Tofu For A 7Yr Old.

[Jenarry]

My 7yr old son is a fussy eater and unfortunately doesn't get any iron in his diet . I read that tofu is a good choice for iron and protein. Knowing the things my son will eat I thought he may try and even like this but I don't know much about the stuff and how to serve it. He is not keen on anything with too much flavour so if it is bland it would be okay.

[Anngel]

tofu is like soft plastic...tastes of nothing at all. It needs to have a flavour with it. Lots of recipes on line. Well done you for trying to find a sensible alternative rather than popping vitamin/mineral pills!!

[mikey4444]

Why don't you just put a variety of food down in front of him and tell him to get on with it !

[AlwaysConfused]

tofu is disgustingly dry. If he is a fussy eater, he certainly won't eat this.

[Jenarry]

I wish it was that simple mikey4444. His dietician puts it down to him suffering the symptoms of coeliac disease and to a lesser degree type 1 diabetes before he was diagnosed at an age (3 yrs old) when most children go through a fussy stage and made food a real issue for him which we have yet to overcome. I think iron is the key. It will increase his appetite and hopefully he will try more things. I'm not sure he will ever want to eat meat though ,he has a real aversion to it.

[Jenarry]

it's worth a try alwaysconfused.

[ChuckFickens]

You have a 7 year old that won't eat what you put in front of him?

Guess he goes hungry then!

[Maydup]

He'll love it Jen, its soft and silky and nothing like meat.

Tofu burgers are nice, and tofu in a stir fry is easy enough. He are some ideas.

http://recipes.youngveggie.org/results.aspxkeywords=Tofu&andor=all&submit=Search

http://www.savvyvegetarian.com/vegetarian-recipes/tofu-recipes.php

[Maydup]

Sorry the young veggie tofu link isn't working but its a good site for support for veggie kids.

http://www.youngveggie.org/home

[ChuckFickens]

Sorry... but..

Your 7 year old son is not a fussy eater.

You've made your 7 year old son a fussy eater, babies are not born as fussy eaters.

[Maydup]

No harm in him eating tofu chuckfickens. Its better for him than horse burgers.

[ummmm]

I disagree, Chuck, peoples taste buds differ. Not to the point of only eating one or two things mind.

[daffy654]

Some children with learning disabilities have very restricted diets, my son is one of them. If I put food in front of him he doesn't like he won't eat it no matter what, even if he is really hungry. It is nothing to do with me making him fussy, he was like it from birth.

[naomi24]

I agree with Chuck. The biggest mistake parents make is in asking their children what they want to eat. If they really don't like something, fair enough, but given the option kids will often go for chips and chocolate!

[ummmm]

I agree with that, too. Dinner is dinner, there are no other options. If they don't like it they can have some toast.

[sherrardk]

My kids are good eaters and will choose 'proper food' over junk. They are always told what the week's food is going to be and if there are any major objections, they have to suggest a suitable alternative. I am lucky - they love vegetables (the majority of them will go for seconds). I am an extremely fussy eater so I don't eat with them (don't want them to pick up my bad habits).

Jenarry, must be tough having a poor eater as you are bound to worry about him. Good luck with it all, x

[ChuckFickens]

I agree ummmm that peoples taste buds do differ.. but they don't differ to such a degree and at such an early age that a a 7 year old has nutritional problems.

[Beswad]

Some brand of tofu is really coarse due to how it is filtered during the manufacturing process and some other brand are really silky smooth. It is possible to make tofu from scratch if you don't want to buy from shops

[mikey4444]

Jenarry...I was not aware, of course, of your child's medical problems when I made my original remarks, so I must apologise. It seemed to me that this was yet another story of fussy eaters.

However, it would still seem to be a good policy to keep interesting him in as many types of foods and tastes as possible, which, of course, you are probably doing already. I have found this on the 'net this morning which you may find helpful ::

http://www.healthaliciousness.com/articles/food-sources-of-iron.php

If he is missing iron in his diet, could he perhaps have problems with anaemia ?

On the subject of Tofu..........nobody should be made to eat this dreadful stuff, unless its absolutely essential.

[Barmaid]

Tofu is hideous stuff.

I have a fussy eater. Although like Daffy's son it is because of learning difficulties and autism.

Not only do we have the problem of what he will and will not eat, we also have the problem that he will only eat certain things at certain places.

I've discovered extremely devious ways of getting stuff inside him. eg, will he eat pizza? If so, tomato sauce is a great way of disguising all manner of stuff. Baked beans liquidised into pizza sauce is one way of getting iron and protein inside him.

[mikey4444]

Barmaid...you seem to have your share of problems, with which I sympathise. But be very careful of too much tomato sauce. Depending on what make you buy, his teeth may fall out with all the sugar !