Last week, I had the chance to sat down at The Four Seasons Jumeirah with Annabel Karmel, the Queen of Children's Nutrition. I was honored to be offered the opportunity to meet the inspiring lady. She's UK’s number 1 and worldwide recognize children’s cookery author and expert on delicious, nutritious meals for babies, children and families. Mother of three children, she's a mumpreneur: founder and chief executive of Annabel Karmel Group Holdings, a company that includes her book royalties, her “Make it Easy” kitchen equipment range and branding rights for her various food ranges sold in many supermarkets.





Annabel's food philosophy and nutrition expertise came into our life when Luella (now 6) was a toddler. I loved looking into her books for ideas and inspiration - she made it look easy, yummy and healthy. Now with an 8 month old baby, I am all into weaning and introducing new food group and setting up healthy long term habits. Thanks to Annabel first best seller The Complete Baby and Toddler Meal Planner, I should be on the right track. Her new range of baby purées and snack available in Dubai supermarket will make lunch of the go a convenient and nutritious option.
I started the weaning process with Josefin, couple of months a go. I was interested to ask Annabel about mums common concern when time comes to start solid food / puree. Allergies are a common concern. Annabel says: " There’s this theory that one of the reasons there’s a higher instance of allergies is because we’re bringing up babies in a very sterile environment." She believe it's harmful to not stimulate a baby's immune system properly. She recommend to introduce eggs or peanut butter from six months (provided that there’s no history of allergy in the family). "A lot of parents avoid really important foods like eggs - which are actually very nutritious - because they worry about allergies, but by avoiding these foods they’re probably doing more harm than good. For example, well-cooked scrambled eggs are packed with iron and important nutrients," Annabel says.

I asked annabel about fussy eaters and what's her best advise. Let them be hungry she replied! Fussy eaters tend to stick to four things, but if you allow your child to be hungry and don’t give them an alternative, they will eat different things. Also, the way that you present the food to your child is very important, because very often they will say something is ‘yucky’, but that’s just because they don’t like the look of it. Another good idea is to get the  kids involved in cooking. It's fun, but it’s also highly educational.