Recipes

Hi there-- I just recently started dieting and was having a hard time trying to find foods that had less calories but were also appealing to taste. I found a great cookbook from that T.V. show "The Biggest Loser". They have recipes in there that are great! They not only give you meal ideas- but they also explain to you how to eat the same foods that you (or your son) always did- but using different ingredients that give you less calories. Once you get the hang of it- it is really easy to make meals yourself using their concepts. The book is pretty inexpensive (I think it was $14 at Target) and I am sure since the T.V. show is so big right now that the book will be easy to find. Good Luck hope this helps:)

You may want to look into some of the books (or her website) by Annabel Karmel. She does healthy food ideas for kids, picky eaters etc. Here are a couple sample recipes from a talk show appearance she did.

Apple Smiles

This snack is easy to prepare and will certainly bring a smile to your child's face! For a healthier variation, use small cubes of banana instead of mini marshmallows.
Makes 4 Apple Smiles

Creamy peanut butter
1 red apple, cored and sliced into eighths
Squeeze of lemon juice
Miniature marshmallows or small cubes of cheese (for a healthier alternative)
Dried apricots (optional)

Spread peanut butter on one side of each apple slice (squeeze a little lemon juice over the apple slices first if not serving immediately). Place five marshmallows or cubes of cheese on one apple slice and lay another apple slice, peanut butter side down, on top. If you like, add an apricot to form tongue.

Magic Toadstools

These are easy to prepare, look fabulous, and are made with healthy ingredients.

6 hard-boiled eggs
Cheese spread, such as Cheez Whiz
3 small tomatoes, halved
Alfalfa sprouts

Trim the top and bottom of each of the hard-boiled eggs so that they are flat and arrange on a plate. Squeeze or pipe dots of cheese spread over the tomatoes and place a halved tomato on top of each of the boiled eggs. Decorate the plate with alfalfa

have you tried going to the libary and checking out a cook book that is specialy done so that the amount of cals are in each recipe.

also if this is a medical thing ask the Dr. for a recipe list, or a what hes allowed in a day list.

fruits and veggies are allways good just plain like they are or mixed plain fruit salids or a veggie salid with lemon juice on it for flavor, steam the veggies and sprinkle with lemon juice.

Hi R.

I would suggest you check out Weightwatchers.com. They always have recipes on their site, which are free and often times with have modified, healthy recipes for things that are not so healthy, like fried chicken etc.

The easiest way to allow for larger amounts of food (so the child feels full even though he's only allowed such a small amount) is to eliminate processed foods and to pay attention to cooking procedures. Things like using canola oil or peanut oil rather than butter or olive oil which are higher in calories will make a big difference in caloric intake. Also try alternatives like soy milk instead of cow's milk-which is healthier anyway due to the MUCH smaller amounts of steroids present in the protiens- and hommade snacks like fruit leather or dried fruits rather than store bought will allow for happy snacking and happy mom. There is actually very little prep time necessary to make healthy, low calorie snacks once one is comfortable doing so; and the extra effort to get into the habbit is well worth it. Investing in a food dehydrator is a great choice because it makes the process much easier and more efficient but definatly not necessary, the same thing can be done with an oven set at the lowest possible setting.

I think once you get going you will find that 1000 is still alot for a child. How old is he? Light and fit yogurt is no more than 60 calories. Feed him lots of fruit, cut up apples, pears, etc and veggies, carrot sticks, celery, tomatos. My son (3) could live on this. Stay away from canned fruit (extra calories).Stay away from any and all processed foods and crackers, etc. Buy light whole grain bread and skim milk.

Good luck.

How about a piece of chicken breast. If you pound it out it will look like it's larger than it is.(When I do this I put it between to pieces of plastic wrap, that way it don't splash all over. You could either use a meat mallet, or even your palm) I would only use some spices to cook it, and just a small amount of ovile oil. As for a snack, how about this mixture. Plain cheerios, mini chocolate chips, and either raisins, or cranraisins or dried cherries. If you put them in a clean fruit cup they might think they are gettting a lot. Best of luck!! B. K

OK R., I have two ideas for you.
1. Go tohttp://www.sparkpeople.com/
There you can pick and choose ,eals every day as well as stay motivated.
You do not have to follow a meal plan as specified you can change it up and add foods he likes. Check it out it's a free site and it will work for you.
2. http://www.drgourmet.com/eatthisdiet/1000.shtml
This site is based on the 100 cal per day diet.

Gook luck and, hang in there. All it takes is will power.

We use Fitday.com to help track calories fat carbs protien etc.

Just being concious of how much he's consuming will help a lot.

Measuring food out with measuring cups, and a kitchen scale.
and making some changes in cooking style (we realized we were putting cheese on just about everything!) And avoiding processed foods (hamburger helper...was NOT our friend) Also made a huge difference.

Good luck!