High Energy Eating for Children

A high energy (calorie or kilojoule) diet may be recommended by a health professional to improve your child's health, growth or medical condition. To increase your child's energy intake, try the following:

1. Encourage your child to eat a wide variety of foods:

Offering your child a variety of foods (as meals or snacks) regularly over the day will allow your child to get not only energy but also plenty of nutrients (protein, carbohydrate, fat, vitamins and minerals) that are important for normal growth and good health. Including a variety of foods from all the food groups is the basis of a balanced diet. Offer foods from each of these groups every day.

Breads and Cereals - bread (all types including rolls and flat breads), breakfast cereals, rice, pastas, couscous and biscuits (plain, sweet and savoury). Aim for a variety of these each day (4+ serves/day, include at least 2 bread serves and 2 serves from cereals/rice/pasta).

Fruit - fresh, frozen, dried or canned fruits. Aim for 1-2 different fruits/day

Vegetables - fresh, frozen, or canned. Aim to offer 5 different vegetables over the day (try to offer vegetables of different colours).

Meat and meat alternatives - meat (beef, lamb, pork), fish, chicken, eggs, nuts and legumes. Aim to include one serve at lunch and dinner.

Milk and milk products - milk, cheese, yoghurt, custard and ice cream (or calcium fortified soy alternatives). Aim to offer 3 serves/day.

Fats - These include butter, margarine, cream and oil. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated vegetable oils & spreads (and foods cooked with these fats) are best. Use a combination of these in preference to animal fats such as butter and cream. See "a note about fat" for more details.

2. Add "Energy boosters" to your child's food and drinks:

The following suggestions will help to increase the energy (calories /kilojoules) in the foods and drinks your child is eating. These energy boosters are usually fats or sugars. Try to add them as you are serving the food. Other members of the family may not need the extra energy.

Margarine - melt over vegetables, rice and pasta, add to mash potato, melt into puree/mashed foods, spread thickly on bread, toast and crackers or plain biscuits.

Oil - use oil based dressings on salads, fry meats and vegetables where possible or add extra oil into the cooking such as soups or casseroles. Mix into pasta or rice based meals. Can also use as a dip for bread.

Cream - use as an extra to add to fruit salad, yoghurt or jelly. Add cream (or milk powder) to thicken soups, casseroles or curry type meals, and to mashed vegetables. Cream (or milk powder) can also be added to milk to use on breakfast cereals or as a high energy milk drink.

Milk - use full cream milk in cooking such as mashed potato or mixed into soups, home made custards, cakes & desserts.

Milk powder - can be added to milk drinks and in cooking (as above) to boost both energy and protein. Use approx 2-3 Tbsp per 1 cup (250mls) of food/milk.

Sour cream can be added to savoury dishes eg: casseroles/stroganoff, onto vegetables eg: potato or made into a dip.

Avocado - add to salads, sandwiches, wraps and crackers, or serve as cubes or make into a dip (guacamole)

Dips - eg: hommous, tzatziki, guacamole, French onion dip (not low fat varieties). Serve with crackers or chopped vegies or use on sandwiches, wraps or vegetables.

Sugar, honey or jam (includes sugary syrups/flavours) - add to fruit, desserts and cereals. Spread on bread, dry and sweet biscuits. Stir into hot milk drinks eg.Milo, Nesquik

Mayonnaise - Use on salad sandwiches, mix with tuna or egg to use on dry biscuits or in sandwiches. Use as a salad dressing or serve with chicken, fishcakes or fish fingers Tartare sauce and fish cocktail sauce are also good with fish (kids love to use as a dip).

Cheese - Add grated cheese to soups, pasta, casseroles, mashed potato, egg dishes, tinned spaghetti or baked beans or sprinkle onto hot vegetables. Serve with crackers/biscuits. Serve in a variety of ways such as cubes, slices, grated.

Cream cheese, peanut butter and other nut butters - high energy toppings good to add to bread, toast, crackers or plain biscuits. Cream cheese can also be used as a dip.

Plain yoghurt - good as a dip with crackers, add as a topping to potato or fruits or to savoury meals such as a curry or into a salad dressing. Look for brands with a high fat content of 4g or more per 100g.

Eggs - can be used in custards, slices, cakes or as a meal eg scrambled, fried, omelette, frittata, quiche. Also great for dipping toast into as a second course at breakfast.

