Low Sodium Cold / Prepared Meat

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  aoeueoa on 04/02/2021 - 07:03

  Morse, respectfully it seems there is much you don't know about nutrition and you need to do an abundant more research, perhaps consulting a pediatrician if you want the proper qualified answer. But as a lay person who is nutrition conscious/aware/has read a lot, I'll point out some problems with your mentality currently.
  - Sodium intake is a good thing to be conscious of but you've given it too much emphasis at the expense of other things. Those nuggets you believe are the "healthiest" actually have added sugar and oil, about a teaspoon of sugar and 1.5tsp oil per 100g serving. The sugar adds taste, the oil adds taste and nice texture crunch when they are fried up. They also have added crumb and flour for the batter. So what started off as a source of protein snack will now result in eating more sugar, fats, and refined carbohydrates to accompany that protein. All of that = fat. Chicken breast straight is about 30% protein by weight, these nuggets are now 17% after all the fillers. So to reach your protein targets you are going to have to eat more unnecessary and arguably unhealthy things also. The problem is also introducing young kids to foods which are high in fats, sugars, and salts, and that starts their junk-food palette.
  - the roast beef has less added ingredients but then you have the issue of cholesterol and the safe limit for an infant i'm not sure of, but it's low. An adult is limited to 300mg/day acc to the USDA.

  It sounds like your home cooked stuff is already sufficient and he may already be meeting his protein intake - i'm assuming a nice balanced diet already exists. They can always snack on a banana or fruit between meals!

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 07:15

    Thanks. As mentioned he gets lots of other things including veggies, fruit (a banana a day) and whole grains. Paediatrician recommended more meat if we can. Also have a bunch of friends who are dieticians recommending same. Doctor even mentioned including things like sausages sometimes to up meat intake, which is not something I’ve done. The nuggies stack up favourably to other nuggies which are about 50% chicken and double the salt and not something he has regularly, just one quick option. The grain and oil on them doesn’t concern me. I’m just looking to find opportunities to chuck in a little more protein and in particular haem iron. We get our advice from combo of GP, paediatrician and CHN who all seem to agree meat is important - he eats very little at the moment and often eats better while snacking, so I’d like to use that opportunity.

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 07:25

    I appreciate you’re trying to help. There’s so much wrong with what you’ve written here eg criticising the sugar in chicken nuggies then recommending bananas that have 3x more sugar and no haem iron.

    I also literally talked to the doctor yesterday that said to go hard on the saturated fats to help him gain weight. The woolies rare beef is an excellent product- just looking for more similar options that don’t involve more cooking than the about an hour I already do each day.

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      aoeueoa on 04/02/2021 - 12:10

      -1

      If you are comparing sugar from bananas and saying that's worse than added sugar to nuggets then that's my point exactly… They are worlds apart.

      I jsut think if you are after more meat then buy more lean meat and make it yourself with less salt so you know exactly what goes into it.

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        isthatallyougot on 04/02/2021 - 12:39

        "I also literally talked to the doctor yesterday that said to go hard on the saturated fats to help him gain weight." . I think you and your doctor are really over thinking this. I have a 2 year old and 4 year old so from experience i say that your kid is losing weight cause he is more active as he grows.

        If your kid is hungry , just give him full cream milk that's what I do.

        Also Bananas is a great food for kids , way more nutritious than nuggets or cold meats.

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          morse on 04/02/2021 - 15:15

          +1

          @isthatallyougot: I also give him full cream milk and bananas, no problem with those things, but I also want him to eat some meat so he’s not deficient in iron and because it’s part of a balanced diet (unless your vegetarian and use other sources, which is fine too, just harder to absorb). Having some meat based snacks is one way to do that and a strategy I use with my kids (he also will eat a cup of peas or cherry tomatoes as a snack bit not with a meal). If that’s not a strategy use with your kids that’s fine, whatever works for you. The rare roast beef I’m using is super nutritious and it’s ridiculous that you say otherwise. Kids should not be losing weight at my kids age (they should be continually gaining a little each month) nor dropping significant percentiles as the growth charts already accomodate for slowing of growth with increased activity. There’s no significant concerns, I’m just being proactive and looking for product recommendations.

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  brendanm on 04/02/2021 - 07:38

  Does he actually have health problems? Seems like an awful lot of doctor, paediatrician consultation for a healthy kid.

