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RECIPES / BLOG 

MANGO CHIA SEED PUDDINGS

1/18/2021

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Serves 12-15 depending on serve size 
Preparation time: 15 mins
Cooking time: Overnight in the fridge (5+ hours)

Ingredients:
500 ml almond milk
85 gm chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla
1 mango (flesh only) *can also use frozen mango
2 tsp fresh lime juice 

Method:
1. Add milk, mango, vanilla and lime juice to blender. Blend on medium speed until combined. Pour liquid into glass dish. 
2. Add chia seeds to liquid in dish and using a spoon mix until completely combined.
3. Leave in fridge overnight to allow the chia seeds to completely soften. 
4. Serve with fresh fruit, greek yoghurt or add some baby cereals or fruit purees. 

Allergens 
  • FREE from Dairy, wheat, gluten, soy, egg.
  • Contains tree nuts (almonds). 
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BANANA BREAD FINGERS

1/18/2021

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Serves: 8-10 slices 
Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 60 mins

Allergens:
  • Contains egg, milk (dairy), wheat, gluten.
  • Modifications below to remove allergens.

Ingredients:
  • 1/2 cup full cream milk
  • 1/3 cup of extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 cup of greek yoghurt (full fat)
  • 2 Eggs
  • 1 tsp imitation vanilla 
  • 1 cup mashed (over) ripe banana 
  • 1 ¾ cup plain flour 
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking soda 
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Methods:
  1. Preheat oven to 160ºC and grease a loaf pan.
  2. In a large mixing bowl add the milk, oil, yoghurt, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until combined. Add the mashed banana and stir through. 
  3. In a seperate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda and cinnamon.
  4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir until just combined. Be mindful not to over stir. 
  5. Pour the mix into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 60 mins. Check the loaf is ready by inserting a skewer into the centre. If the stick comes out clean, or with a few crumbles on it, the bread is done.
  6. Allow to cool in the pan for around 10 mins and then transfer to a wire rack to cool for another 15 mins before serving. 
  7. Cut into fingers for baby friendly finger food, serve in large slices with butter or margarine for adults / older children.  


Modifications:
  • To make dairy free - remove milk and swap for milk alternative (i.e almond milk, soy milk or oat milk). 
  • To make egg free - remove 2 eggs and swap for 1/2 cup of apple puree. 
  • To make wheat or gluten free - remove plain flour and swap for gluten free flour. 
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CHICKEN & ROAST VEG PUREE

1/18/2021

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Age: 4-6 months +
Prep time: 30 mins 
Freezer time: 12 hours (overnight)
Allergens: Contains tree nuts (LSA) and milk (in rice cereal)

Ingredients:
  • 250g chicken breast or thigh
  • 2 medium / 3 small chopped carrots
  • 1 chopped beetroot
  • 1 large zucchini grated 
  • 1 large red capsicum 
  • 1 cup of baby rice cereal
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil
  • 1/4 cup LSA mix (linseeds, sunflower seeds and almond powder)
  • 1 1/2 cups water
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Method:
  1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees (fan forced) and line two baking trays with baking paper
  2. Chop your red capsicum, carrot and beetroot and spread them across the two baking trays with a small drizzle of olive oil. Don't add any salt or flavourings. 
  3. Bake for 35-40mins or until tender and soft. Once cooked remove from oven and transfer to a large metal bowl. 
  4. While vegetables are cooking. Heat a fry pan to medium heat, add small drizzle of olive oil and add chopped chicken breast or thigh.
  5. Cook chicken until completely cooked through. Can use a meat thermometer to check. Once cooked transfer to a bowl. 
  6. In the metal bowl with the roast vegetables, add the 150g of fresh grated zucchini, mix this through. 
  7. Once you have added the zucchini, add the LSA mix, olive oil, and baby rice cereal. Mix this through the vegetable mix. 
  8. Now it's time to blend. You have two options here. Firstly, you can add your chicken to the bowl with the vegetables and add your water (1 1/2 cups) and use a stick blender to blitz. Secondly, you can use a blender. If you are going to use a blender I would recommend doing it in two batches. So, add 1/2 vegetable mix to blender and 1/2 the chicken and 1/2 the water. Mix and then put aside. Then repeat. 
  9. Once completed, add your puree to cube trays to be frozen. You can use baby food trays, ice cube trays or silicone baking trays. In this particular instance I have used a silicone loaf tray to create bigger portions (130g per bar). These are comparable size to a full pouch. 
  10. Leave in freezer overnight to freeze through. The next day remove from the trays and add to labelled zip lock bags. Remember to label with dates and name of the product. 
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Understanding food intolerances

10/12/2019

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It's important to understand the difference between intolerance and other types of food reaction. This is an important first step in helping clients develop a plan and approach to dealing with complex food intolerances.

Unlike allergies and coeliac disease, which are immune reactions to food proteins, intolerances don’t involve the immune system at all. They are triggered by food chemicals which cause reactions by irritation in different parts of the body.

The chemicals involved in food intolerances are found in many different foods, so the approach involves identifying them and reducing your intake of groups of foods, all of which contain the same offending substances.

By contrast, protein allergens are unique to each food (for example, soy, egg, fish, milk and peanut), and dealing with a food allergy involves identifying and avoiding all traces of that particular food. Similarly, gluten, the protein involved in coeliac disease, is only found in certain grains (wheat, barley, rye) and their elimination is the foundation of a gluten-free diet.

Dietary elimination particularly in children requires close oversight of a dietitian with paediatric training. Children require a wide variety of micro and macro-nutrients  to promote growth and development and a dietitian can support you through this process whilst also ensuring your child is getting enough nutrition. 