Carbohydrate supplement (such as Polyjoule®, Polycose®, Carb-plus). Ask for information from your dietitian about using in foods and drinks. Glucodin (from supermarkets) is sweet and can be added to drinks or desserts.

Ice cream, frozen yoghurt - use full fat varieties as toppings for desserts, add to milkshakes or fruit smoothies or eat as a snack.

Nuts and seeds - use in cooking ie; baked cakes & slices, add to desserts eg; banana split topped with crushed nuts or eat as a snack (whole nuts are not recommended for children under 5 yrs for risk of choking). As well as spreading on bread and toast, peanut butter is good to use as a satay sauce with meat or vegetables.

Sugary drinks - if your child is eating a good variety of foods then getting extra energy from sugary drinks between meals can be a good alternative to milk (as long as they are still getting their recommended daily intake of dairy) and water. These include fruit juices & cordials. Soft drinks can be given occasionally and should be caffeine free. Ensuring good dental hygiene with regular brushing is important to avoid dental caries.

3. Building high energy ideas into your child's day:

Breakfast: Weet-bix with sultanas and full cream high energy milk or rolled oats made with high energy milk with a dash of cream. Toast topped with plenty of margarine and peanut butter. Other ideas include a boiled egg with toast and margarine or tin baked beans with grated cheese.

Morning Tea: 2 savoury biscuits with margarine and a slice of cheese or homemade cream cheese dip with rice crackers and celery/carrot sticks, small glass of full fat milk

Lunch: Be adventurous with fillings for sandwiches! Ideas include:

• Egg, mayonnaise and some salad vegies on the side.
• Avocado, ham and grated cheese.
• Pate - high in energy and iron.
• Use plenty of margarine/butter.
• Different varieties of breads. Choose from wholegrain/ wholemeal bread, white bread, ryebread, pita, kibble, wheat bread / lebanese bread, damper, foccacia, muffins, crumpets, croissants, bread rolls, bread sticks and bagels.
• Jaffles or toasted sandwiches make a change.
• Offering other things on the side of the sandwich such as pieces of meat, chopped vegies, grated cheese.

Other lunch ideas include pasta with chopped deli meat, vegies with grated cheese, leftovers from the night before (meat/vegies/pasta/rice) or fried rice made with boiled egg/ham (fried in oil).

Afternoon Tea: small tub full fat yoghurt with apple slices or raisin toast with margarine and chopped fruit, small cup full fat milk

Dinner: chopped chicken stroganoff made with sour cream, served with pasta mixed with small amount of olive oil and cob of corn, carrots and broccoli. Melt margarine into vegies and onto corn cob. Offer custard (cooked with full fat milk and an egg) with banana chunks for dessert.

Or meat and vegetable pieces fried with olive oil and added to noodles as a stir fry. Extra oil or margarine can be mixed through stir fry before serving. Small bowl of tin peaches with ice cream

High energy drink ideas:

If your child is having trouble eating, offer them some high energy drinks. High energy milk based drinks are a good meal alternative when your child does not feel like eating. They give lots of energy and protein. These drinks are very filling so are best given at bedtime or as a mid meal snack. Try serving the drink in a fun cup or use a special straw. Here are some suggestions.

• Use full cream dairy products.
• For high protein milk mix 2-3 tablespoons of skim milk powder into 1 cup milk
• For high energy milk mix 1 scoop (or 2-3 tsp) carbohydrate supplement to 1 cup milk
• Add flavourings such as Milo, vanilla essence, strawberry flavouring (or other flavours) for variety.
• Make a smoothie with addition of yoghurt, fruit and honey eg: banana/vanilla yoghurt & honey.
• Add ice cream or cream.

A note about FAT

Not all fats are the same. There are 4 types of fat that you have probably heard about: Saturated, Monounsaturated, Polyunsaturated and Trans fats. Encourage your child to have a mixture of fats that are found in foods such as dairy products & meats. When adding extra fat to their foods use "healthy" fats as these are better for your child's long term health and heart health and will provide a better balance of fat for your child.

• Use these suggestions to add energy boosters to a wide variety of foods.
• It is important to monitor your child's growth and medical progress when making changes to their diet.
• These suggestions will not be needed once your child is eating well and gaining weight.
• Different children have different needs. Only use these suggestions for children who are not growing well.