Help - Need to Find High Protein, Nutritious Foods for Son

I had that picky eater too. She's 10 now and finally her pants fit in the waist as well as the length!

A couple of my "go to" foods were/are Edemame and powdered protein. Both are quick and easy.

If you've never eaten Edemame, it is soy beans in the pod. You find them in the frozen vegetable section. It looks like a puffy fresh pea pods. You boil them for a few minutes and they are my pickiest eaters favorite vegetable. She'll clean up a whole pile!

You can find protein powdered usually in the health food section of the store. I would sneak it into smoothies, and into pancakes, and muffins and everything else I could think of. The biggest catch here is that protein powders do have a taste so you might have to try a few.

One more thought, I used to add wheat germ to oatmeal, on french toast, in muffins, pancakes, on top of vegetables... you get the idea.

Good luck!
-K.

First worry more about being healthy than his weight.
Have you tried the enriched or whole wheat pasta? It adds extra nutrients including fiber and protein.
Try mixing a protein powder of carnation instant breakfast into the smoothies. C. instant breakfast has protein and calcium, although it contains milk so that may not work with allergy.

My daughter loves to eat black beans...lots o' protein! I mix it with other veggies and even with mango...which she loves! Good luck.

just to let you know, i read in good health mag. to but pured black beans in brownie for liquid . and taste great and moist. check healthy web sites for protein subsatute.

First of all don't stress about his weight if you know he is eating something. As long as he is having bowel movements he is fine. Second- have you tried edamame? You can buy it in the frozen section, if you can't find fresh, in it's shelled form or out of the shell. It's a fun food for them to squirt out of the shell and it tastes good. If he likes peas then tell him it's another form of a pea and see what happens. My kids are both at the low end of the average growth chart and they are perfectly healthy. They are just small children. I'm sure he is fine. I just had to laugh when you said you were concerned because he's not even 30 lbs. My son didn't reach that until he was 3 and my daughter is only 22 lbs at 2. good luck!

We feed our son Quinoa, which is really easy to make (just like steamed rice) and then we mix it with some pureed fruit or jarred baby food. It is very high in protein and we noticed that our son slept better through the night when we started feeding it to him. You can also mix it with other food that he may like or you could mash it up if he doesn't like the consitency.

I would suggest that your son eats pretty good, even though he is skinny. Some kids are so active they burn off every thing they eat. My daughter at that age would eat an average adult size plate of food (amazing people who didn't know her) and she was still small in size and skinny as a bean pole. She was soooo active.

And compared to my son, who was on a white only diet, he's doing well.

The point being both kids grew up fine. My daughter is strong athletic outdoors woman, not skinny but just right.

My son now eats every thing--he is 6'2" and so fine. My goodness.

I never worried about what my kids ate. I put the food on the table and if they didn't eat it, no problem. There was no snack food in the house. And the next meal was on time. My son picked out the food he liked to eat and my daughter ate everything available.

I think that 30 lbs for a 2 year old is fine...my little guy is 32 lbs and is 21 months old, he is big for his age...so I dont think that he is abmnormal...it isnt healthy to compare him to your other kids either, he is his own unigue little person. He might just be slender...If he is losing weight or his growth is stunted, then I would be more concerned. My little guy is the same size as his 3 year old cousins, he isnt "fat", he is just a big kid. The same as I am not concerned that he is big, you shouldnt be concerned that your son is small...only wether or not he is growing.
That aside, my family eats a HIGH protein, LOW sugar diet. Its pretty easy to find high protein foods, you will be surprised once you start looking. Many health food stores have great selection. Look for protein bars and such... nuts are also a very good source of protein. www.carbessentials.net offers a wide arrey of low carb/high protein foods. I really urge you to consult your pediatrician first though, before you change his diet. Good luck!

My son was 30 pounds on his first birthday, and 32 pounds on his second. That is totally normal! When you look at him naked, he should look lean, just not with bones sticking out. Once toddlers start walking, they are more interested in playing than food, and are burning way more calories. I am sure you have nothing to worry about.
My son refuses to eat meat, so we also have a protein issue with him. Our solution is to load him up with dairy though since it is his favorite food anyway, but I see that won't work for you. Have you looked into soy? Soy milk has just as much protein as cow's milk, so I am thinking soy cheeses would too. Also, our son hates peanut butter, but loves peanuts, so we give him that for snacks. You have to watch him while he eats it since peanuts are easy to choke on, but we have never had a problem with it. If you are worried about introducing peanuts too soon because of the recommendation about keeping peanuts away from kids until they are 3, then talk to your pediatrician because new information has shown that waiting to introduce peanuts actually INCREASES their chance of being allergic to it.

