She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants.
Proverbs 31:13-15
After so much time away from blogging for fun, I've decided to come back and try again. I was doing a series on "Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman". I really enjoyed how this study and writing time drew me closer to the Lord. So, I've decided to come back to it, but with a twist. Life is a little different for me these days. Serving my husband; serving my family; these things look different today then they did a couple of years ago. I hope it will be a blessing to some. My hope is to draw myself closer to the Lord and remember why I am persevering through whatever the Lord has planned for my life, whether it is my plan or not.
As I read through this section of Proverbs 31 it seemed appropriate to share what this looks like for me. Feeding Gussy food that is nutritious and wholesome is no easy chore. It is important to us that we seek out ways to build healthy bodies for our children. Many of us have seen the affect of growing up on processed food. Gussy had a hard enough start. We felt in necessary to give him the best nutrition to go forward.
That being said, today I am going to share how to choose a blenderized diet for your tube fed child. As always this isn't medical advice and you should seek the advice of your dietician and doctor. This works well for us.
First let's talk calories.
There is a formula to figuring out how many calories your child is getting each day. This is very important. Tube fed children don't just eat what they want leaving you to assume they are getting what they need. You have to be able to calculate what they are getting and adjust it according to their growth and size.
When coming up with recipes this formula is a life saver!
Here's how you do it...
Make your recipe (I'll talk more about the recipe a little later).
As you make it, Google each item to see how many calories are in each individual item.
Blend your recipe.
Measure how many ounces you have AFTER blending.
Now you take your TOTAL calories (All item's calories added together) and divide that number by your total number of ounces. This will tell you how many calories per ounce of food.
Next you take that number and times it by your child's total daily volume.
This will give you your child's total daily calories.
An example of this...
Total Calories of Recipe: 4211
Divide by total volume: 144 ounces
4211/ 144= 29.24 Calories per ounce.
Our current total daily volume: 33 ounces.
29.24 x 33= 964.92 Calories Daily.
That's it. Simple to do if you know how.
What to feed your tubie?
This is a list of a good ratio of the food groups. We use this for our basic outline.
Grains: 1 cup (We use quinoa or brown rice mostly)
Veggies: 1 cup (Good variety of fresh veggies)
Fruits: 1 cup (Same as vegetables. We use a lot of berries because of studies done showing the benefit of berries and neurotransmitters.)
Milk or milk substitute: 2 cups. ( We use yogurt for the probiotics, for a milk substitute Almond milk is good but we add extra protein in the form of eggs. Eggs contain choline another brain go getter.)
Meat, beans, nuts: 2 ounces of meat or fish, 2 eggs, 2 T. peanut butter, 1 ounce nuts, or 1/4 cup legumes. ( We use Salmon, eggs, and chicken often)
Fats: 2 T. Oil. We use Coconut oil and Olive oil.
Adding other stuff for health and calories is great. This is just a basic outline of the food groups.
Leftovers of all ingredients can be bagged and frozen. We have actually cut down on waste a TON because we bag and freeze leftovers for Gussy's recipes.
A High Calorie Recipe...
This is a high calorie recipe that I make to last a little over 4 days. There is research all over the internet about the health benefits of different types of foods. We choose carefully for maximum health.
1 pomegranate-105
1 cup blueberries-84
1 kiwi-50
Handful cilantro-10
5 oz. salmon-150
5 cups Almond Milk-450
1 cup Sweet Potato-114
1/2 cup Mashed potatoes-105
1 cup Tomato soup (organic)-100
2 1/2 cups brown rice (w/ coriander, turmeric, anise, 3T. Flax meal)-570
3 eggs-225
1 1/2 cup home made chicken stock-125
1 inch ginger-5
1/4 cup honey-258
8 T. Olive oil-1000
2 T. Flax meal-60
2 cups canned coconut milk -800
Cook down, blend.
Total Calories- 4211
4211 divided by total volume- 144 oz. = 29.24 calories per ounce.
Total daily volume as of January 2013= 33 oz.
Daily total= 965.02 calories.
Good growth. 4.3 days worth.
Let's talk blending...
A high powered commercial blender is a MUST. You just can't do it without. They are expensive! I don't mean a little expensive, I mean Ex-Pen-Sive!! Although, I am what some call "frugal". Maybe it won't shock you as much as me. Now, that being said, the good folks at Vitamix and BlendTec generously offer a medical discount for Tube Fed Children. It's a hefty discount and well worth the time to ask your doctor for a note. We LOVE our Vitamix!
Time...
Yes, it takes some time and effort. Sit down school work is sparse on food making day. Thankfully though, learning comes in all different shapes.
Bread making being one...
Juuuust the right measurement.
Cooking, baking, chopping, and serving each other once a week or so keeps everyone in the house from going crazy...
Then again, maybe not everyone.
But this little guy's tummy says...
Num Num!!
She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar. She gets up while it is still night;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her female servants.
Proverbs 31:13-15
No female servants here but by golly I'm getting up while it's still dark and EVERYONE in my family is being provided real food. I'll rest in that today.
Living in His Mercy,
Melissa
