Chewing the Fat

At the dentist's office, not the GI's office

As many of you already know, Isaac was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis back in October of 2010.  Currently is doing well and we just had a follow up appointment on Friday to check on his progress after he came down off the steroids.  He's having healthy bowel movements and is not complaining about any pain.  If you saw him you would think he's a normal three year old living a happy life.

But if you looked at his chart, you would notice something a little off-putting.  He hasn't gained any weight for almost a year now.  He hasn't lost any weight either, so that's good.  He's just not getting over the 29 pound mark.  So now that we have his disease under control, it's time to address the issue of his weight.  We've been instructed to put him on a high calorie diet.

Some things we are going to do are put him back on whole cow's milk instead of almond milk which is naturally low in calories, start to mix a little bit of olive oil into his meals, feed him meat, give him more peanut butter and cheese, and start supplementing with Pediasure or Carnation Instant Breakfast.

As an adult it is strange to think of a diet with few restrictions.  Fat is the best way to boost calories.  It's a good way to get the most calories out of the least amount of food.  As an adult who tries to make good, healthy eating decisions for my family with the hope of raising them with good food habits, I balk at the idea of a high fat diet.  But alas, it is what we are going to try to help Isaac gain some weight.

Annie also could use some extra poundage.  She just had her 18 month check up.  She's at the top of the curve in height, coming in at over 32 inches tall.  But she is at the very bottom of the curve for weight, only weighing 20 pounds.  I feel that some of that is genetics.  I was pretty lanky as a child, also staying close to the bottom of the growth curve as far as my weight was concerned (my head circumference was another story).

So here's where I need your help.  I need some good snack ideas!  Here is one that I found on our travels in Austin.  Apple smiles.  We don't like red apples so we used green and we really like chocolate peanut butter so we called ours "monster smiles".  But I need more ideas for good, healthy-fat filled snacks (does that make sense).  I'm incredibly opposed to buying store bought snacks like Little Debbies.  I just don't like all the artificial ingredients added in there.  But maybe you know of some store bought snacks that are natural, healthy, and high in calories and would save me some time.  Otherwise I might have to make these more often:

Mini cake donuts dipped in dark chocolate with sprinkles

One of the challenges I will face is making sure that the kids get the calories, but that the grown-ups do not.  So I think snacks are a great way to help boost the calories of some but not others.

Thanks for stopping by and thanks ahead of time for your ideas!!