I was so worried about making sure my son had enough protein and he ended up fine with that, just deficient in iron.

Good luck.

We've had great success with homemade baked goods, especially if we put them in muffin tins and call them cupcakes. I use the Deceptively Delicious and the Sneaky Chef cookbooks - they can be adapted to vegan recipes pretty easily. You can put all kinds of things in muffins and quickbreads - vegies, nuts, even soft tofu whipped like butter.

As an aside, my dd is 2 1/2 and still 28 lbs, but I wouldn't call her skinny...

30 lbs at 2 is perfectly normal. My daughter might hit 25 by 2, but her doctor isn't worried if she doesn't. We have had some protein issues in the past for her and her doctor recommended:
high protein tofu (trader joes has it for about $2)
trader joe's high protein/high fiber cheerios ($2.50?)
yogurt (soy is available)
cheese (soy is available)
eggs
lentils (Amy's vegan lentil or minestrone soup from costco)
beans (garbanzo, black, pinto, refried, kidney, etc.)
peanut butter (once she hit 1)

We also feed her soy chicken nuggets and soy sausage. She's vegetarian so we don't do animal meat. Before you worry about his weight and protein though, talk to his pediatrician. He's probably doing just fine as he is! :)

Don't worry about the weight. My 3.5 year old daughter just hit 30 lbs and my 5.5 year old son is only 35 lbs. dressed! The dr. will make sure they are growing appropriately.

First off, his weight seems normal to me. My son is 5 and weighs about 39lbs. He's not very tall, but that's still only a 9lb gain in 3 years! If your child is eating some healthy food I wouldn't worry about how much he'll eat. Some days my son will only eat breakfast and a tiny dinner and other days he'll eat and eat. Also, my son doesn't like many forms of meat and will often force himself to puke if I make him eat it. I figure that if he's eating fruits and veggies and grains (and not complaining about being hungry) than he's fine. Just keep offering your child lots of different options and he'll eat enough food for him.

I'm not a huge fan of this because I think children should eat what the adults eat.. However, you can try organic chicken nuggets, fish sticks, natural hot dogs, natural lunch meat, etc. My son will always eat these forms of protien. He also loves tofu and will eat it in most forms. Whole wheat bagels are also high in protien.

Good luck!

Just so you know, 30 pounds is a pretty good size for a two year old! My boys are 21 months, and one is 27 pounds and is a big boy. The other is barely 22 pounds, and very skinny. Neither of my boys like meat, but they do like cheese and dairy. So that is what they get most of their protein from. Maybe soy cheese as well as soy milk for your little guy? Does he like tofu or some of the fake meat products out there?

Hi D.,
Personlly I don't think your son is underweight, but I know mine is and I am constantly finding ways to increase his intake in a nutritionally positive way. I think you should think about fat, not just protein, especially if he can't have dairy. Certain fats are crucial for building neuronal networks that are multiplying very rapidly at this age. Fats also benefit the metabolism, cos if we are starved of them, we start burning muscle instead. Great if you are retiring, but not so good at the beginning of life when we want to build mass to support us. I have read that it is detrimental to limit the saturated fat of a youngster, instead you should get them to eat more. I would suggest using as much coconut oil and coconut milk in your cooking as you can. The coconut provides great fats for dairy free folks. I also add nut butters & ground flax seed (protein and fats) to anything I can get away with.
One other thing, and this may not work for your son, but it does for mine, is that he is allergic to pastuerised milk, but is not at all allergic to raw milk that has not been treated. The thing is you have to connect with a farm and get it straight from the udder. I drive out to Sandy twice a month and I pick up milk, and freeze half of it. It doesn't stay fresh for long if it isn't pasteurized but freezing it works. This is most certainly the best way I have found to get him to "eat something" consistently. It doesn't matter or make a difference in how much dinner he does or doesn't eat, he always drinks his milk. In my experience raw milk is positive nutrition. It only adds goodness. Pateurized milk is an altered form that is devoid of the goodness and the assistance the body requires to digest it. It more often causes symptoms or weight gain cos it contains nothing of what nature intended you to help with digestion. All this was destroyed during pasteurization.
I can't say that your son with as you put it, a big intolerance to dairy, would be ok on raw milk, but for my son it was a godsend.
Helen

Some meals with eggs that my son enjoys and hopefully yours will too:

Get some noodles and mix them in egg batter, add spinach or scrape some zucchini then fry like a pancake in a bit of butter, olive oil or with some Pam.

