Tips for Toddlers Eating Healthy:
Toddler Allergies & Healthy Meals for Kids

Here's tips and reasons for getting toddlers eating healthy, without toddler allergies.

Here's help for making healthy meals for kids with kids snack ideas. Why?

Researchers have been shocked to find how early bad eating habits start!

  • For example, a U.S. study of more than 3,000 kids younger than age 2 found that many babies and toddlers already preferred eating hot dogs, French fries, cookies, candy, and soda to eating healthy kids snacks.

This study, published in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, also found that kids aged 1 to 2 already get 30 percent more calories than they need!

They also found toddlers eating too much salty foods and that more than 60 percent of 12-month-olds have non healthy sweets at least once a day.

Fruit and vegetable intakes do NOT meet recommendations for most.

So, you have to go against the tide to get your toddler eating healthy!

But if you do, you will be rewarded with a happy child that has fewer behavior and medical problems!

Here's help for getting started with healthy meals for kids and healthy kids snacks:

Toddler Allergies: When Can Toddlers Eat Shrimp?

Here's how to avoid allergies:

How can you prevent toddler allergies?

First of all, the LONGER you breast feed the LESS chance your child has of developing food ALLERGIES or allergic diseases such as ECZEMA and ASTHMA.

  • Then, by TWELVE MONTHS of age, your child's intestines are mature enough to screen out most of the food allergens.

When you do start solids, introduce the least allergic (lowest protein) foods first, such as fruits, vegetables, and brown rice. Make citrus fruits the last fruits you introduce.

  • The advice on preventing toddler allergies is changing.

Experts have in the past said to WAIT until at least EIGHTEEN MONTHS before introducing potentially-allergic foods, such as EGG WHITES, TOMATOES, SHELLFISH such as SHRIMP, and PEANUT BUTTER, to prevent the dreaded peanut butter allergy. 

  • BUT there is NEW research that suggests that EXPOSING toddlers earlier is better!

For instance, peanut allergies are very LOW in Israel where people eat lots of peanuts, and they start eating them at an early age.

If you want to prevent a peanut butter allergy, you can begin testing toddlers early to see what they can tolerate. You can introduce these foods after SIX MONTHS, but watch for a reaction.

  • Best is to continue breast feeding along with solids -- for your baby's best immunity -- and not to introduce cow's milk products until at least one year of age.

Goat milk is more like human milk if allergies are a worry.

Meal Plans for Toddlers Eating Healthy

Here's ideas for a your family and toddlers eating healthy:

It will be YOUR ENTHUSIASM for great tasting nutritious food that will rub off to influence them!

Toddlers eating healthy should be served the same foods as the whole family, with a variety of textures and flavors for balanced nutrition.

  • For the first food, unsweetened APPLE SAUCE can be a staple, along with BROWN RICE CEREAL.

Tips for healthy FIRST FOODS when still breast feeding -- and making them easy to eat:

  • Get an easy to use Baby Food Mill so that your toddler can eat the FOOD YOU EAT at every meal at your table.

You can use it at home and in restaurants – super easy for toddlers eating healthy.

You will NOT NEED to have ONE JAR OF BABY FOOD EVER and ensure your toddler eating healthy!!

Healthy Kids Snacks for Toddlers:

  • PREPARE FOR SNACKS -- have a bag of unsweetened whole RICE PUFFS handy and make carrot and celery sticks for the day.
  • Cut up pieces of APPLE, strips of CUCUMBER to suck on or avocado, along with yogurt.
  • Chewing on a WHOLE APPLE can keep a baby happy when they have only two teeth.
  • RAW and CHEWY is best -- carrot sticks, big pieces of broccoli, cucumber strips -- to get used to a VARIETY OF TASTES!
  • Once chewing, make “FINGER TOAST” with soft EGG yolks or ALMOND BUTTER – open a can of BEANS -- make a list of your best options so you are not caught off guard by a cranky toddler.

Healthy Meal Ideas for Kids

  • Get creative: SNEAK VEGGIES into pasta sauce and soups. Be inventive.

If your child refuses plain steamed vegetables, present these foods in ‘hidden’ ways, such as mashed or minced in casseroles or soups.

  • For example, mash carrots with potatoes and add some steamed chopped greens. Flavor with butter and milk.
  • Add grated zuchini and mashed lentils to tomato sauce for pasta

YUMMY BROCCOLI: Veggies are more tasty when stir fried or raw, so make sure they don't reject something because they have only tasted a soggy lack-lustre version of some veggie.

  • Make OATMEAL cereal from non-instant rolled oats (best organic) and add raisins, pieces of dried apricots, apples or other fruits to sweeten without sugar.

Experiment by adding fruits, sprinkling on chopped almonds or sunflower seeds (ground in a coffee grinder.) Try new combinations until you have a family favorite for your toddler eating healthy!

  • Make brown RICE or PASTA with LENTILS for any meal of the day.

Saute or fry an onion in olive oil and add small pieces of chopped greens such as spinach, chard, kale, bok choy and add red peppers and mushrooms.

Mix with the rice or pasta and flavor with soya, tamari or oyster sauce.

  • Make a POT OF LENTILS or KIDNEY BEANS and add onion, celery, carrots and greens and serve with brown rice and grated cheese.

Plan ahead and and use packaged dried beans or lentils.

Beans need soaking but lentils cook in a half hour. Use small orange lentils if in a hurry – they cook faster.

