Protein Recalculations

Today had an unexpected surprise! Micah's nutritionist emailed me and said they had attended a conference that discussed amino acid levels in different types of protein. They (I'm hoping for researchers and scientists here!) decided that there are differing amounts of leucine in different types of protein. In other words, the amount of leucine in a gram of protein from fruit is not the same as the amount of leucine in a gram of protein from meat. We had been calculating his leucine levels like this. 1 gram of protein= 90 mg. of leucine. Now based on his weight, this meant he got 800mg. of leucine or 9 grams of protein. But now it looks like this
Fruit = 40 mg. of leucine per gram of protein
Veggies = 50 mg. of leucine ...
Bread, Starches = 70 mg. of leucine ...
Meat = 80 mg. of leucine ...
Dairy = 100 mg. of leucine...
With this method, he can eat a lot more food. Just to see the numbers I added up his food from today plus what I planned on feeding him at dinner
Oatmeal (w/ fruit) 2.5 g. protein and 175 mg. leucine
Carrots minimal
Cheese 1 g. protein and 100 mg. leucine
Peas (1/2 jar) 2 g. protein and 100 mg. leucine
Bread (1 slice) 3 g. protein and 210 mg. leucine
Total: 8.5 g. protein and 585 mg. leucine
Now that's 8.5 out of 9 grams of protein, but only 585 mg. out of 800 mg. leucine! See what a difference that makes? So he ate a bigger lunch :)

And who would have ever thought I would be able to (or need to) calculate leucine levels? I feel pretty smart!

A Day without Peas

At Micah’s doctor’s appointment last week we made some drastic changes to his diet. We are no longer putting Similac in his formula mixture and are instead getting the nine grams of regular protein from his diet. Nine grams may not seem like much but for a kid who only ate baby food and no meat it was! I was actually more worried about getting the nine grams in than going over! Ironic, huh? Who would have ever thought? Peas were our life-saver. One jar has four grams of protein and he loves them! So every day he has been eating a jar of peas for lunch, usually with something else. But as he has gotten used to more “real” food, such as bread and pasta and even some cheese, he has been getting more protein from those foods. Yesterday he had all nine grams of protein and no peas. At all. Probably a nice break for him. He has had 1/3 a slice of bread, some string cheese, part of a tortilla, some pasta, and then his normal fruits and veggies. He loved banana bread! Overall he still does better with table food if you follow each bite with some baby food. Otherwise he thinks he is a chipmunk and takes forever to actually swallow it. Justin said there was a problem when you washed down food with more food! I think he’s made remarkable progress this past week; I’m sure we will see even more in the next few weeks.