again. My girl loves having packed lunch is and actually I quite like knowing what she’s having. But it can become repetitive, so one of our aims is to get inspiration and vary each of the food groups. We always go for a carbohydrate option, some protein, raw veggies and fruit as the basics. Then we add in a few extras such a yoghurt, a muesli bar or some cake. Of course one of the biggest factors is what your child actually likes! It’s no good giving them beautiful looking nutritious food if the won’t eat it.
 
I’d love to say that we spend time each weekend baking for lunches or that we whip up spectacular salads each week. Truth be told, packed lunches are made quickly after dinner whilst I tidy up the kitchen, usually before I teach Pilates and while the kids run around the house like crazies. It’s doesn’t have to be complicated, but balance and variety are 2 of the keys 🔑.
 
Carbohydrates: Bagels, wraps, pitta, bread, baguette, crackers, rice, pasta, couscous.
 
Protein: tuna, cheese, ham, salami, peanut butter, cottage cheese, cream cheese, eggs, turkey, chicken, hummus.
 
Raw veggies: cucumber, 1/2 avocado (with a spoon), tomatoes, peppers, carrots, gherkins, olives, sweet corn, peas, mange tout, sugar snap peas, mushrooms.
 
Fruit: melon, apple, berries, satsumas, pear, grapes.
 
Extras: malt loaf, yoghurt, cheese portion, popcorn, cheesy biscuits, cereal bar, dried fruit bar, homemade flapjack.
 
 
 
 
 
Sandwich Filling Ideas:
Cheese and pickle 
Hummus and ham 
Egg and hummus
Salami and cream cheese
Avocado and cream cheese
Avocado and egg salad
Tuna and mayo
Mashed chickpeas, avocado and mayo
Peanut butter
Nut butter and banana
Cheese and marmite
 
Alternatives to Sandwiches:
Sushi (make a batch and use it for 3 days)
Pasta, rice or couscous  salads
Pizza Whirls – use your choice of toppings
Picky Box – crackers, cheese, veggies and let them make their own lunch at school
 
I’d love to hear your ideas! I share packed lunches regularly on my inst-stories so do give me a follow. 
 

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Dietitian Advice, Intuitive Eating, Kids Nutrition, Nutrition Education

Confessions of a dietitian. My kids eat doughnuts.

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My children surprise me time and time again with their eating and their ability to hone in on their own needs and internal cues… if only I give them a chance. 

With my oldest turning 8 this week she is exposed to different foods in places outside our home. Sweets at youth club, biscuits for sale at school (yes really in the playground), cake at groups. Totally a time for her to put into practise all her intuitive eating skills and experiement away from me. 

With Miss K being my first child, she is also the one that I weaned first and did all the things wrong with first! Parenting is the hardest job for sure and there is no manual. So I was clear on limiting her biscuit intake and on keeping the sweets up high and on a pedestal. The sweet issue I had to totally back track on, explain I had dealt with this badly and it was time to try a new approach. The result is my kids eat sweets, regularly but they savour them and we have small amounts after a meal or as part of a snack. Today they have both had half an iced doughnut.  I don’t see restriction as the answer, I don’t want my children to grow up sugar-free or feeling cake is only for special occasions, but to appreciate all foods and know some things we eat less of.  I certainly don’t dish out cakes and sweets daily but I do have them around and part of life, Children need to learn how to eat and how to be around foods at home. Home is the training ground, the place to experiment, get things wrong and then try again. 

This weekend I was on a course and my parents looked after my kids. They all did a fabulous job at looking after each other. One thing I noticed was how well the mealtimes went. My mum was worried the smallest one especially had not eaten well and recounted the day to me, she had eaten well just not in what we would percieve to be a normal meal pattern. That’s toddlers! The kids had also convinced my mum to buy them doughnuts (grandparents prerogative) and where I would have cut these in half they had a whole one each…. my boy ate part of it and then gave it back when he had enough. Now this is the boy who I think could pretty much eat a whole chocolate cake – turns out I am wrong, again 😉 and very happy to be. 

So why am I writing all of this?  To show other parents that there is hope. That your children can be trusted around food, that they have an intuitive sense of what to have and how much. It may be that like me, you haven’t been perfect in your approach to food, well it’s not too late to change that and have a conversation with your children.

