Child friendly dinners and lunches that are carb free

[ilovecookies123]

Hi everyone, my DD suffers with ongoing terrible constipation which is most probably down to her diet which is ridiculously carb heavy, we've been to the doctors and decided to pretty much try and go cold turkey, so no pasta or rice mainly, obviously we will have it here and there but I really need some help to think of some dinners without these that are child friendly and quickish although some nights I do have more time so they could take longer. Any help would be much appreciated!! Thanks!!

I'm also suprised at the carbs being offered as a reason for constipation.

Personally I would keep them but alternate white pasta and rice with brown.

Does she like vegetables? My DD likes ratatouille which is a very easy meal to make, very healthy and with plenty of fibre. We eat it with couscous or baked potato. As pp have said, make sure she gets potato skins. I also often do home made potato wedges roasted in the oven with skins on.

Another suggestion is home made tomato soup with some red lentils to thicken it up and provide fibre.

Probiotics would be a good idea. Look for one with at least 10 strains.
Add fermented foods to her diet. Live yoghurt, kefir, apple cider viniger, sauerkraut.
As others have said, go brown for carbs, a bit of brown rice rather than a whole plateful.

Yes I never meant all carbs s i mentioned in the original op it's just cutting right back on pasta and rice as she pretty much ignores everything else on the plate and so isn't getting enough of her other things

I really was just looking for some meal ideas that don't include these that would still be appealing to a small child

I would ditch anything with white flour in, and any type of bakery product (so no bread).

Brown rice/pasta.

Lots of fruit and veg. Not too many eggs or bananas. Plenty of water to drink.

Cauliflower rice is rank.

Spiralised veg are best stir-fried in a dry pan, with a little cooking spray.

She needs to be drinking lots of water too as well as cutting back on carbs

Another idea would be to add another vegetable into mashed potato. My DD loves mashed potato and carrot.

What about adding flax seeds into sauces etc. Very high fibre.

I think you should ask to be referred to a nutrionalist (sp?) You could also see if there are any cookbooks suggesting a diet for constipation. I don't think just cutting down on carbs is the answer. I agree that your doctor probably meant no white rice pasta and bread and substitute brown. But it's not very clear and you should ask for further advice.

My go-to month end quick batch cook food is vegetable chilli: you need to spend 10 mins cooking off the red chilli so it isn't too hot, then add garlic, onions, chopped peppers sweated off until soft, then tinned sweetcorn, mixed beans, lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans...basically whatever you have in the cupboard.
Cook together for 20 mins.
Serve in bowls with a spoon and a sprinkle of cheese; in wraps with loads of salad; with tortilla chips and a little sour cream. Towards the end of the week thin in with passata and a little stock, adjust seasoning, and enjoy a lovely soup.
I started maki9ng this when DD2 became very fussy with food and got stomach aches: it's spicy enough to be tasty but not enough to irritate her and absolutely loaded with fibre.

Sounds like the problem isn't cutting out carbs, but eating more fibre. Switch to whole grains, get lots of green vegetables in there, try dried fruit (raisins, apricots, etc) in a trail mix as snacks as they naturally relieve constipation. Cutting out dairy may help too.

Try offering crudités before meals so she eats veg when hungry. This worked brilliantly the other day with my children and their cousins.
Also if she likes rice try rainbow veg fried rice with as many different colours in as possible so she can't just eat the rice as the veg is diced up small and mixed in.

Also check carb portion sizes- it's easy for them to creep up. So include them but at child recommended amounts so she still wants other elements of the meal.

It's impossible to say what she should be eating without knowing what she's eating!

But if you say she has a carb-heavy diet, this would suggest that she's not eating enough vegetables or salad, to give her enough fibre.

When you ask for quick dinners, what do you mean? Do you mean that you can't be bothered to spend time cooking from scratch? It's all to easy to turn to carbs for a quick meal, but if you want to cut the carbs then you do need to focus on cooking and move away from the easy/obvious solutions

So - eggs for breakfast (boiled, poached or omelettes), some kind of meat/fish + salad/veg for lunch, and the equivalent for dinner. Don't forget that they need to be high fat, so lots of butter on your veg, and oily dressings on your salad.

My DH loves my cauliflower mash. Cook it, mash it, butter, salt and pepper. Job done. It doesnt sit as heavy on the stomach.

Can you spiralise veggies in place of pasta?

Always serve food mixed up, and add in as much extra veg as you can. So pasta is mixed in the veggie sauce, rice has peas and sweet corn mixed in, noodles are mixed in with the stir fry and spiralised veg. They might try to pick stuff out but a good amount will be eaten just through inertia.

Good high fibre meals -

Veggie (bean) burger with sweet potato wedges and veggies
Egg fried rice with huge amounts of veg stirred through (sweet corn, peas, peppers, onions, brocolli, green beans, courgette etc etc) use cauliflower rice if wanted.
Veggie soups with a small amount of bread on the side
Veggie chilli
Lentil bolognaise mixed with spiralised veg/pasta

My two often have carb free meals, not for any particular reason. Usually meat or fish and loads of different veggies, or a picnic style thing like cold meats, cheese, fruit and cheese. Or a big casserole with lots of meat and veg but without carbs i.e. Sometimes they have it without rice or potatoes.

We ditched white bread, pasta and rice and switched to wholemeal. Dc constipation improved as did getting him to drink loads of water.

We went back to sunday dinner style dinners. So meat, loads veg and 1 potatoe.

Also i give my kids veg sticks before dinner to up their veg.

Meat balls in a tomatoe sauce served with roast veg (if you haven't tried roast couliflour you should! Amazing!)
Chicken wrapped in bacon/ pancetta served with 'celeriac' chips (way lower carb than any potato)
We often do roast with pea/leek and cabbage stir fry and no potatos! (Sneak to odd Yorkshire pudding in)
Pork ribs, chicken kebabs, with sticks of veg or chunky salad.
I low carb regularly and enjoy it but please Ben careful - small kids needs carbs make sure they have some in moderation.

Did they not suggest laxido/movicol? It's a sachet which you mix with water and it helps the poo absorb more water making it softer and easier to pass.