How we start our day....

We start our day  the same way every day.  It doesn't matter if it's a Monday or Friday the one thing that doesn't change in this house hold is our breakfast.  Raygen is completely fed through a g-tube with a home made blend that I make everyday.  Zoie starts her day with a bacon sandwich and myself, a PB&J smoothie.  

Let's start with Raygen.  Her diet is a little more strict and I would say the healthiest, well balanced diet of any 5 year old I know.  Most kids her age are enjoying their fair share of McDonald's nuggets and french fries and of course what kid doesn't love pizza?  Don't get me wrong I'd do anything to feed these things to Raygen.  The urge to order her a Happy Meal sometimes is a little overwhelming.  Just for the plain fact I've never bought her one.  To be honest I'm not a huge fan of fast food and we hardly ever eat out.  I am lucky and my family loves eating at home, but when you know you can't do something isn't it the one thing you truly want to do?

Raygen's blend recipe is made specially for Raygen.  Raygen has a dietitian that I work closely with to make sure we meet all her needs.  This isn't a blend for every g-tube fed child, but I thought I would share Raygen's to give some parents some idea's.  I know I get ideas and tips from our best friends (Christina and Gabby) for increasing calories etc. 

Looks like a lot?  Well it is.  This is a process:

We start with 12oz Organic Whole Milk

1/3 cup coconut milk

one banana

1 cup mixed fruit

4oz chicken

2 cups mixed veggies

3tbs powdered dry milk

1tbs flaxseed

3tbs Gerber dry cereal

1tbs Karo syrup

2tbs olive oil

1 slice of bread

1 carnation breakfast

pinch of salt

1 Flintstone vitamin

This makes enough to feed Raygen for one day.  All of this gets blended into a smoothie and fed throughout the day  through her g-tube.  This gives her 1,224 calories give or take and with this she gets around 500ml of water with flushes and meds.  I feed Raygen around 5 times a day that is around every 2 1/2 to 3 hours.   

Maybe now it's easier to understand why teaching kids who are g-tube fed how to eat can be so difficult.  They probably never feel "hungry" and if they do, I don't believe Raygen would understand that putting something in her mouth would make her feel better. 

Me on the other hand, my smoothie is a lot easier and a million times tastier then Raygen's :0)

After my morning work out (I usually get his done before I wake the kids.) I really enjoy my new favorite smoothie recipe.  It's the Ideal Lean PB&J smoothie.  It's so simple.

PB&J Smoothie:

8oz Almond Milk

1 Scoop Ideal Lean Vanilla

2TBS PBfit powder

2TBS Sugar Free Jam

Ice

Blend and Enjoy!

Do you count your Macro's?  I do.  If you do this smoothie looks like this:

27P 6C 7F 195Calories

To save me time in the morning I do a lot of prep in the evening before bed.  It does take a lot of work to make sure your family is healthy and fed.  I think some how I am starting to get the hang of it, but tomorrow could be a total different story.  Raygen's cardiologist appointment is February 2nd and I am terrified.  I know she looks good, but what does her heart look like?  What will her blood work show? 

Email me with any questions.  I am always happy to hear from you and help whenever I can.

XOXOX

Erin & Raygen