Dietitian Online Blog: February 2011

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Shopping with Kids

Written by Kate Bullen, APD

Honestly shopping with kids stresses me out just a tad. Both my kids are brilliant, but there is the negotiation through the shop, the extra time it takes, the boredom (theirs – not mine), the twirly dancing that is required (my 4yo – not me), the whingeing, the trying to grab things off the shelf in the checkout aisle.... you get the drift! I have never purchased food treats in the supermarket when out shopping with the kids – I just didn’t want to establish that as a habit, so have never done it. I always am prepared with water, fruit, chopped vegies, crackers, toast as snacks in my bag, but yesterday I had to do a few errands in 37C heat and we were in Kmart and my daughter spotted some drink bottles. For $2 each I caved and let her choose 1 for her and one for her brother. The smile and gratitude was worth it – and I felt good knowing they weren’t eating unnecessary food before lunch. It also helped in getting her to drink a lot of extra water yesterday in the heat – win win situation!

And this morning the entire family ventured out for a supermarket shop, including my husband. We can’t remember the last time all 4 of us did a supermarket shop together – but it was quite fun. As we finished up our supermarket shop, I left my husband with the shopping trolley, pram and 2 kids to quickly dash and get a few things I had forgotten and came back to find each child happily munching away on a whole carrot! Brilliant! Gold star for the husband and kids.

So there are a few extra options to appease the kids when out shopping.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Recipe - Vegetable Fritters

Written by Kate Bullen, APD

My 4 year old daughter had a friend visit this afternoon after school, so after having a think what to make as a snack, I settled on vegetable fritters. One of my friends, let’s call her Parker, regularly makes these for her kids and for picnics at the park. She mentioned to me that she includes cheese in her fritters – brilliant idea I thought. So today’s recipe is inspired by Parker!

These fritters are a great afternoon snack, weekend brunch, or pop in your lunchbox kind of food. They are also good at the end of the week to use up some of the leftover vegetables sitting in your fridge! I have used onion, zucchini, carrot and tinned corn. But you could easily try potato, peas, sweet potato, pumpkin, mushroom or whatever you choose! You can also flavour them with different herbs or spices to suit your taste. Today I decided to separate the eggs and beat the egg whites separately. If I am running short of time then I just mix the eggs in whole. In case anyone is interested, I calculated 4.5 serves of vegetables in these fritters. So 1 serve of vegetables per 4-5 fritters.

Here is the recipe I made today, which made around 20 fritters:

Ingredients:

1 small onion, chopped finely

1 bunch of chives (or you could use parsley, basil, curry powder, curry paste)

1 zucchini, grated

1 carrot, grated

1 small tin (125g) creamed corn

¼ cup grated cheese

½ cup wholemeal self raising flour (I used gluten free)

3 eggs, separated

1 tablespoon olive oil

Method:

1. Mix vegetables, herbs, cheese, flour and egg yolks together in bowl.

2. Beat egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff peaks form. Gently fold egg whites through the vegetable mixture.

3. Heat large frypan over medium-low heat and add oil. You don’t want the pan too hot!

4. Add ¼ cup of fritter mixture to the hot pan and cook for 5-8 minutes each side. You should be able to cook 4 at a time. Repeat until all mixture is cooked.

5. Serve with a dipping sauce such as sweet chilli sauce, tomato sauce, or spread avocado on top. Delicious!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Product Review - Yoghurt

Written by Kate Bullen, APD

Has anyone else noticed the expanding shelf space dedicated to kids focused yogurts in the supermarket? I have noticed for some time now, but have ignored them up until today (and thankfully my 4yo daughter hasn’t noticed the princess branded yogurts or she would have been demanding them much sooner!). I had assumed these are targeted at school lunchboxes and this hunch was confirmed on closer inspection with many of them saying ‘freeze for lunch boxes’.

So in the interest of research and providing information to our readers I succumbed and bought a selection of these yogurts and compared them to the more traditional types of yogurt.

