Does anyone have any ideas to incorporate more protein into a diet? We do eat a pretty balanced diet during meal times but our snacks tend to be more on the carb/sugar side. We have a four and an 18 month old. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!
I got this idea from Body for Life diet plans...blend cottage cheese on blender till smooth and add in low-cal sweetner and cinnamon to taste. Yummy for dipping apples and other things. Wrap thin sliced ham spread with cream cheese around a dill pickle or pickled asperagus. Dip veggie sticks in hummus.
My kids love roasted soy nuts. They eat them for a snack instead of peanuts and they have half the fat and double the protein. Recently we discovered roasted edamame sold at Costco and they're great. Similar to peanuts but a lot healthier with tons of protein.
My daughter (2.5) enjoys peanut butter & carrots, cheese & apples---things like that. Both PB & cheese are great with different fruits n' veggies, plus there's protein in both.
M.,
My family and I absolutely love having a fresh fruit smoothy in the mornings. For 2 people we put 1/2 a mango, 1 plum, 1/2 an apple (any kind you prefer), 1 banana, 10 grapes, 6 ice cubes, enough water to make it smoothy to your liking. We also put a scoop of our fiberwise which has 12 grams of fiber (10grams which is soluable). Great energy drink and tastes awesome, even our teenagers that don't like eating breakfast will take it with them in the morning. We can help show you how to get the absolute best products to use along with it, straight from the manufacture to save you a bunch of money, if your health stores locally are expensive like ours is. gotgreennow.fourpointwellness.com
Yogurt! High in Protein, Calcium and Potassium. Kids usually love it since it is similar to ice cream. If you want to go fancy and have a little incentive, your kids can put chocolate syrup on top, or top it with colorful sprinkles, or just add applesauce or add some jam and they can swirl it. They love it if you let them choose the topping. Be creative! You can also freeze it for and "sell" it to your kids as ice cream. If you want tot avoid the sugar in yogurt - then give them plain (the sugar mentioned on the cup is only lactose, milk sugar) - they propably won't mind, specially with the toppings. My kid eats plain with topping every night as a treat since she's been 9 month old and now she is 3 1/2.
Which yogurt? Mountain High Yoghurt is the best and you can get it everywhere. Ok. Honestly, I work for this company and know quite a lot about the ingredients of yogurt and although I could now write another two paragraphs why this is the better yogurt - just check out the website or taste for yourself. Call the consumer hotline 1-866-964-4878 and ask for a coupon to try it and ask to be put on the newsletter list to get monthly coupons & recipes or sign up on the website.
Hi M. - my 18 month old love to snack on edamame (soybeans) - I buy them frozen and shelled and they cook up in 5 minutes - I've bought them in both the natural foods and regular frozen vegetable section of the grocery store.
Hi M.,
Some protein suggestions: whole almonds (w/skin) for your 4 y/o, and almond butter spread on anything they will eat it on: bread, apple slices, celery.
Edamame! Get them into it now! You can buy it shelled or in the pod - and they are LOADED with protein! They're yummy steamed by themselves, in soups or salads. Just keep offering these things - eventually they will try them & actually like them!
Yogurt, brown rice & beans (you can melt cheese on top if that helps)& tuna or salmon salad.
Good luck!
D.
String cheese is a favorite, so is sliced cheddar or American cheese (not Kraft singles, or anything that is called "cheese food," we get our real cheese at Costco) on wheat thins or Ritz or saltines.
We actually do this for lunch sometimes, but my kids love to have some peanut butter, apple slices, cheese slices, and crackers to put together however they want.
I know it's on the list to not give kids, but mine have never had any problem with peanut butter on a spoon. For an treat, we stick some chocolate chips to the peanut butter. I used to love "bugs on a log," which is peanut butter on celery sticks with raisins or chocolate chips or M&M's along them like bugs. I can't stand to eat them now, so I don't make them for my kids.
Cottage cheese with applesauce or peaches or pears is another idea.
I've also added refried beans to our quesadillas, which are a staple lunch item in this house. I know it's not a snack, but when I get more protein into my meals, I worry less about getting it into my snacks.
PROTEIN RICH FOODS
Cheese : strips/squares of soft cheese (American, Gouda, Jack, Cheddar, etc.)
ricotta or cottage cheese (mix with fruit)
string cheese,yogurt, cream cheese & jelly
Meat: salami, turkey
ham strips (wrap around cheese/cream cheese),
liverwurst, sausage
chicken pieces (wrap in crisp bacon, moisten with gravy or broth), small
meatballs, ravioli
Fish: tuna (packed in oil) mixed with mayo
fish sticks &. tartar sauce.
Eggs: deviled (mix mayo into yoke of hard-boiled egg)
scrambled with cheese or cream cheese
Misc.: tofu (stir fry cubes in peanut oil), peanut sauce or
tahini (sesame seed paste) for dipping
refried beans mashed with sour cream and cheese
Banana- slices, mix with peanut butter
summer sausage is a good snack
I give my son a whey protein drink at least once a day to make sure he is getting enough protein. I usually mix it with rice milk he loves it
Every wholesome food is made of protein (yes, that does mean vegetables and fruits, too). The proteins in plant-based foods are simpler because they have fewer amino acids in them which means they are much easier to digest. During the digestion process our bodies try to break all protein down into the amino acids in order to create human protein with those amino acids. Any protein that remains unbroken is discarded by the body, and therefor not used. In order to get enough protein in a diet add a variety of fruits, vegetables and legumes to your diet, preferably as fresh as you can for the best health benefits. You will get enough protein by eating what is grown locally so you don't need to go hunting down exotic foods. For snacks, keep nuts, dried and fresh fruits, fresh vegetables cut into bite-size pieces. With small children we have found they love to have fresh fruits over sugars.