I also prepare pancakes with a multigrain mix I buy at Trader Joes. Add extra eggs, and the veggies he likes. Again Spinach and Zuchinni or carrot turn out well.

Good luck!

Try some of the non-dairy cheeses (in the health food section of Freddies, Trader Joes or New Seasons) and add that to the scrambled eggs, or just cut up as a snack. My daughter won't touch plain eggs but loves a "cheesy egg". Also, Trader Joes has turkey meatballs that are super easy to heat up and almost every baby I know loves them. You can try adding just a little tomato sauce (we use a squeeze bottle of pizza sauce) for more flavor. They also have beef meatballs and other easy to heat flavored meat options.

Hi D.

I have the same problem with my oldest son. He hit 20 pounds at the age of 2 and now he's 5 and is only 36 pounds!!! I feed him fatty stuff, healthy stuff, carb stuff, veggies, fruits, fish, poultry, beef, pork etc. and I still can't get the little dude to gain weight. The big thing is that he has always been small and he is consistently on the same "curve". So, as far as I can tell, I just have to get used to the idea of having a little man because nothing else seems to work. Good luck!

Have you tried beans...refried beans, red beans, chili, etc. Both my kids love to eat beans and chili. Sounds like your son is eating a pretty varied diet. You should be happy with what he eats because I'm guessing as he gets older, he'll get more finicky....that's what mine have done. My four year old son used to eat all veggies but now will pretty much only eat carrots. Give beans a try. I just give them plain and the kids gobble them up.

Try canned beans. They are quick and if you wash them the sodium goes way down. Add a little rice and you have a complete protien. My daughter loves them.

If he loves pasta, why not run with that?

Easiest: you can add the meats he likes into the pasta. One of my son's absolute favorties is Penne Alfredo with chicken and broccoli.

If he's a red sauce fanatic, not only is sausage (chicken, pork, whathaveyou) one of the BEST things to pair it with (ahem, so is shrimp! We buy bags of frozen shrimp and then just grab a few out at a time as we need them), try some other things that use red sauce; like Chicken Parmesan (sans cheese), Eggplant Parmesan (sans cheese).

Another one would be pasta carbonarra (essentially bacon and egg pasta). There are tons and tons and tons of pasta recipes. You can even substitute some soy products for the cheese if you want to.

One of my favorite Italian Chefs, who has GREAT recipes, is Mario Batali. ( http://www.mariobatali.com/ )For recipes either buy a book or check one out from the library, or go to www.foodtv.com

On the eggs...frittatas and quiches are big in our house. While my son likes quiches better taste wise (and because he get's to put in the ingredients he likes best into "his" dish before I pour the egg over), he like to eat frittatas more, because we cut them like a pizza and eat them the same way.

A sneakier way: you can add anchovy paste to the pasta sauce as it's cooking, or you can sprinkle in some protein powder. Just be careful...many protein powders contain dairy.

i'm interested in this one too! i'm always searching for yummy protein foods. my daughter loves edamame beans. whenever i know she needs a quick boost for her blood sugar, i boil some edamame beans and she eats them right up. i will also buy a naturally roasted chicken and she digs right in. i leave the chicken for her to snack on throughout the day. she will eat a varied of foods so we are fortunate. good luck. also, as long as your boy is growing according to his own mile markers he will be fine. my girl is tall and lean. take care, C..

How about edamame (soy beans)? Tons of healthy protein, and easy to introduce if your son already likes little green things like peas. You can buy them either in in the pod or already shelled in the freezer section. When we get them them in the pod we call them "popping beans" because you can sort of pop the bean into your mouth. My son loves this! I toss the shelled ones into anything, especially pasta dishes.

You can use eggs in lots of forms, like as a coating before breading food.

Hi,
My oldest was always in the 95 percentile for weight and height.. she is 6years old now.. On the other hand my 3 and a half year old daughter is skinny!! so weird for me b/c he sister was opposite.. she is 31 lbs so 40 perecent weight 75 height.. she eats too just so different from her sister :) maybe ask the dr.. if a whey protein powder like choclate in his soy milk is o.k. ? Some have up to 30 grams per scoop!! My kids like the boxed choclate milk at costco the supplemt kind that has 30 grams of protein. Can he eat the Dream Fields wheat pasta that has good protein in it? my kids love that pasta I think it has 8 grams protein per serving.. they sell it at places like Fred Myer.
Best of luck,
Lenc

Hi D.-

My 16 month old son loves hummus. He eates it with whole wheat bread or whole wheat crackers. We also cook a lot of beans in soups. Someone else mentioned it, but eggs are a great source of protein also. My guy doesn't really like scrambled eggs, but he loves frittatas and quiches.