	Mundella Premium Natural Yoghurt 500g	Yoplait Creamy Lite French Cheesecake yogurt 1kg	Vaalia kids strawberry yoghurt 140g	Nestle Strawberry yoghurt 70g	Yoplait Smackers Strawberry shine 8 x70g
Cost	$3.98 ($0.80/100g)	$4.19 ($0.42/100g)	$1.89 ($1.35/100g)	$1.39 ($1.99/100g)	$4.99 ($0.89/100g)
Energy/100g	419kj	396kj	374kj	373kj	357kj
Protein/100g	4.6g	4.5g	4.6g	3.6g	3.3g
Fat total/100g	4.1g	1.0g	2.6g	1.9g	1.8g
Fat saturated/100g	2.9g	0.6g	1.6g	1.2g	1.2g
Carbohydrate sugars/100g	6.5g	16.6g	11.7g	14.3g	12.1g
Sodium/100g	60mg	58mg	74mg	35mg	45mg
Calcium/100g	200mg	142mg	155mg	118mg	200mg

So what does this comparison tell us? You will notice that I have compared cost – for me this is highly relevant, as you can see the price per 100g varies considerably with the Nestle strawberry pouch pack (70g) costing nearly 5 times as much per 100g compared to the 1kg Yoplait tub. This can make a big difference on the weekly budget. I was quite pleased to see that the Yoplait smackers box of 8x70g squeezy tubes was only double the price of the 1kg tub – making it more affordable. Obviously with the smaller serves the consumer is paying for the convenience, the packaging and the marketing.

The first 2 columns of the above table compare the Mundella full fat premium 500g and Yoplait creamy lite 1kg tub yoghurts. These probably aren’t really targeted at the school lunchbox (unless you decant into a smaller container) – but I wanted to include them for a couple of reasons – the mundella natural yoghurt provides nothing but yoghurt. You will notice that the sugar content is very low at 6.5g/100g. I often buy this yoghurt for my 15 month old son and will either give it to him plain, or add my own fruit, as shown below. Full fat dairy products are recommended for children under the age of 2 to meet their high energy requirements.

If you have any concerns about additives or preservatives then Mundella is the yoghurt for you. As an added bonus it is made locally here in WA so you are supporting local and being more environmentally friendly by saving on air miles and using less disposable packaging.

I will often buy the 1kg lite yoghurt (whichever brand happens to be on special) as our family yoghurt. Great source of calcium, low in fat – but does have considerable sugar content.

Moving on to the final 3 columns in the table at the top – these are the squeezy tubes that are marketed directly at kids (you should have seen how excited my daughter was at the ‘princess’ yoghurt – oh my how powerful is advertising) and while I have chosen the pink varieties of yoghurt, there were just as many boy focused options. I find that my daughter responds really well when I set expectations up front. So, as I grabbed a few of these yoghurts at the supermarket today, and saw her eyes light up at the princess and pink packaging, I showed them to her and explained that these are just a special occasion yoghurt and I won’t be buying them all the time. I even went to the extent of telling her that they are still a healthy food but cost more because of the extra packaging. Information is power!

So what did I think of these squeezy tubes? In a nutshell I think they provide a great portable option for yoghurt. They are fantastic snack option that is low in fat and provides some wholesome nutrition. My biggest concerns would be the cost and the amount of packaging that is thrown away. But like with any convenience product, packaging plays a big part. My personal recommendation would be the Yoplait Smackers. Out of the 3 options that I reviewed they provided the best nutrition profile, and as an added bonus they worked out to be the most economical option with 8 x 70g tubes in a box.

I should point out that 2 of the products (Nestle strawberry and Yoplait Smackers) were 70g and the Vaalia kids was 140g per serve. So the smaller serves are good for younger kids (maybe 3-6yo) while the bigger serve would be more appropriate for older kids requiring more energy.

And finally, there are always the traditional 200g tubs that can be purchased in 6 or 8 packs – another good option for kids snacks – I haven’t reviewed them today, but they shouldn't be forgotten! These could also be frozen and popped into lunches. Or perfect for a quick snack when kids (or adults) get home. In terms of opening up the packs my 4yo daughter couldn’t open the squeezy tubes I reviewed today – but she has no trouble tearing the paper lid off the traditional 200g small tubs. Just another thing to consider!

So next time you are choosing yoghurts, here are a few more options and things to think about.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Could Energy Drinks Cause Psychotic Episodes?

That is the headline that you will potentially be seeing across the media today. What it should actually be is ‘Could energy drinks be provoking psychotic relapse in patients with schizophrenia?’ The latest Medical Journal of Australia has just been published and it contains a case study by Associate Prof David Menkes from the University of Auckland. In it he describes the case of a very well controlled patient with schizophrenia who appears to have relapsed after consuming 2 x 60ml ‘Demon Shot’ energy drinks. Each shot of these drinks contained 200 mg of caffeine.