Here are 3 of my top tips:

  1. No foods are off limits or restricted. However as a parent you decide when to offer a food and what to offer. Your child decides what to eat from that selection and how much. If you have a cupboard of snacks like we do, then it is totally going to happen than you get asked for specific foods items from there, which could be totally fine but it’s working with your child to work out their hunger and what to put with their snack.
  2. Involve your children in the shopping and let them choose some of the foods, even if they are high sugar options you would prefer them not to have. It’s about learning how to have those foods safely, at home. 
  3. Let your children choose what to eat from a selection of food, without judgement. This is HARD. If you have provided a range of food then it is up to them to choose what to have and not up to you to tell them. Sometimes stepping back can allow your child to shine and show their independance off.

I’d love to hear your thoughts, experiences and problems. Do get in touch via social media, a blog comment or email.

Family Meals, Kids Nutrition, Recipes

Mackerel Carbonara

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Now this recipe, it’s not a combination that instantly springs to mind, in fact I remember Gregg being dubious when we cooked this on Eat Well for less. … however it works. This is a great way to get oily fish back on the menu for family meals.

Oily fish is such a important food to try and incorporate into your weekly meal planning due to the omega 3 content. Omega 3’s are a essential fatty acids that have anti-inflammatory effects, can help with brain health, cognitive function, heart health and even asthma.

I hope you enjoy the recipe – do make sure to turn off the heat before adding in the sauce of the yoghurt will curdle. 

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SMOKED MACKEREL CARBONARA

Ingredients

  • 450 g spaghetti
  • 2 tsp horseradish sauce
  • 400 g greek yoghurt
  • 4 eggs
  • 60 g parmesan cheese finely grated
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp rapeseed oil
  • 2 medium courgettes grated
  • 350 g boneless smoked mackerel skin removed and flaked
  • 240 g baby spinach
  • 1 small bunch flat leaf parsley roughly chopped

Instructions

  1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil, add the spaghetti and stir well.  Simmer for 12-15 minutes until cooked.

  2. While the pasta cooks, prepare the sauce. Whisk together the horseradish sauce, yoghurt, eggs and parmesan. Season with black pepper.

  3. Heat a large pan until medium hot, add the oil and stir fry the courgette for 2 minutes until it has started to soften.

  4. Add the smoked mackerel, mix well then cook for another minute. Stir in the spinach and cook for a couple of minutes until wilted down.

  5. Turn the heat off (to prevent curdling), add the horseradish and yoghurt mixture into the pan. Stir really quickly until mixed throughout the courgettes and mackerel. 

  6. Drain the pasta and tip straight into the pan, with about 100ml of the cooking water, then stir until totally covered in the sauce.

  7. Serve straight away with the parsley scattered over the top.

Cooking with Kids, Dairy Free, Kids Nutrition, Recipes, Snacks, Special Diets, Vegetarian, Wheat Free

Gingerbread energy balls

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One of the questions I get asked a lot is for healthy snack ideas. Walking around the shops there is a plethora of snack items but so many of them are expensive items that you can make yourself in batches with a little knowhow and patience. Energy balls are one such item. Often sold for £1.50-£1 a portion, these can be made a lot cheaper at home. See my analysis below.  Whilst there are a lot of energy ball recipes out there on the internet this one is so delicious that I had to share it. I love having snacks  like these to hand for instant snacking and even better, these freeze well. My boy also loves making these with me.

Perfect mid morning snack for me between clients and an afternoon snack for the kids at a much better cost than buying from the shops.

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Gingernut Energy Balls

Ingredients

  • 100 g unsalted cashew nuts
  • 100 g dates
  • 25 5 oats
  • 1 tsp ginger
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)

Recipe Notes

Blitz up the cashews, oats and dates in a food processor or grinder. I do this in batches as my grinder is smalll. You may need to stop grinding and stir it around a bit from time to time.

Put the mixture into a bowl, add in the ginger and stir.

Now roll into balls and roll in the sesame seeds (if wanted).

Store in a tin, the fridge or freeze.

