Tag: nutrition
Healthy First Birthday Cake Recipe
If you’re like me you will be very conscious about what you feed your baby and the effect it can have on their health. Good nutrition is key to your baby’s development. Feeding your child a natural wholefood diet will set them up for life by providing the best foundation possible for their health and learning.
Baby’s first birthday or Christmas is an incredibly exciting time. The temptation to introduce artificially sweet foods may be high but these could lead to your baby developing a taste for sugar and can cause tooth decay.
Feeding your baby natural foods will ensure that no artificial sweeteners, colours, preservatives or additives are consumed, all of which have adverse health effects. You can celebrate baby’s special day with a healthy cake that is naturally sweet and contains no added sugar.
The main ingredients of this healthy first birthday cake or Christmas celebration cake are bananas and apples which are both sweet and good for baby. The fruit in this cake makes it really moist so it’s perfect for babies to eat.
Bananas are rich in potassium, a mineral that is necessary for normal growth, metabolising carbohydrates and promoting mental alertness by helping to deliver oxygen to the brain. Apples are very nutritious and provide a good source of vitamins A and B1 as well as being rich in pectin, a soluble fibre that helps to slow glucose absorption.
Healthy First Birthday Cake Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 large bananas
- 2 apples
- 2 tablespoons pure apple juice
- ¼ cup sunflower oil
- 2 free-range eggs
- 2 cups brown self-raising flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a cake tin or line with baking paper.
2. Wash and grate the apples (peel if desired).
3. Mash the banana in a bowl, add the grated apple with the apple juice and mix together.
4. Add the vegetable oil and stir into the mashed banana and apple.
5. Add the eggs and mix well.
6. Gently stir in the flour and cinnamon.
7. Bake at 180 C for 25 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.
8. Remove from the cake tin and leave to cool on a wire rack.
This cake is delicious on its own or it can be served with chopped fresh berries and drizzled with natural yoghurt.
Discovering and eating new healthy foods is also a great way to engage your baby in sensory play. Baby will love breaking this soft cake up in their fingers. There’s no doubt it will be smashed and squeezed before being eaten, it’s all part of the fun!
Lydia Oliver, Nutritional Advisor
This article was published in the December 2013 edition of Mummy and Me Magazine.
I offer one to one nutrition programmes for breastfeeding, post pregnancy weight loss, weaning advice, weight management and health. Contact me.
Pumpkin and Apple Muffins Recipe
Pumpkins will be out in force over the coming weeks as Halloween approaches. My family loves eating pumpkin. We find this versatile orange fleshed vegetable delicious in soups, pasta, rice, salads, baking and as a sweet roasted vegetable.
Pumpkin is highly nutritious and contains the antioxidant beta-carotene and vitamin C.
The sweet flavour of pumpkin is perfect when weaning your baby and pumpkin puree can be given to babies from the age of 6 months. Pumpkin was one of the first vegetables my baby tried and it has remained a firm favourite.
Now that the weather is cooler you might like to try a quick and easy recipe for Pumpkin and Apple Muffins. In this recipe the pumpkin, apple and raisins have a natural sweetness and the cinnamon provides a hint of warm spice to the muffins.
Makes 12 muffins.
Pumpkin and Apple Muffins
- 2 cups Self-Raising Flour
- 2 Eggs
- 1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 1 cup pureed Pumpkin (I used Butternut Squash)
- 1 grated Apple
- 1/3 cup Raisins
1. Peel and cut the pumpkin into cubes. Boil until the flesh is tender when pierced with a knife. Drain. Puree the pumpkin in a food processor, with a hand blender or by hand.
2. Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or line with paper muffin cases.
3. Wash and grate the apple.
4. Add the vegetable oil to the pureed pumpkin, grated apple and raisins. Stir through until just blended.
5. Add the eggs and mix well.
6. Gently stir in the cinnamon and flour.
7. Bake at 180 C for 20 to 25 minutes or until a cake skewer inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.
8. Leave the muffins to cool on a wire rack for a few minutes.
These Pumpkin and Apple muffins are great for the family to enjoy at breakfast time or as a tasty snack during the day.
Lydia Oliver – Nutritional Advisor Only Best For Baby
This article was published in the October 2013 edition of Mummy and Me Magazine.
I offer one to one nutrition programmes for breastfeeding, post pregnancy weight loss, weaning advice, weight management and health. Contact me.
Introducing Your Baby to Dairy
Nutritionally, babies need breastmilk or infant formula until they are one year old. From the age of six months full-fat cow’s milk can be used in cooking and with baby’s breakfast cereals and cow’s milk can be introduced as a main drink from the age of 12 months.
Dairy is an important part of your child’s diet providing essential nutrients such as calcium. When you start weaning your baby at around six months of age you can begin to slowly introduce a variety of foods.
Dairy can be given to baby from the age of six months in the form of cheese but avoid giving blue cheese or soft unpasteurised cheese, such as Camembert and Brie, until your baby is at least one year old. Blue cheese and unpasteurised cheese contain live bacteria which carries the risk of food poisoning.
Yoghurt is a good source of dairy for baby and can be given from the age of six months.
Allergies to Cow’s Milk
Some babies are allergic to cow’s milk so it is important when weaning your baby to introduce foods one at a time over a few days to check for any allergic reactions. You should seek urgent medical help if you think your baby is having an allergic reaction.
A food allergy is when the immune system reacts to a certain food protein resulting in a physical reaction which can occur immediately or within three days.
If your child has cow’s milk allergy the symptoms will start when cow’s milk is introduced into their diet. Symptoms of cow’s milk allergy could result in diarrhoea, vomiting, skin rashes, stomach cramps and difficulty breathing. In rare cases cow’s milk allergy can cause anaphylaxis.
Cow’s milk allergy is a common food allergy in children and most children who have this allergy grow out of it by the age of three, although it is estimated that 20 per cent of adults will continue to have cow’s milk allergy.
Alternatives
Aside from cow’s milk products there are many food sources that contain high levels of calcium. So if your child does have an allergy to dairy products you can still make sure your child’s diet is rich in calcium. Some good sources of calcium rich foods include sesame seeds, sardines canned in oil, spring greens, tofu, watercress and kale.
Lydia Oliver – Nutritional Advisor Only Best For Baby
This article was published in the September 2013 edition of Mummy and Me Magazine.
I offer one to one nutrition programmes for breastfeeding, post pregnancy weight loss, weaning, weight management and health. Contact me.