In my last week’s post, I shared some nutrition tips for an overweight child and a healthy sandwich recipe.Today, I am sharing tips about one more category which is the most common. I get maximum queries from parents whose kids are either picky eaters or underweight.
Picky eaters/Fussy eaters
While serving foods to our kids, we should know where to draw the line. Serve your kids the same food which is cooked for everybody in the family. If they don’t eat it, then they don’t eat it. The reality is they won’t starve if you don’t give in to their demands.
You can give the following choices-
- You can eat this as that is what we all are having.
- No? That’s OK, I will wait for you when you are hungry, and you can have it.
Being a “picky/fussy eater” is normal for all children. It is a stage of development in which they are learning to be independent and make choices. As a parent, you can be their role models. Positive approach about food early in life can help your children develop healthy eating habits later in life.
Are you worried that your child is too skinny? But it’s important to see if your child is thin due to his/her genetic makeup. If one parent or both were skinny as kids, it would show its effect on the kid as well. Some kids are very active and do not gain weight despite eating well.
Are you worried that your child is too skinny? It’s important to see if your child is thin due to his/her genetic makeup. Some kids are very active and do not gain weight despite eating well. Do not worry too much about weight if your child is active, happy and eating well.
To increase your child’s weight, you can try some small things like –
- Don’t force the child to eat and don’t rush into it. Make meal time a happy time.
- Give them energy rich foods. Make simple changes in food items like add little ghee or butter on your child’s dal and veggies.
- Give only full-fat milk for drinking and also make sweets like carrot halwa, custard etc. with full-fat milk.
- Give starchy vegetables like a potato in different forms and try to give one egg every day.
- Don’t make a mistake of giving sugar filled and fatty food to make them gain weight.
In Tiffin box recipe, I am sharing another recipe which is my daughter’s favorite.
RED SAUCE PASTA
Red sauce pasta and white sauce pasta are the most popular Italian dish after Pizza in our country. Most of the kids love all three and the pasta is not only yummy and healthy but easy to make. Pasta comes in different shapes- Spiral, Fusilli, Penne etc. You can use any one according to your child’s liking.
Dietician moms healthy twist- I use whole wheat pasta instead of regular pasta. It is easily available in stores and online. Also, I use homemade pasta sauce with some fresh tomatoes. All the healthy and fresh ingredients make this pasta a perfect dish for kid’s lunch box.
- 200 gm boiled pasta penne/Fusilli/Spaghetti
- ¼th tsp powdered black pepper
- 4 pureed tomatoes
- ½ teaspoon
- 1½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 cup Water to boil pasta
- Salt to taste
- Little mozzarella cheese to add in the tomato sauce
- 4 tsp tomato pasta sauce
- Veggies (Corns, carrots, mushrooms)
- As I suggested earlier, homemade pasta sauce is important to give a healthy twist to this yummy recipe. Make a homemade sauce and use it later whenever you are making pizza or pasta.
- First of all, take a pan, add water and bring it to boil. Add pasta to the boiling water. Add salt and oil in the water. Once it’s done, drain it out.
- To cook red sauce pasta, take another pan and add few drops of olive oil. Add tomato puree and cook for some time.
- Add homemade sauce along with some salt and pepper.
- You can add boiled or sautéed vegetables at this point in this sauce to get cooked in the sauce for some time.
- When veggies are cooked and the sauce gets little thick add grated cheese to the sauce.
- Cook for 5 more minutes and add some parsley,
oregano and chilli flakes once it’s cooked.
- Add boiled pasta to the veggies and sauce mixture. Mix it nicely and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add grated cheese and some fresh parsley on the top. Serve it or give it in the lunch box with homemade Garlic bread.
I found this pasta sauce recipe on Bhawnas channel. It si quite similar to how I make it. Try it at home as anything home made is always better than outside one.
In Nutrition niche, I not only share recipes with a healthy twist but also some tips as a dietitian mom. See previous week’s recipes-