 

Costing = £2.20 for 10 balls (5 portions for an adult)

100g cashews £1.10

100g dates 66p

25g oats 27p

1 tbsp sesame seeds 9p

1 tsp ginger 8p

 

Dietitian Advice, Intuitive Eating, Kids Nutrition, Nutrition Education

Body Confidence for the next generation

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I’m passionate about raising my kids to love their bodies, to be confident, body positive and to know how truly beautiful they are inside and out. 

A recent post I shared on facebook showed how many others are also passionate about this and how as parents we play such a major role in shaping our children’s thinking. It’s a hugely responsible role and probably not one I am going to get 100% right, but I’m going to try. 

As a child I was brought up knowing I was 100% capable. I believed in myself and knew I could do something if I set my mind to it and put the work in. That has stuck with me. So therefore how we talk about our bodies and our childrens bodies will also stick with them.

Little comments stick. Whether it is commenting on a body part or the way you talk about clothes no longer fitting it counts. I had the luxury of a loving set of parents who didn’t talk much about diets and bodies (thanks parentals – you rock). However still other influences from close family friends and family members meant I had some phrases that stuck with me and undoubtedly shaped some of my views on myself. I’ve shaken those off now. Getting older has it’s perks 😉 

So how should we be talking to our children? I’m no expert but here are my thoughts and those of my 7 year old – Miss K

  1. Always be positive about your body. If there are parts you are not keen on don’t make it into a big deal in front of your children. 
  2. Talk to your children about body sizes and shapes. How we are all different and that is ok. How it is health that counts and not looks. How there is no ideal body shape and that many toys are not real-life. (BTW Barbies are not welcome in my house we have Lottie dolls instead).
  3. I love the phrase radical acceptance. All people are accepted at the size and shaoe they are. Look beyond to see the actual person, their character, their postives, their dreams and encourage that,
  4. Keep away from diets, intense exercise for weight loss purposes and weight loss aids/supplements in front of children, they will pick up on these things.
  5. Try not to weigh people in your house – is it really needed? The scales do not show much apart from a number. That number is affected by some many factors other than just what we eat. I have scales for work purposes and the children do play with them now and again but there is no judgement, just genuine interest. 
  6. Focus on character and traits instead of physcial size/shape. Let your kids know what they are great at and how that is what defines them. 
  7. Role model a good relationship with food. All foods are allowed, there is no good/bad. If your and food need some work, then perhaps now is the time to seek out help with that. Someone like myself who can support you and take you on a journey to improve your relationship and show your kids a great way forward. 

I’d love to hear your thoughts too…

Dietitian Advice, Kids Nutrition, Nutrition Education

Childrens Yoghurts – how to choose a good one

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Yoghurt is one of those confusing foods. You want your children to be eating it and getting in their calcium, but so often yoghurts can be laden with sugar. Personally I encourage my children to eat yoghurt daily, it is our go-to dessert after our evening meal. To help you, I’ve come up with a ranking of children’s yoghurts and give my verdict on those to have in the fridge everyday and those to leave for occasional consumption.

Why the confusion? Well firstly the choice is overwhelming. Walk down the yoghurt aisle and you are bombarded with brands, health claims, cartoon characters, pots, tubs, pouches. What should you choose and how do you know?

Let’s talk about sugar. Yoghurt contains lactose which is a naturally occuring sugar and not one children need to cut down on. However you cannot easily differentiate between these sugars and the added free sugars. A general rule of thumb is the first 5g per 100g of total sugars is lactose. The sugars to keep an eye on are the free sugars. These are any sugars added to food/drink. These could be written as sugar, honey, syrup, agave, fruit juice for example. If you look at a yoghurt label and it is 8.5g total sugars then you can estimate about 5g is lactose and so 3.5g is added sugars.

In this blog we are focusing on children. Children aged 4-6 should have no more than 19g free sugars a day and 7-10yrs no more than 24g free sugars a day. For children under 4 yrs there is no guideline figure, it’s just keeping added sugar low and avoiding it where possible.

Labelling reading:

You can rank a food as high/low in total sugar using this guide:

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So in the instance of Full Fat Greek Yoghurt you can see that there are actually no added sugars in this. The sugar in it is all coming from the lactose and there is no sugar mentioned in the ingredients list confirming our thoughts. 

