Ten-year old Daniel eats little for breakfast, often skips lunch, and seldom sits through dinner. But when he hears the word "dessert," he suddenly gets his appetite back.
"Daniel's a skinny kid to begin with, and his long-acting medication kills his appetite," says his mom, Susan. She acknowledges that she lets Daniel eat more desserts than she should because he needs the calories. And there are days, says Susan, when she's thankful that he eats anything. But she worries that her son is getting too much fat and sugar and not enough protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Sound familiar? Children with ADHD often have erratic eating habits. Like most kids, they will choose dessert over dinner every time. But take heart: Many popular desserts - cakes, puddings, frozen desserts, and anything made with fresh fruit - can provide some of the key nutrients your child passes up when he skimps on or skips regular meals.
One way around the dessert dilemma is to serve desserts that pack a "nutritional bonus." Instead of a bowl of plain ice cream, for instance, you might serve a small scoop topped with blueberries and crushed pineapple or a banana split drizzled with chocolate syrup and sprinkled with chopped walnuts. Or prepare a shake using milk, ice cream or frozen yogurt, and fresh strawberries. Ice cream and frozen yogurt provide protein and calcium, of course, and the berries provide vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Don't assume that your child can get all her nutritional needs from sweets. "Desserts are still desserts," says Mindy Hermann, a registered dietitian in Mt. Kisco, New York. "They're not meal substitutes." Hermann reminds parents to serve lots of plain fresh fruit, and to save the cookies and candy for special occasions. When you do serve dessert, serve dessert-sized portions. That means small!
Below, you'll find seven easy-to-prepare desserts that will satisfy some of your child's nutritional needs as well as his sweet tooth. Try one today!
Homemade Applesauce
Peel and cut several apples into small chunks. Place in a saucepan with 1/4 cup of water. Sprinkle with a little sugar, if you prefer, then cover and cook over low heat, stirring often, until softened. Cooking time varies according to the type of apple.
Nutritional bonus: Homemade applesauce provides at least 10 percent of your child's daily requirement of vitamin C. Not as much as orange juice, certainly, but four times as much as store-bought applesauce, unless you buy a brand that's fortified with vitamin C. For extra protein and calcium, serve with lemon-flavored yogurt.
Carrot Cake
Classic carrot cake recipes call for up to a pound of grated carrots. For a cake that's tasty and nutritious, work from a recipe that uses a lot of carrots, and substitute "light" olive or canola oil for butter.
Nutritional bonus: One slice of carrot cake can provide half of your child's daily requirement of vitamin A. To cut fat and boost protein, substitute a dollop of low-fat vanilla or lemon yogurt for the traditional cream cheese frosting.
Frozen Chocolate Pudding
Make pudding with low-fat milk and freeze in individual paper cups before serving.
Nutritional bonus: One-half cup of chocolate pudding provides up to 20 percent of your child's daily requirement of calcium and up to 10 percent of his protein requirement. For even more protein, stir creamy peanut butter into the milk before adding the pudding mix.
Pudding Parfait
Alternate layers of vanilla pudding and sliced strawberries and bananas in a tall glass. Drizzle with chocolate syrup.
Nutritional bonus: One-half cup of strawberries provides more than half of your child's daily requirement of vitamin C. For extra protein, add layers of chopped nuts. For extra calcium, combine equal parts vanilla pudding and plain yogurt to use as the layers in the parfait, or make a parfait using vanilla yogurt only.
Belgian Waffle
Top a four-inch, whole-grain waffle with 1/2 cup of frozen vanilla yogurt and 1/2 cup of sliced strawberries (or a combination of berries and other fruit).
Nutritional bonus: This dessert is a nutritional windfall. It provides up to 20 percent of your child's daily requirement of protein and calcium, more than 75 percent of his vitamin C, a range of B vitamins, and a couple of grams of fiber to boot.
Baked Apples
Bake or microwave cored apples, then stuff the centers with a filling of maple syrup and chopped walnuts.
Nutritional bonus: One baked apple provides more than 10 percent of your child's daily vitamin C requirement. For more protein and calcium, serve with vanilla yogurt.
Frozen Bananas
Peel firm, ripe bananas, wrap in waxed paper and then in plastic wrap. Freeze. Remove from freezer five minutes before serving.
Nutritional bonus: Frozen bananas have the consistency of ice cream. What's more, bananas are a terrific source of minerals, dietary fiber, and vitamins B and C. For even more protein and vitamin C, pureé ripe banana and strawberries in a blender, then stir in vanilla yogurt. Scrape into a freezer-proof container and freeze. Serve in scoops like ice cream.
