Children's Diet Tracking

borisspitzer

Hello everyone,
My children are active in sports but picky eaters. Their coaches' advised to make diet adjustments to help them grow. I am hoping some day soon to find an app so they can track their nutrients and exercize and me make adjustments to buying groceries, cooking and eating out. At 11 and 8 they can use apps but I am afraid I cannot use fitnesspal because what goals/how can we set for children? Anyone any advice?
Thank you! Boris

Mr_Knight

MFP allows custom goals. Make what you need....

usmcmp

At 11 and 8 I don't think tracking calories is a good idea. Teaching them about the nutrition aspect of food is a good idea (macronutrients, micronutrients, general idea of calories, etc.). It's better to just focus on helping them discover a variety of fruits, vegetables and lean meats they may enjoy while still having fun treats.

jessthep1rate

A few concerns here..

-You said your children's coaches advised you to make adjustments to their diets. While they may be knowledgeable to an extent about children's health and diet, they are still coaches, not nutritionists or doctors. I'm not saying to ignore their advice, but I am definitely advising you to please please see your children's pediatrician or a pediatric nutritionist to find out what kinds of things they really do need to be eating! Kids have needs fundamentally different from ours, and if they do not get the proper nutrition, it can have very serious consequences.

-Not sure whether you intend to use MFP yourself to track what your kids eat, or if you're planning to have them use it themselves. I would be very wary about having kids track what they eat all the time, or even having them know that you are keeping track that strictly. These are the kinds of behaviors that can lead to eating disorders later on, and at their age they're quite impressionable. I realize you wouldn't be tracking for weight loss, however, there is an ED called orthorexia on the rise--obsession with 'healthy' eating that is in fact very unhealthy, and I would have some concerns about this.

So essentially, my advice to you would be to ask a professional, follow their advice, and ask them if you should be tracking what they eat or not--you can run MFP by them, even. But please do ask a professional before doing anything!

RodaRose

borisspitzer wrote: »

Hello everyone,
My children are active in sports but picky eaters. Their coaches' advised to make diet adjustments to help them grow. I am hoping some day soon to find an app so they can track their nutrients and exercize and me make adjustments to buying groceries, cooking and eating out. At 11 and 8 they can use apps but I am afraid I cannot use fitnesspal because what goals/how can we set for children? Anyone any advice?
Thank you! Boris

Make one account here for them. You can track for them in general to see patterns in their fruits and veggies. They are too young to be focused on food the way an adult would be.

Do engage them in food planning, grocery shopping, and cooking. It will take a few weeks to a month to form new habits, but the initial work will pay off for you and them as they become interested in seeing food in new ways.
Add one new veggie dish a week. If they do not like it, try it again in two months.
Keep fruit and easy to eat and grab veggies and similar snacks that they like in the fridge for them.
Reduce the eating out. Instead of a going to a restaurant, you can make simple dinners at home like grilled cheese sandwiches, and cut up fruit, and broccoli.
You can make easy mac and cheese that will be nicer for them than what ever is served in restaurants.
Google for chicken nuggets recipes. Also pizza recipes. My mom used to make pizza dough on Thursday, put it in the fridge, and roll it out to cook on Fridays.
http://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-freeze-pizza-dough-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-178431

Liftng4Lis

It's one thing to learn about nutrients, its another to make a child self conscious about food at this age. What kind of diet adjustments are they talking about? Was this a general statement to the team? Making conscientious choices in food, as a parent is one thing, having a child "track" their food is another.
Additionally, this is a coach, not a dietitian. How much schooling in nutrition do they have?

ogmomma2012

Your pediatrician would know more than their coaches.

BWBTrish

sorry but you are the parent

You are responsible for them certainly at that young age.
Its important to learn them to eat healthy and snacking in moderation

Not to learn them to track their food. They are children!

You learn them control ( like 1 sweet is enough and not taking or giving them 20 or the whole bag)
You give the good example by eating right and feeding them nutrition's that help them in their daily life.

But finding an app so they can track??? nope nope nope!