Compared it to this children’s yoghurt which definitely has added sugar. The label shows it as 13.2g total sugars per 100g, so thats around 8.2g added sugars (almost half the recommended amount for a child aged 4-7yrs). The label confirms this showing is has added sugar and the raspberry juice is also added sugar.

So it definitely pays to look at the label when buying yoghurts. If you are comparing several yoghurts it is best to compare them per 100g, Scroll down to see a table with a range of common children’s yoghurt in that have the sugar content per 100g with a quick ranking  done for you.

My Top Picks:

  1. Greek Style Yoghurts or Greek Yoghurt. For growing children I would always pick a full fat option, I eat the full fat version myself in fact. It may seem boring compared to other choices but you can add your own toppings at home – low sugar granola, dried fruit, fresh fruit, nuts, seeds, frozen berries,
  2. Natural Yoghurt is also a winner.
  3. Skyr is a low sugar yoghurt due to the way it is made, even the flavoured ones are low in sugar so these are good options if you want a flavoured yoghurt.

The Worst Offenders:

 Anything with chocolate, added crunch, pureed fruit and most of the squeezy pouches. This of course does not meant you cannot ever give these to your children but it is about the balance. I’m not in favour of cutting foods out or saying a blanket no. However I would recommend keeping these yoghurts as occasional choices. Think about where else they get added sugars from in their diet? Also check the portion size as some of these products are very large portions and you could halve them, thus halving the sugar too. In our house we keep diferent yoghurts as an occasional change or we mix our yoghurt and add something sweeter to the Greek yoghurt. 

Name Portion Size in grams (g) Sugarsper 100g in grams (g) Ranking 1(best)-5(worst)
Greek Yoghurt

100

5.4

1
Yeo Valley Natural Yoghurt

150

5.6

1
Arla Natural Skyr Yoghurt

150

4

1
Petits Filous My First Vanilla Fromage Frais

47

4.8

1
Arla Raspberry Skyr Yoghurt

150

8.3

2
Petits Filous Organic Variety Fromage Frais

50

8.8

2
Tesco Strawberry Yogurt Drink

100

9.1

2
Petits Filous Strawberry Raspberry Fromage Frais

85

9.9g

2
Peppa Pig Strawberry Fromage Frais

45

10

2
Paw Patrol Strawberry Fromage Frais

45

9.9

2
Petits Filous Magic Squares Raspberry Vanilla Yogurt

80

10.8

2
Frubes Variety Yogurt Pack

40

10.9

2
Munch Bunch Fruit Fromage Frais

42

12.7

3
Wildlife Choobs Strawberry Raspberry And Apricot Yogurt

40

12.8

3
Munch Bunch Squashums Limited Edition

60

12.1

3
Petits Filous Strawberry Raspberry Yogurt

100

12.2

3
Munch Bunch Squashum Strawberry Yogurt Drink

90

12.7

3
Actimel Multifruit Yogurt Drink

100

12.2

3
Munch Bunch Double Strawberry Raspberry Yogurt

85

12.5

3
Munch Bunch Double Up Strawberry Vanilla Yogurt

85

12.5

3
Frubes Strawberry And Raspberry Yogurt Pouches

70

13.2

4
Star Wars Strawberry Raspberry Yogurt Pouch

70

13.2

4
Smarties Split Pot Yogurt

120

15

4
Muller Corner Banana Yogurt Crunch Yogurt

135

16.7

5
Muller Corner Strawberry Crunch Yogurt

135

17.1

5
Muller Corner Vanilla Chocolate Balls Yogurt

135

17.7

5
Muller Corner Toffee Chocolate Hoops Yogurt

135

18.4

5
Milkybar Little Treats

60

21.1

5
Nestle Rolo Dessert

70

25.4

5
Cadbury Dairy Milk Pots Of Joy Caramel Dessert

70

26

5

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Dietitian Advice, Kids Nutrition, Nutrition Education

A “handy” portion guide.

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Portion Sizes can be tricky to get right and yet they are key to maintaining a healthy, balanced diet.

Here is a little video I did with BBC Food a few months ago, shot in the most gorgeous kitchen (it’s not mine!).