Eggs,cheese, peanut butter, lean meats are all good sources of protein. My kids LOVE hard boiled eggs, yogurt, turkey roll ups (with cheese and roll into the deli meat) for snacks.
I will also do cheese quesidillas for snacks or peanut butter and crackers, even multi grain grilled cheese sandwiches.
My kids love gogurts which offer only 2 grams of protein but it has calcium and Vitamin D.
Look up online protein snacks, and you will probably get hundreds of ideas.
When the after school kids get to my house, I incorporate a fruit and a little protein so they can do their homework and not feel sugar rushed or agitated and can better concentrate.
Like today we will have cheese quesidillas and apple slices, tomorrow bananas and low fat cheese and crackers.
A slice of cheese can be 7grams or more of protein.
Milk alone has 8 grams.
Infants need more protein but below is a good way to figure out a good daily intake necessary.
http://blog.nutritiondata.com/ndblog/2007/01/q_how_much_p...
Low fat diary products are high in protein. Maybe beans (my kids loved them at 18 months. The four year old may refuse them for a while (totally a 4 year old thing). Maybe do whole wheat tortillas with cheese for the 4 yr old and a bean and cheese tortillas for the 18 month old.
Once a day I do a Whey protein shake. I get a big jar of Whey Protein by Jarrow Formulas (from Whole Foods-a really good brand), and mix that in the blender with some ice and milk. My 2.5 yo loves it, and I am trying to get 80-100 grams of protein in every day b/c I am pregnant. So, that is 25 grams for me, and about 10 for her (she has about 1/4 the serving that I do).
Anyway, that's what we do to make sure we are getting enough protein in during the day.
My daughter is diabetic so we are always looking for low carb, high protein snacks. She loves all nuts, but particularly walnuts (they are very high in omega-3 fatty acids). She also loves boiled eggs, cheese (particularly specialty cheeses), rolled up turkey, a spoonful of peanut butter with a glass of milk, broccoli, green beans, carrots, cauliflower, and olives. There have been times that I have heated up a can of green beans for a snack. My kids also love edamame. I have heated up a batch of that for snacks as well.
my kids love hard boiled eggs
M.,
Try veggies with protein. I don't cook a whole lot of meat (not because we don't like, more like I am cooking challenged) so I try it make it up with other foods like Potatoes (yes I am from Idaho :) ). They get such a bad rap as being bad for you, but really they are low in calories and have quite a bit of protein (and potassium). It's all that sour cream and butter we add that is bad. Also nuts have a lot of protein as well. Almonds are my choice, but you have to have them with no salt. I put mine in yogurt. check out this website, it has great options for protein! http://www.theveggietable.com/articles/protein.html hope this helps!
Have you tried smoothies? You could pick up some whey protein isolate powder to throw into fruit smoothies--my little ones love them. Also we make chocolate banana shakes for breakfast and love those (made with chocolate EAS protein powder). Your toddler may be too young for protein powder, but you could try adding powdered milk or Nido, a toddler formula in the Latin section at Walmart.
Also, I've created a dip to replace salsa that is 1/3 salsa, 1/3 fat free sour cream, and 1/3 fat free refried beans...adds some protein there.
Other things we snack on are boiled eggs (only the whites with a LITTLE salt), string cheese, yogurt (watch how much sugar though), "baby" bagel with peanut butter, and nuts (when the kids are old enough to be past allergy risk).
But most of all, just shop for whole foods--you can skip almost the whole middle of the store if you stick to eating fresh produce, meats and dairy. Petite carrots are tiny and sweet. Chilled grapes are as sweet as any candy. Raisins or dried cherries are "baby treats". Yogurt is far healthier than ice cream. It's *how* you satisfy your sweet tooth that counts--you don't have to banish sweets completely! Good luck!
My kids love yogurt. I by Horizon Oganic. If you do yogurt don't get the kids stuff, it tends to have much more sugar. I'm pretty budget conscious but I do by pre-sliced cheese from the deli. My kids are 5 and 3 and they can get the cheese themselves w/o me having to slice it for them. Nuts are also great. I make my own trail mix and put in a few M&Ms and raisins. I make them eat everything in their serving before they can get more. Before this PB thing started I also gave either apples or bananas and PB. I'm hoping that we can start eating the PB again soon as it is a staple at our house. My kids also love cottage cheese. Depending on the day they eat it alone, served with apple sauce, or with fruit like clementines or straberries on top. Hope this helps!
cottage cheese and fruit are always a good combo, and cottage cheese has tons of protein, and you can get it in low fat or fat free if you want.
experiment with different nuts
As long as they are eating solid foods you can incorporate Chia seeds and hempseeds into shakes, yogurt, even applesauce to get more protein and some omega fatty acids. For more info you can go to miracleseeds.lifemax.net for info on the chia seeds. I'm a pharmacist and herbalist and my kids usually will eat a blueberry shake or have some in applesauce or yogurt with cinnamon.
cottage cheese, plain yogurt (I sometimes add sugar free applesauce), cheese and turkey rolled up- and we eat a lot of avacado.
Try using Carnation instant breakfast mix in their milk. My little one loves that he gets to drink chocolate milk, and I love that it adds protien. ps...our pediatrician suggested that so my little guy could gain some weight.
