I can’t keep my kids full. They are eating our fridge empty in twice the time they do during the school year. To save money I go to a local Mom and Pop produce market. Last week on top of all the other fruits and vegetables, I bought three pounds of bananas. My neighbor who has very young kids saw the box and asked, what’s up with all the bananas? Are you making something that requires bananas? I replied they were for the boys, he asked if they were for a few weeks and I said they will be around as long as they last which was exactly three days. This week I bought four pounds.
This evening to prepare for our day tomorrow I not only cooked allergen free things to have on hand for Aaron, I cut up a watermelon, two containers of strawberries, sliced oranges (the only way my kids will eat them), made the lunches for on the go tomorrow, refilled the Mom bag with allergen safe snacks and cookies, and prepped veggies for tomorrow nights dinner. I wonder how long all that fruit will last? I am thinking it will be gone by Tuesday morning.
All of this ultimately would be easier if we didn’t have food allergies to worry about. I am wondering how I will ever find enough calories to feed a growing kid who is so committed to swimming. Elite swimmers burn 12,000 calories a day. As it is Aaron ate for dinner twelve of his Aaron meatballs that we make for him, which are ground turkey, grains ground into breadcrumbs, broccoli, carrots, green pepper, spinach, onion, and zucchini ground to nothing in the food processor with olive oil, and formed into balls. He also had a bag of plain potato chips, two bananas, pineapple, strawberries, two cupcakes, two water ices, and an applesauce. That was dinner for my under fifty pound, six year old. It was a typical meal for him of late.
Although, Aaron is six he is a fairly serious athlete. What do elite athletes who are food allergic do to get enough calories in their diet? All the foods Aaron is allergic to are foods that are high in calories. He couldn’t drink protein powder because it is milk based. Do they have soy protein powder? All ideas on feeding the serious food allergic kid and keeping him full? There are so many nights I can hand him brown rice and beans.
June 24, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Yes, they make soy protein powder. Walmart sells it online, so it’s possible it’s in the stores. Health food stores should also have it.
June 25, 2012 at 3:58 am
WELCOME TO BOYS!!! MUWAHAHAHAHA!
June 25, 2012 at 7:18 am
First, saw you were baking sweet potatoes, microwave works for them and lots of other veggies and saves the heat. Does his insurance pay for a nutritionist? There must be someone in Philly who deals with allergies and kids. This is all they think about so they should know some tricks of this type of challenge.
Look for blogs for trainers and nutritionists for extreme sportsters. I have seen but not engaged in blogs where people describe carb pumping pre-game. That should give you some ideas.
I think getting a couple of good formulas for smoothies would be a help. Whey protein a possibility? Check out GNC and other weightbuilder nutritional outlets for protein bases that build bulk. It’s not cheap at the stores, but you can search online for better prices. I know bananas are also used in making these shakes.
Calorie-rich smoothies are a good way to supplement, my mom had to do this when she had ulcerative colitis and that was before all the new fangled foods.
If you are worried about balance and veggies, check out Jessica Seinfeld’s books from the library, she is all about hiding the veggies, of course she doesn’t have the allergy issues, but her ideas can be combined with your restrictions and substitutes.
June 25, 2012 at 9:11 am
ask and you shall receive:
http://www.gnc.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=12950033
June 25, 2012 at 12:32 pm
High calorie shakes are possible. My guys combined are allergic to nuts, dairy, several seeds, shellfish, peas, etc. I make smoothies with coconut or soy milk yogurt, bananas, frozen berries/fruit of all kinds and I add a few tablespoons of Sunbutter for protein. I make popsicles out of the extra smoothie and have those in the freezer — nice to get some protein with your popiscle! With my first, who wasn’t allergic to wheat I put in wheat germ and for my second who isn’t allergic to dairy I’ll put in regular yogurt. They have protein powders of all sorts too, but we never went in that direction. I did add suppliments sometimes, like calcium powder for my milk allergic guy. Good luck!