Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Recipe for Success: How to Get Your Child to Feed Supplements to Himself!

Finally, a way to give supplements without a struggle! This is also how your child can get his supplements at school. Jett takes his morning dose of vitamins, herbs and minerals mixed in his applesauce or a mashed banana while he watches one or two 3-4 minute educational videos from Brain Pop, Jr. But I also put in 4-5 "party balls" in his lunch with about six supplements and he always eats them. I also brew him some holy basil or rooibos tea (with apple cider vinegar and probiotics-- I know, yum!) and put it in his straw cup that he brings to school.



The video is of Oliver, Jett's 25 month old brother who has cerebral palsy, feeding himself his supplements. I did make too many (11) so he ate 3-4 at the first sitting and 4 at the next and then the rest a couple of hours later. But that's okay because he's still getting them! Since then, I've been adding much less nut butter and making only about 4-5 "party balls" so he eats them all by noon.  


And here's Jett's (5 years old) review of them while doing a little math. (I swear, HE started the math -- I was just following his lead.) :)

Recipe for Supplement Success

They are a gluten and casein free, nutrient-dense treat.

Party Balls

Ingredients
You can purchase all the ingredients here. 
  • Supplements of your choice (See how to decide what to give here.)
  • Nut butter of your choice (preferably sprouted and organic so that it becomes a nutrient as well rather than an anti-nutrient) or dates/figs can replace the nut butter:
Pumpkin seed butter     or          smashed dried dates/figs
Sun nut butter
Peanut butter
Almond butter
  • Organic sweetener of your choice:
Stevia (plus one of the others)
Manuka honey
Maple syrup  
  • Pink Himalayan sea salt (as needed)
  • Organic "goodies" of your choice:
Puffed amaranth
Shelled hemp seeds
Chia seeds
Coconut shavings/shredded
Finely chopped organic, unsulphured, dried goji berries
Finely chopped organic, unsulphured, dried gooseberries (amla)
Chia Goodness cereal like apple almond (It's not organic but it's quicker and cheaper--in the short term--because it has most of the ingredients already in it.)

Directions

These are the supplements that Oliver is eating in the video: 1 MitoQ, 2 Curcumin Longvida, 1 Partoid PMG (for detox), 1 MegaFolinic, 2 Stress Guards (organic B vitamins with adaptogens), Mega Food Zinc, Raintree Immune Support (natural antivirals/antibacterials/antifungals), 2 Vitamin Code Vitamin Cs, 2 Cognitex (brain support mix), 2 Prenatal Fish Oils and 2 Garden of Life Children's Multivitamins. 

1) Crush tablets, open capsules and squirt soft gels into a bowl. 


2) Add a nut butter to the supplements with a bit of cinnamon and stir until well blended. Taste. Then add a tiny bit of salt (helps with bitter flavors), a drop of stevia and a bit of maple syrup (helps with sour flavors) until you think your child will like it. The first time you make it, I'd err on the side of a little too sweet just so that he'll like it. Then once he already thinks of it as good, then the next time you can make it less sweet.

Notes: It seems that the less the mix contains synthetic ingredients, the easier it is for their palates to tolerate. When I buy the raw sprouted pumpkin seed butter, I try to buy it without added sweeteners or salt so I can add my own. When I first open the jar, I stir in some pink Himalayan sea salt (more nutritious than processed salt) and maple syrup if absolutely necessary. I would use manuka honey instead of maple syrup, but both Jett and Oliver muscle test negatively for honey at the moment.


3) Get some nutrient-packed goodies and put them in a bowl and stir. Pictured: Chia Goodness cereal, shelled hemp seeds, chia seeds and puffed amaranth. I also add coconut flakes and finely chopped goji berries or gooseberries.


4) Roll the nut butter/supplement mix into balls and put in the goody mix. 
Note: Now, I smush the balls into the mix first so that the goodies are incorporated throughout the nut butter then I roll into a ball. I add more puffed
amaranth to coat the outside.


5) Coat with goodies and give to your little one for a healthy treat that he can feed himself and you can feel really good about!

Note: If there's any extra goodies left over that I didn't use, I put in a wax paper baggie and use for the next day. 

Make Ahead Suggestions
  • Premix the "goodies" in a wax paper bag for quick easy mixing the morning of.
  • Put the unopened capsules, uncrushed tablets and unpunctured softgels in a small container ready for the next day.
  • I don't know that I would premake the balls other than one serving the night before because you can't be certain how potent the supplements would stay. I do make mine every morning. I did premake it once and the balls were more crunchy on the inside. Jett enjoyed that texture was well as the softer texture of the freshly made ones.


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