Obviously this is just one case study and it is only referring to those people with diagnosed schizophrenia, not the general population. Having said that, it does help to shine a spotlight on energy drinks, particularly these new ‘energy shots’ being promoted as more of a health food or supplement. As I said above – each shot can contain 200 mg of caffeine in 60 ml.

To put this in perspective let’s look at the amount of caffeine in some other beverages and foods allowed in Australia:

Beverage/Food	Amount Consumed	Amount of Caffeine (mg)
Percolated coffee	250 ml	60 – 120 mg
Energy Drinks	250 ml	80 mg
Instant coffee	250 ml	60 – 80 mg
Tea	250 ml	10 – 50 mg
Coca Cola	375 ml	48.75 mg
Milk Chocolate	100 g bar	20 mg

So these energy shots contain double the amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee in ¼ of the volume of liquid. The marketing that accompanies them is all about them being calorie and sugar free so you can imagine the markets that they are going to appeal to.

While there is currently no official recommendation for a safe upper limit of caffeine, FSANZ (our food labeling authority) did establish it’s own ‘Expert Working Group on Safety Apsects of Dietary Caffeine’ in 1999 and they have indicated an ‘anxiety effect level’ at 210 mg per day for an adult and 95mg per day for a child. So looking at those levels, these energy shots are a worry.

Obviously anxiety and psychosis are very serious but let’s not forget about some of the minor, but potentially debilitating effects of high levels of caffeine that have been well proven such as insomnia, rapid heart rate, high blood pressure, difficulty concentrating and headaches.

Well that said – I’m off to bed with my nice naturally caffeine free cup of rooibos tea.

Kids Party Food

My daughter turned 3 last week and her cousins and a couple of friends come around on Saturday for a birthday party. I have great memories of the fabulous birthday parties that my Mum used to throw for me as a little girl – lots of yummy treats to eat, fun games and the masterpiece of a birthday cake from the Woman’s Weekly cake book (my Mum used to be a cake decorator!). So now as a Mummy myself I try hard to give my daughter the same memories. Being a dietitian though as well as a Mummy means I do think about providing some healthy choices as part of the party spread. Here is what I tried this year:

Nemo Fish with Dried Apricots and
White Chocolate (from Disney)

Fruit and Marshmellow Kebabs

Snake Sandwiches with Peanut
Butter or Jam

Star Vegemite Sandwiches

I also made celery boats with peanut butter and sultanas, popcorn and a dip with crackers and vegies. Of course I still made the fairy bread, sausage rolls (home made by my Mum), iced milk arrowroot biscuits with smarties, chocolate balls and traffic light wafers

Now I have to admit for the cake I cheated – my daughter decided she wanted a princess castle. So I enlisted Mum’s help to come and supervise my creation but in the end, well let’s just say ‘I made the icing!’ Check out the result though (excuse the colours - it was actually pink and purple!)……

All the kids had a great time and didn’t seem to go hungry so I can only assume the menu was a success.

I’d love some more suggestions for next year (and my son’s first birthday in July) if you’re willing to share…..

Friday, February 18, 2011

Product Review: Kraft's 'My First Vegemite'

Couldn’t help but prick my ears up when I heard Kochie on Sunrise yesterday taste testing a new vegemite product targeted at kids called ‘My First Vegemite’ by Kraft. The spokesperson from Kraft was very keen to promote the benefits of the new version of vegemite being 50% lower in sodium and having extra B vitamins and iron in response to demands from parents.

So let’s check it out. Here is the nutrition information taken straight from their website.

Nutritional Information
Servings per Package: 60 Serving size: 2.5g
	Avg. Qty per serve	Avg. qty per 100g
Energy	23kJ	932kJ
Protein	Less than 1g	24.6g
Fat -Total -Saturated	Less than 1g Less than 1g	Less than 1g Less than 1g
Carbohydrate -Sugars	Less than 1g Less than 1g	28.1g 4.7g
Sodium	43mg	1720mg
Thiamine (B1)	0.27mg	11mg
Riboflavin (B2)	0.21mg	8.6mg
Niacin (B3)	1.25mg	50mg
Folate (B9)	50μg	2000μg
Vitamin B6	0.17mg	7mg
Vitamin B12	0.25μg	10μg
Iron	0.6mg	24mg

First of all – to compare it to ordinary vegemite you need to double the serving size. For ‘My First Vegemite’ Kraft have used 2.5g as a serve but Vegemite has a serving size of 5g (a teaspoon). Interesting marketing technique because without realising it, the unknowing parent would think there is an even bigger difference in sodium content when comparing the labels.