Using your hand as a general guide can be a great way of judging portions and it also means it works well for children and adults.

I’d love to know your thoughts. How do you judge your portions? Other great way to do this are to create your own measuring cup. Using a mug weigh out the standard serving and then place it in a mug, mark a line for that food (rice, pasta, cereals). Or for carbohydrates there is a lovely carb spoon that I actually use myself at home.

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Dietitian Advice, Intuitive Eating, Kids Nutrition, Nutrition Education

Priya gives top nutrition tips on Rachel’s podcast

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So a complete pleasure to take part in this podcast with Rachel Holmes. Take a listen for super nutrition tips, it’s an action packed podcast, no chitter-chatter but just full on content and at just over 30 minutes it’s a great length too.

Totally love to hear your thoughts!

We cover:

Is there a best diet to be on?

Hunger/fullness signals.

Feeding your kids – what to do and what not to do.

Tips to take away and use today.

Weight loss advice.

Should we be going gluten/dairy free?

Emotional messages.

Feeding your toddlers!

My struggle with feeding my kids.

Rachel is a fitness entrepreneur, a presenter and a trainer. She is inspiration in her energy levels and all she achieves. I’ve followed her and been to her course as a fitness instructor for many years.

 

 

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Eating Out Gluten/Wheat Free, Family Meals, Intuitive Eating, Kids Nutrition

Colour up kids restaurant menus

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Let’s talk childrens menus when eating out. This can be a topic of division in my mind and in general amongst parents. I doubt many people choose where they eat out based soley on the kids menu but when you are eating out with small ones it is hugely important. 

Often childrens menus are high on beige foods and low on colours. I’m talking fishfingers, nuggets, burgers,  chips, potato waffles with maybe beans or peas but not much else. I totally get why, as a restaurant you want children to enjoy their meal and hey, it’s only one meal. So does it really matter?

 I think it does. Children are little adults, as an adult I want choice, flavour, foods that I don’t usually eat at home, foods that make me think and that my tastebuds explore. Beige food menus are devoid of a variety of  tastes, textures, fibre and colours. All things we want kids to be eating.

Now for my kids eating out is a complete treat. We don’t do it that often. I also don’t tend to offer “beige meals” often at home, unless they are requested. Not that I am against those foods, they have a place. However, I  prefer to go for plenty of veggies and variety, aiming for homemade foods when I can. So we may have fishfingers from the freezer but I’d serve them with a mixture of veggies, potato wedges, with the skin on and thus provide a range of nutrients, fibre and tastes.  Nuggets and fishcakes can totally be offered as part of a balanced diet but do they need to make up the majority of children’s menus when eating out? I think not. Let’s get some balance on the menu please. 

Miss K totally loving her ramen bowl.

If we start to offer variety and treat children as little foodies maybe they will start eating in this way? Having had a boy who was anti-vegetables I’ve had first hand experience of how consistency, being non-judgemental and continual exposure works. So if we only offer beige foods they will only eat beige foods! This is part of the basis behind raising intuitive eaters, as parents we offer a range of foods and let them choose how much and what to have.

My crazy kids actually get a bit excited about a kids menu but at times I get “why is my food not as nice as yours”.  Which has led to us ordering an adults meal for the kids to share or of course sharing our own meals. I do remember at a wedding the sausage and chips being shunned in favour of the delicious buffet. When travelling I encourage the children to try cultural foods and things they have not had before – with varying results but it’s all about continuing to promote these values and ideas.

 Eating out is about pleasure and enjoying meals different to those at home. My 7 yr old especially loves eating “adult meals”. So I love places who make small versions of the adult menu. In my mind this is how it should be. Yesterday we ate out at a restaurant that did an amazing menu with kid friendly versions of their dishes – no chilli, smaller portions and some meals where all the foods were separate for those, like my boy, who would have wanted to pick bits out. They were also happy to make changes to the kids meals. My children were VERY happy. 

This boy, so happy with his meal and he demolished it.

It’s all about enjoyment, choice, variety and #empoweringkids to do this. I see it as part of intuitive eating, letting them choose what to have and how much to eat. My kids are very different in their eating and how they eat but all loved their lunch out today. 

 

 

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