Good luck!

Hi D.,

My son is 20 months and he has been healthy throughout till date (touchwood :-)).I make sure he gets good serving of greens,veggies and protien every meal.With regards to protein you mentioned no cheese or anything right? I have a very good option for you.Sometimes my son gets bored with the same chicken or fish.I bought a soy protein based product called "Nutrela". Its a soy granules with very high protein of 55gms per serving.I am not sure if you can find them in safeway or fred Mayers stores.You will find that in the Asian market especially Indian stores for sure.
I usually boil these granules in water with a pinch of salt and drain them well with absolutely no water content.Mix this with ground chicken and some mashed potatoes and you can add your own spice powders and shape it to small 1 inch patties.Shallow fry then with little oil.Thats it...its Done!! I like the taste so much I prepare them for myslef sometime.I am sure he will love the taste and its very high protien too.
Hope this can be a good option for your son!!Good Luck

My nephew has an eating problem (5 years old) and a recent hit is Quinoa (Keenwah) cooked with rice. You just through them together and cook them the same as you do plain rice. Quinoa has a very high protein content. In my family, we do baked brown rice, half and half with quinoa. I usually put a little butter and fresh parmesean in it. It's quite popular.

Also, you should try green smoothies. Put about 1 Cup of fresh spinach, 1/2 an avovado, a little pineapple and some banana in the blender and puree. You will probably want to add a little water to thin it out. If you have a good blender, you can also throw carrots and unpeeled apples in there. My kids loved it when I started giving smoothies to them. The banana gives plenty of sweet, so resist adding sugar or anything like that. Perhaps there is a protein powder that your doctor would suggest adding to it if your son likes the smoothies?

My nephew was also put on PediaSure when he was a toddler. Those helped a lot. He suddenly had sufficient nutrition and sprouted tons of hair.

Good luck! Let me know if you want more info.

Hi D. - I am a vegetarian and rely heavily on non-meat protein items. I use Morningstar products found in the freezer section with the veggies. Kids seem to like corndogs, chicken nuggets, and veggie crumbles, they are a great way to get kids to eat protein. Another way is Ovaltien (spelling??) but I don't know if there is a non-dairy version of this. I use a lot of whey as well making smoothies with fruit, non-dairy yogurt, whey protien powder and water. You can put Whey powder on pasta if all else fails. There is also a rice like product found at Haggens in the bulk food section. It cooks like rice but it is actually a grain protein. It is pretty good for those that like starchy food. Ask some one at Haggens, sorry I don't know the name of it. - A.

Kids love salmon. Try that in his pasta. You can also blend in spinach in his smoothies or pasta dishes. I can get my daughter to each a spinach lasagna any day because she loves pasta!

Also beans and rice served together make a complete protein. He is fine weight wise if he is growing steady for him and he is meeting all his markers for development. If your ped isn't worried, you're okay. Some kids are more petite than others. My daughter is 2-1/2 and weighs 30 lbs. She is strong and healthy and at or above all her markers. She eats super well, so I don't worry about the weight at all.

Canned beans. You can get organic of most varieties. Try pureeing butter beans with a little olive oil, it is super creamy and delicious. You can make "mac 'n cheese" using that and then sprinkle bread crumbs and bake. Garbanzo and any type of white bean work for this too. If you make it really thick you can make "quesadillas" out of it too. If you add a little squash puree or sweet potato or yam puree to this it will make it a more appealing colour.
You could see if he will try quinoa, it is extremely high in protein. It looks like little balls so maybe you could come up with a fun appealing name for it.
Nut butters are great too, like cashew butter or almond butter.
You can add flax seed meal to the smoothies again super high in protein.
One thing to remember is that kids that age often don't eat. Its there way of having some control. They will not let themselves starve. The charts are just guidelines. My little girl is 3 and she is super tall and skinny and has been the whole time. My Dr is not concerned. So I guess what I'm saying is try not to worry yourself sick about it. Things have a way of working out.
I have quite a few other recipes and ideas so if you have questions you can email me directly.