Add BARLEY when cooking a big pot of soup for healthy meals for kids! They will like it.

Healthy Recipes for Kids: Oven Yam Fries

Try these oven yam fries with healthy meals for kids or healthy kids snacks:

Super nutritious, try making oven yam fries in 2 batches.

One for your toddler and one for the rest of the family with spices. Or add herbs to all when your toddler gets more adventurous.

• 2 medium yams

• 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil

• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped pumpkin seeds

For the rest of the family, you can add:

• 1 clove crushed garlic

• 1 teaspoon oregano

• 1 teaspoon basil

• salt, paprika or chile to taste

Cut yams into wedges or chunks and divide in 2 sections. In a bowl combine the olive oil and chopped pumpkin seeds, add the yams and mix by hand.

Take out enough yams for your toddler, and spread on a baking tray lightly oiled with coconut oil.

  • Add the herbs and garlic to the remaining yams in the bowl and combine, mixing with your hands making sure all pieces are covered with the mixture.

Spread the yams on a baking dish and bake for about 35 minutes at 350 degrees. If you like them crisper, add 10 minutes.

  • Here's a suggestions for the whole family:

Slightly steam broccoli, add either roasted chicken breasts or cooked lentils to make a family meal, and everyone will enjoy your toddlers eating healthy menu.

Get more ideas for kids eating healthy:

Tips for Healthy Meals for Kids & Toddlers Eating Healthy

DRINK only WATER or MILK after one year. Children should drink full cream milk at least until age 2 because the fat helps the absorption of other nutrients.

  • Avoid fruit juice and sweet drinks. For sweets use whole fruit. Fruits and berries can be blended or mashed into yogurt or milk. Add a banana for extra sweetness.
  • SPRINKLE EXTRA NUTRITION on cereals and soups: EXPERIMENT with using wheat germ, ground flax seeds, (use coffee grinder) brewer’s yeast for iron and vitamin B, (health food stores) and sesame seeds etc. Have jars handy on your counter for quick use.
  • GET PRO-BIOTIC. Good bacteria are a must for disease prevention and a good immune defense.

Make sure you use "bio-active" YOGURT or make your own KEFIR (get a starter at the health food store) to ensure toddlers eating healthy.

Young children who are exposed to moulds and dirt have build up immunity and are healthier later in life than those in a very clean environment!

  • Get OMEGA 3 fats needed for brain development, especially if not breast feeding any more. Use egg yolks and poach fish in a fry pan with a bit of water and mix small pieces with stir fried broccoli or cauliflower. Supplement with cod liver oil and vitamin D in the winter.
  • SPRINKLE CHOPPED SEEDS or NUTS such as walnuts or almonds on apple sauce, yogurt, or dip apple slices or pieces of banana in sesame seeds, or chopped sunflower or pumpkin seeds.
  • FAST & GOOD: Eat soft boiled egg yolk and make “finger toast” for dipping. Get toddlers eating healthy with pieces of avocado, kiwi, banana, apple, cooked beans or whole puffed rice.
  • ADD SPICES and HERBS: Introduce turmeric, the yellow in curries, which is not very spicy, for flavor. Some young children love chili, so experiment.

Add GARLIC and MIXED HERBS to SOUPS and sprinkle OREGANO or BASIL on SALADS, adding cucumber, kidney beans, white beans or garbanzo beans for variety.

  • BE A PURE PARENT: During the early years, make your child's diet as fresh and as additive-free as possible.

It's not always easy to get toddlers eating healthy!

But the fewer cans, boxes, and packages you open, the less likely your child is to be exposed to allergens.

  • Be especially vigilant to keep FOOD COLORINGS out of your child's tummy, namely YELLOW DYE #5 and RED and BLUE dyes.

Get creative with fresh veggies and fruit! You will need a plan, but you will be able to get your toddlers eating healthy!

Symptoms of Autism in Toddlers?

Toddlers will have a stronger immune if you give them pro-biotic supplements, especially if you see signs of autism in toddlers you know.

Many parents worry about having a child with Autism spectrum disorder, and research is now showing gut bacteria to play a role. How?

Antibiotics kill both the good and the bad bugs in the gut and destroy the balance of bacteria needed for health. Healthy bacteria, or pro-biotics keep the balance needed for health. Here's what happens when that balance is lost:

It has been shown that when certain strains of gut bacteria "get out of hand," or take control, they produce the "neuro-toxins" that cause the symptoms of autism in toddlers and older kids.

Early signs of autism in toddlers are usually social. If your child avoids looking at you, or is not interested in looking at faces, smile back at you, express joy at interacting, cry when not happy or gurgle when happy, you might suspect autism.

  • You will want autistic toddlers eating healthy by adding kid safe immune supplements. Especially, add pro-biotics to their diet.

YOU MAY ASK US:

  • For safe supplements to lessen symptoms of autism in toddlers you know, as early as possible.

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Preventing Toddler Allergies

Hope you have found these tips for your toddlers eating healthy to be helpful!

  • Best to prevent toddler allergies with breast feeding and introducing foods known to cause a food allergy after six months. This includes peanuts and testing for a peanut butter allergy. 
  • Child allergy treatment is changing, and you can rest assured that there is a successful peanut allergy treatment.  Living in fear because of a peanut butter allergy may soon be a thing of the past!

Also see these for healthy kids snacks for healthy kids without food allergies:


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