In nut a shell - there is definitely a difference between food allergies and intolerances. Just because your child doesn't test positive to a food allergy it is still worthwhile discussing the possibility of a food intolerance with your GP or specialist. Alternatively, you can seek support from a paediatric trained dietitian. 



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What do we define as "fussy eating"?

9/20/2019

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Fussy eating is defined as a "spectrum of feeding difficulties". Scientific literature has provided a number of useful definitions:

“It is characterised by an unwillingness to eat familiar foods or to try new foods, as well as strong food preferences”
 
“Consumption of an inadequate variety of food through rejection of a substantial number of foods that are familiar, as well as unfamiliar; this may include an element of food neophobia, and can be extended to include rejection of specific food textures”
 
“Restricted intake of food, especially of vegetables, and strong food preferences, leading parents to provide a different meal from the rest of the family”
 
“Unwillingness to eat familiar foods or try new foods, severe enough to interfere with daily routines to an extent that is problematic to the parent, child, or parent-child relationship”
 
“Consumption of an insufficient amount or inadequate variety of food through rejection of food items”
 
“Limited number of food items in the diet, unwillingness to try new foods, limited intake of vegetables and some other food groups, strong food preferences (likes/dislikes), and special preparation of foods required”
 
There are a number of key themes within these definitions that help us identify when your child's fussy eating is beyond the normal "fussiness" that we would expect in a child aged between 11 to 36 months of age. During this time its normal for toddler's to become cautious, erratic, picky and fickle... however if it is impacting on the following then it might be time to seek some additional support.

  1. Your child has strong food preferences and refuses to try new foods 
  2. Your child has genuine fears of some foods and rejects foods based of textures
  3. Your family is cooking multiple main meals to suit the preferences of your child
  4. Your child has very restrictive intake and is not getting a good range of foods across all food groups
  5. Your child's feeding is impacting on your relationship with your child
  6. Your child's feeding is impacting on your family and causes severe interference with your families daily routines
  7. Your child's food needs to be prepared in very special ways  (e.g. by the same person, same brands, same cooking methods etc.)

There are definitely strategies that you can put in place to help protect your parent-child relationship at meal times and encourage your children to expand their variety and meet their nutritional needs.

Amy offers both home visits and Skype consults to families to provide education and support around children's feeding behaviours and perspectives. She has popped some key starting points below:

  • Get started with family meals - eat together as a family
  • Give leadership to your children by choosing what they eat and provide this at regular times
  • Keep calm
  • Once your child starts to demonstrate a lack of interest in the meal or is finished, let them quietly leave the table and encourage them to play quietly until everyone else has finished
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Kids & Constipation

8/19/2019

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Constipation is a common condition with functional constipation being the most common type. It is common and occurs in up to 30% of all children. Most children will pass a bowel motion at least every 2-3 days. 

Young children may ignore the urge to go to the bathroom, causing a build up of large bowel motions. Painful passing of a bowel motion leads to nervousness, holding and the passage of a hard stool. This cycle of withholding and pass of a hard stool leads to ongoing constipation and painful motions. 
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​Constipation is also typically common during the introduction of solids to the diet, during toilet training and also at school entry. 

Tips:
- positioning will help with passing bowel motions 
- implementing structured "toilet sits" up to 5 minutes, three times a day, preferably after meals. 
- maintain a chart, diary or calendar in the toilet to reinforce positive behaviour and record frequency of motions 
- delay toilet training attempts until your child is passing painless stools
- increasing dietary fibre and water can help alleviate constipation 
- excessive dairy intake / milk intake can exacerbate constipation in children

If your child has ongoing or recurrent episodes of constipation we would recommend that you contact your GP or Child Health Nurse for an assessment. Furthermore, we recommend that you seek dietary advice from a trained paediatric dietitian to rule out possible factors that could be exacerbating your child's constipation. 
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POWERFUL vitamin C

1/5/2019

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What is Vitamin C?
Vitamin C is a water soluble vitamin that is natural present in fruits and vegetables! Citrus fruits, tomatoes and potatoes are MAJOR sources of vitamin C. Other sources includes capsicum, kiwifruit, broccoli and berries. Some foods such as breads and cereals can also be "fortified" with Vitamin C. This is when food manufacturers add Vitamin C to foods that typically aren't very high in Vitamin C to increase the Vitamin C content. 

Unfortunately unlike most animals, we (humans) are unable to synthesize or produce Vitamin C endogenously or from within our own bodies. This means that we have to rely on eating a variety of different fruits and vegetables. 

Why is Vitamin C important? 
Vitamin C is required in the biosynthesis of collagen, L-carnitine and certain neurotransmitters and it also plays a very important role in protein metabolism and wound healing. Vitamin C is a very powerful antioxidant and plays an important role in supporting the immune system. Vitamin C plays an important role in facilitating and improving the absorption of iron. This is super important for families with kids suffering from low iron levels or iron deficiency. 

How much Vitamin C do kids need?
0-6 months 25mg/day
7-12 months 30mg/day 
1-8yrs 35mg/day
9-18yrs 40mgs/day

Do i need to use a Vitamin C supplement?
If your kids are eating 4-5 serves of colourfrul fruits and vegetables everyday then they are low risk for a Vitamin C deficiency. I always suggest "food first strategies" because there are so many other important and amazing components to the foods we eat to fuel our bodies!!

If your child has low iron levels and also doesn't eat a great deal of fruits then a vitamin supplement might be best in the short term, at least until your child is willing and accepting to eat a wider variety and range of fruits and vegetables. Remember to always check with a health professional prior to commencing vitamin supplementation. 

Remember to keep food fun and mix up the way you are offering the fruits and vegetables. If you are having difficulties getting your kids to eat a wide variety of foods then it might be time to see a paediatric dietitian for support and advice, alternatively discuss some options with your GP. 


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    Amy Thompson
    Senior Paediatiric Dietitian Nutritionist

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