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 07:56

    Just dropping weight percentiles otherwise pretty good. Paediatrician was due to egg allergy advice and they just go over the other stuff routinely and lots of GP consults due to daycare infections (need certificate to return) and immunisations so we discuss food whilst he’s there. Haven’t been to CHN for ages but it’s normal in the early days to go for check ups. GP said yesterday might need to see paed again due to weight, but not just yet. We also have a large array of health professional friends who chip in advice as both me and hubby are health professionals. So yep definitely over serviced.

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      brendanm on 04/02/2021 - 08:23

      +1

      How far down in weight? Honestly just sounds like too much advice and worrying, apart from the egg allergy.

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        morse on 04/02/2021 - 08:35

        From 75th percentile to 50th. So not really going down, but just not going up in weight (only lost 300g in a month). Which GP said was worth looking into more, I was just having a quick phone consult so he could go back to daycare. I think it’s just from a series of viruses so he losses his appetite each time, he’s still a healthy weight and above average height. He does bruise easily and have terrible appetite so I’m kinda just monitoring and trying to get the protein and iron up when he does eat. I probably do worry more than I should (lots of parents do) but re medical advice I literally have only gone to doc when I have to and they always ask about food and weigh him without me asking - most docs seem to be super thorough with young kids.

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          brendanm on 04/02/2021 - 11:15

          +1

          @morse: If he's been sick often he will have low appetite. Appetite can go up and down with kids anyway. I personally wouldn't be too worried, kids go in and out of phases constantly.

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  SmiTTy on 04/02/2021 - 08:45

  It's interesting that the recommendation is to eat more meat, rather than just everything in general.

  I can't help you with prepared meat, i think it's difficult to find frozen /pre prepared with (relatively) low sodium. I find I end up spending way too long at the supermarket just trying to compare labels

  But one thing we regularly do is to get chicken wings (wingettes / middle part of the wings) and put them in the grill . Kids loves holding and eating them on his own even though he gets a bit messy.

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 08:57

    Thanks might try the wings - I think he’d enjoy that. yep I was getting sick of looking at labels so thought I’d put it out there. Definitely advice is to eat as much has we can get him to of anything , but meat as part of that which is the part we struggle to get him to eat, most consistent protein is salmon which he still refuses at times. Yesterday the best protein was a tiny amount of baked beans, all meats and and veggies were refused (he is just recovering from being sick though).

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      SmiTTy on 04/02/2021 - 10:41

      The other thing we do is make milkshake

      There's some protein in milk if he likes it. Banana (or mango or dates) with milk, some oats, little bit of peanut butter or almond butter, chia seeds and blended up. Decent amount of calories in that.

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  dasher86 on 04/02/2021 - 09:32

  home made jerky?

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 09:51

    Hmmm, good thought. I’ll investigate recipes.

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      dasher86 on 04/02/2021 - 09:55

      jerky is naturally salty even if home made, but at least you know what you put in it.

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  klonky on 04/02/2021 - 09:33

  If its weight gain, why the focus on protein and not healthy saturated fats? Instead of meat snacks, can you introduce yoghurt, avocado or even salmon?

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 10:27

    It’s both weight and iron - specifically haem iron in portable snack form (eg eating in pram where he eats best). He does like all of those thing especially yoghurt. Apparently dairy is good for weight gain but bad for iron absorption (can’t win with this parenting business). So we do some dairy but not too much. I might revisit pouches with Greek yoghurt as he likes that but never took to a pouch to make it more pram friendly. Good suggestions!

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  GrueHunter on 04/02/2021 - 10:18

  Me: I wonder if biltong is low in sodium, it's just on the outside and you brush it off
  The Internet: Aha ha. No.

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 10:33

    Haha - yeah I’ve only really started taking note of sodium since having a bub (as they aren’t meant to have any added salt before 12months). So many things are super salty.

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  dcep on 04/02/2021 - 15:20

  those sodium from deli cold cuts ain't just your normal salts, they are Sodium nitrate that gives you cancer.

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    morse on 04/02/2021 - 15:32

    Yep, I’m not keen on the sodium nitrate. The beef I get from the deli doesn’t have it, so I was seeing if anyone knows of a similar product or if it’s a rarity (seems like it might be).

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      dcep on 04/02/2021 - 15:35

      try this one

      https://shop.coles.com.au/a/national/product/coles-tuna-zest…