Good luck

Find a NAET specialist in your area to get rid of his allergies naturally. Then he can eat all those foods again. It's safe, simple, no shots, not expensive. Got rid of all my kids allergies and my husband got rid of his life-long allergy to cats.

Use whole wheat pasta instead of enriched pasta, and that will give him some more protein. Also, try adding some soft tofu to his smoothies. My daughter didn't weigh 30 lbs until she was three! Some kids just crave different foods. She is constantly on the move and craves carbs. Her main protein sources are egss, cheese, whole grains, and beans. She likes quesadillas made with cheese and black beans. Yum!

Ii just started using coconut flour. It's high protien and fiber. You could add it in when making muffins or pancakes to sneak a little protein in with out anyone knowing. Bob's red Mill makes it I got it at Fred Meyer, but when you start looking on the internet there are other places and a good deal of recipes too.

DeAnmy son was like this what I did was put mash potatos & gravey in a blender with peas carrots & other veggies he loved it you can try differnt stuff & see how it tast if you like it I'am sure he will but tou have to try it in front of him & say something like mmm this is so goood you want some just try it "it worked for me it may work for you good luck Mom & now Grandma of 9 J. P.S let me know if it worked thanks J.

Try beans and tofu...

My kids love refried beans and peanut butter. PB&J, peanut butter and honey is also a good combination. I don't know if your little guy can have cheese, but my kids also like bean and cheese burritos and quesadillas with refried beans inside.

Hi D.,
It sounds like your guy is actually a pretty good eater. However, if you are concerned about his protein intake, and he's a little carb junkie (like mine), you can cook his pasta, rice, couscous, etc. in chicken broth. I buy organic, free-ranging, low sodium chicken broth at Trader Joes for a reasonable price and cook with it all the time. Good Luck.

What kind of pasta do you eat? My family is not entirely impressed with whole wheat pasta, (although they will tolerate it in spaghetti, since the pasta is so thin,) but otherwise I use brown rice pasta that I buy at Trader Joe's. It contains more fiber and nutrition than white pasta, but has more the consistency of white pasta.
My other suggestion is that perhaps you could sneak a veggie or two into his smoothie...? I have a juicer, and if he drinks juice pretty well, that might be a good option too. There are a lot of options with fruit and vegetable combinations. Jicama juices up well and tastes pretty neutral, and carrots and parsnips add a touch of sweetness, too. Eggplant also juices up well and tastes neutral. Sweet potatoes are sweet and delicious, especially mixed with oranges and carrots and a touch of ginger. I don't know how well these items would transfer over into a smoothie recipe, but it might be worth a shot! My oldest daughter was like that, and she is still slender at 15, but has always been healthy. I know the Dr.s raise an eyebrow when they see such a slim child, but some children are more inclined that direction than others, while the rest of us spend our lives trying to get there! LOL! Blessings to you and yours! :)

Sounds like he's eating pretty well really, except for the pasta. I think it's a good thing that he's allergic to dairy - dairy products are really bad for humans anyway, so he will avoid a lot of health problems for his whole life by not consuming dairy products now. And good for him that he doesn't like meat - meat is also not good for people (not to mention the cows and the environment). There are many good sources of plant protein (which are actually much better for you than meat protein). Nuts and seeds of all kinds are excellent sources of protein, which you could soak and blend into spreads or butters or smoothies or nut milks. And almost all foods have some protein. Most people in our society eat way too much protein anyway, especially animal protein. It is a myth that we need to eat a lot of protein. It sounds like he's probably fine, weight wise. All children are different (and your others may have been, like most kids in this culture, a bit overweight - and the charts are based on overweight children). I would, as others have suggested, make sure you use whole-grain pastas, and even those I would limit. White flour products lead to many health problems, and they are very addicting. It would be better to use a variety of whole grains, like quinoa, millet, rice, barley. And home-grown sprouts, like mung, lentil, alfalfa etc. PS. I've been a raw vegan for 8 years now, vegan for 15, vegetarian for 30, and my kids, now grown, were raised vegetarian and now raise their kids vegan. We are all very healthy!

My son is also very thin. I found that trying to get him to eat things he doesn't like is useless, so just "doctor up" the things he does like.

Use protein powder and soy milk when you make his smoothies. Use corn or brown rice pasta (Trader Joes has them) and make mac 'n cheese. Tiger Milk Bars taste like candy bars and are high in nutrients and protein. Soy yogurt is great, too. Feed him often, but don't expect him to eat much at one meal.