>
> Date: Wed, 17 Sep 1997 11:11:24 -0700
> From: D T MacAULAY <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: too little fat
>
> My five year old daughter is asthmatic and allergic to milk,eggs and
> most nuts. A nutritionist told me that a child this age should be
> getting thirty percent of her calorie intake from fats. I am certain
> doesn't get close to this amount. So far she has hated every soy and
> rice beverage we've tried, however I do bake with them. I also add
> extra canola oil to my waffles and pancakes. I would appreciate any
> suggestions for healthy fat sources.
>
> Darlene
>
Darlene -
There's already been some good suggestions for your daughter - I think
all of us who are dealing with toddlers and food allergies worry about
this! I'm vegetarian, so I also try to get non-meat fat sources for
my daughter. I do give her chicken and fish (she doesn't care for beef, yet),
since she's allergic to most vegetarian protein sources.
My ideas for fat are:
1. olive oil on everything - pasta, potatoes, veggies.
2. Margarine (dairy-free) on things where olive oil doesn't work - graham
crackers, rice cakes, bread, rice (olive oil tastes too strong to work
with rice, IMO).
3. Bake all the traditional high-fat foods that we've been avoiding ourselves
for years. Look at an old zuchinni bread recipe, for example! I generally
use canola or safflower oil for these - and Alyssa loves mini muffins and
quick breads of all kinds. Good way to sneak in veggies, too.
4. Salmon is a favorite for Alyssa, and a high-fat & high protein fish.
5. Tofu - if you don't have soy allergy - Alyssa has just started eating this
again, she was borderline allergic for a couple of years,but seems to
tolerate it OK now.
The soy & rice milks we get here (in health-nut-city, Boulder Colorado) are all
low-fat, anyway, so they don't add much at all to her diet, except a bit of
protein, and doing the cereal thing with her friends.
This seems to be working well for Alyssa - she's almost 3, and still short for
her age, but her weight has been increasing regularly all summer. She's healthy
and growing, which is what counts. I honestly don't obsess about it near as
much as I used to!
Laurie
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