A lot has been written about foods to avoid if your little one has eczema, but how on earth do you get them to eat the things that will actively help their skin?!
Here are our five favourite ways to level up your itchy little toddler's diet.
An EFA-rich lolly!
We’ve shared our Skin Salvation smoothie recipe before - bananas, hemp seeds, turmeric, maple syrup and oat milk - but why not freeze it? Bingo, an ice cream full of delicious and oh-so-healthy goodness!
Make a rainbow on a plate
Sometimes it’s easier to get kids to eat good food separately, rather than cooked together. Arrange slices of colourful fruit and veg on a plate, using all your artistic talents to make it look enticing. Papaya, carrots, avocado, carrots, apples, cucumber, grapes, beetroot, blueberries, cherries and pears are all appealing and anti-inflammatory. You could even persuade them that broccoli are little trees in the landscape… maybe?!
(Best to avoid citrus fruits, kiwis, strawberries and tomatoes if you’re not sure whether your little one can tolerate them.)
Give them salmon once a week
Lovely pink salmon can be cooked in all sorts of ways, although in our experience even picky kids will happily eat a fillet of salmon, cooked plainly in a foil parcel in the oven or gently pan-fried. Try it in fish cakes or swap out cod fish fingers for salmon ones; it works well with green beans and new potatoes.
Look out for sustainably-caught salmon; the Good Fish Guide has details.
Flapjacks
You can pack in a great deal of good in a flapjack: oats are generally an excellent choice for the small eczema-prone person, as they are anti-inflammatory but highly nutritious, and you can add hemp seeds, flax seeds, goji berries, coconut etc to boost the nutritional value. There are some great recipes on our friend Ruth’s blog at WhatAllergy.com
Make Your Own Hummus
Many kids with eczema are sensitive to shop-bought hummus as it contains allergenic sesame seeds, but you can make your own really easily at home. Add some cold-pressed hemp seed oil to give it an extra EFA hit. Just whizz up a can of chickpeas with a bit of water to loosen the mixture, any combo of sunflower, olive and hemp seed oils, plus garlic, salt and lemon (if tolerated). Find which oils work best for you: too much hemp or olive can make the hummus a bit bitter!
Don’t forget that Balmonds products containing hemp seed oil act over time as a vitamin supplement for the skin! If you apply Skin Salvation or Bath & Body Oil every day for a full cycle of the skin’s regenerative cycle (4-6 weeks), you’re providing EFA-depleted skin with the essential fatty acids, vitamins and minerals it needs to repair itself.