Now let’s tackle the claims one at a time:

CLAIM ONE:

‘My First Vegemite’ has 50% less sodium than ordinary vegemite

Yes it is true, it does have 50% less sodium but let’s get some perspective. The amount of sodium contained in 5g of ordinary vegemite = 1/10 of a teaspoon of salt. Being 50% less sodium, 'My first Vegemite' has 1/20 of a teaspoon of salt. Honestly, are we really going to see a big difference in kids health going from 1/10 of a teaspoon to 1/20 of a teaspoon of salt????? Besides that, if you are to believe kraft’s ‘new’ serving size on the ‘My First Vegemite’ your child is probably only going to eat 2.5g of ordinary vegemite so that would be 1/20 of a teaspoon of salt anyway!!!!

Secondly, the point must be made that the amount of sodium in a serve of ordinary vegemite is ~173mg. Two weetbix have 96mg of sodium and a cup of full cream milk has 123 mg. Yes vegemite is a high sodium product but it is eaten in such small quantities it's hardly a big source of sodium in our kids diets. Let's pick on something a bit more substantial shall we like potato crisps where there is over 500mg of sodium in a small packet.

CLAIM TWO:

‘My First Vegemite’ has more B VITAMINS than ordinary vegemite

Again this is true. B1, B2 and B3 vitamins are all exactly the same but ‘My First Vegemite’ has B6 and B12 added as well. The 2.5g serving provides ~ 25 – 30% of the recommended daily intake for these vitamins for children 1 – 8 years. Now apart from vegan children (who do require supplementation with B12), it’s pretty easy for a child to get the recommended daily intake of B6 and B12 – only if your child refused to have any red meat or dairy would you be concerned and to be honest you’d be better off looking at supplementation instead.

CLAIM THREE:

‘My First Vegemite’ has more IRON than ordinary vegemite

Yes this is true. There is no iron in ordinary vegemite. A serve of ‘My First Vegemite’ provides ~ 6% of the recommended daily intake of iron for 1 – 8 year old children. Excuse me if I don’t sound excited about that! Hardly a reason to run out and change your vegemite is it? I’d much rather be giving my children 2 weetbix for breakfast which at least gives them 30% of their RDI for iron.

So will I be rushing out to go and buy the new ‘My First Vegemite’ for my 3 year old……no. We’ll just keep the good old fashioned stuff in the cupboard and enjoy what has been part of Australian children for 85 years - yes I learned that from the Kraft spokesperson too :)

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Product Review - Peters Light & Creamy Ice Cream

Written by Kate Bullen, APD

My husband loves ice cream. I mean – really loves it. So I try not to buy it all the time as it just gets eaten too quickly! And when I do buy ice cream – it is only ever the light variety. So I thought I would check it out to see how it rates nutritionally. Last week the Peters Light and Creamy was on special – so I threw one into the shopping trolley = happy husband. Fast forward to today – I go to get ice cream out of freezer to check the nutrition panel – and virtually no ice cream left. So in the space of 9 days 1.8L of ice cream has been demolished. I think I might have had some on one or two nights.

As I scan the nutrition information on the ice cream pack it tells me that there are 18 servings in the 1.8L of ice cream – ummm who are they kidding that this tub of ice cream would provide 18 servings??? 9 days and maybe 11 servings tops. Eek! Lesson for everyone – please don’t go by the serving sizes that are on food products – they can be quite different to what most people consider a serving size. Moving on....

Here is a snapshot of the Light and Creamy Peters Ice Cream compared to their original version:

	Peters Light & Creamy French Vanilla per 100g	Peters Original Vanilla per 100g
Energy	650kj	750kj
Fat, total	2.7g	6.4g
Fat, saturated	1.8g	3.9g
Carbohydrates	28.9g	28.0g
Sugars	20.3g	21.7g

There isn’t a huge difference between the energy component of either ice creams – but for me it is the fat content. There is less than half the amount of total and saturated fat in the light and creamy ice cream compared to the original. The key message here is choose the light ice cream, and watch your serving size.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Shopping with Kids

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Recipe - Vegetable Fritters

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Product Review - Yoghurt

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Could Energy Drinks Cause Psychotic Episodes?

Kids Party Food

Friday, February 18, 2011

Product Review: Kraft's 'My First Vegemite'

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Product Review - Peters Light & Creamy Ice Cream

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