I need help with my kids nutrition.
purplemystra
Posts: 159 Member
I have a 15 yr old son and an 11 yr old daughter. They are picky eaters who are steadily gaining weight. . They have grown up with bad examples of how to eat from my husband and I. I didn't know then how to eat better but I'm learning. I have to be very strict with my calorie intake and exercise regularly to lose weight but it's hard to get kids to understand that. I don't know how to teach them to eat better. They hate vegetables. Only eat bananas. I've tried cutting out fast food and limiting snacks at home but it's not working. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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cutting out fast food isn't working? I only buy and keep healthy snacks, so my kids don't have a choice. I don't buy soda or juice. I cut veggies and fruit so it's easier to grab and eat. They only get an hour of screen time each day - video game or TV combined they can choose how to spend it but once it's gone, it's gone. On the weekends we go on family hikes, walk around the zoo, or a bike ride. About three times during the week we get in a quick walk after dinner and we make the kids go. They don't always like it, but...I'm the boss.0
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Cook more and add vegetables to dishes, rather than serving them alone as sides. Make desserts that are contain fiber and fruit. Try lower calorie versions of their favorite foods. Turkey or salmon burgers, or burgers from lean ground beef. Make them smaller and use higher fiber buns. Fish or chicken tacos with reduced fat cheese.
It's hard with kids at that age even when they have been raised with good examples. Sometimes you just have to put your foot down and say "This is the dinner I prepared. Eat it or go hungry."0 -
Don't buy junk food. If it's not in the house, they cannot eat it...unless your son has a job and goes and buys his own.
You may not be able to undo their ideas of how to eat, but you can still give them a good example and steer them in the right direction before they go off to live their own lives. Your daughter, especially, has time to learn to eat healthy.
I'd be honest with them and say that I wanted all of us,especially me because I'm older, to get healthier, but I've done a piss-poor job so far and I wasn't sure how to go about it.
Get their help. Have them help you pick stuff for you all to eat. Ask them to chop some veggies. Kids are much more likely to want to try food they helped to make. Adults, too. We all like trying what we've made.
They'll probably be more likely to go along with it if they know you're trying to do it to make yourself healthier, too.
They'll be learning about healthy eating in school. Check out their books and find the sections on it. Discuss it.
That's my advice. But I know kids. There may be resistance, lol.
This video sums up teens and their resistance to eating healthy food in 24 seconds. "Eat. It."
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=elnG1QynqsY 0 -
We don't keep soda in the house and limit soda to once in a while when we eat out. I guess what I'm really asking is how do I make the transition to healthy foods not so overwhelming. I don't want to take everything away and it makes them feel like their world is over. I worry that they will binge behind my back, hide food, develop an eating disorder. Things I did behind my parents back.0
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My friend worked with special needs children in the school system and as fate would have it, has a passel of grandchildren who are fussy eaters. She doesn't stress, doesn't make food an issue, and finds many ways to make food fun. Here are some ideas I've gleaned from her and elsewhere.
- Have a bowl of attractive fresh fruit out and available.
- Make fruit pizza or fruit kebabs, allowing the children to skewer their own and eat their own.
- Pick a color and theme all your food around that color for the day. You could have an orange day or a green day.
- Your children are old enough to learn how to cook with a little supervision. If they are in charge and allowed to be creative, they could get in to it. You might give each child a night a week when they are in charge of cooking. The only rule; no takeout. They have to make it themselves. If it's pizza, so be it. Let them learn what it takes to make pizza.
- I didn't forbid any foods, but snacking had to stop an hour before dinner. I controlled what was in the house by shopping. I didn't force them to eat everything on their plate, but I wanted them to at least try it.
- I kept a copy of the Canada Food Guide on the fridge.
- With fussy hubby, I collect recipes that work (they get stars if they are winners) and offer them more often. I still venture out once in a while and I do the same thing I did with my children, and ask him to at least try. But I don't put down foreign foods every day of the week. I introduce new foods on occasion and we've shifted slowly to healthier choices over time.
- For instance, pancakes are now protein pancakes. Instead of syrup they are served with yogurt and fruit.
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purplemystra wrote: »We don't keep soda in the house and limit soda to once in a while when we eat out. I guess what I'm really asking is how do I make the transition to healthy foods not so overwhelming. I don't want to take everything away and it makes them feel like their world is over. I worry that they will binge behind my back, hide food, develop an eating disorder. Things I did behind my parents back.
That's a valid concern. Easing into it is probably the way to go. Just gradually make changes to their diet and don't mention it. When you have pasta, add a few more pureed vegetables to the sauce and make the entire dish with less pasta and more sauce. Healthy eating doesn't have to be all salads and steamed vegetables. Get creative. Check out lower calorie recipe sites like eatingwell.com, cookinglight.com, skinnytaste.com, realsimple.com for recipes that you will all enjoy. They won't even know that some are lower calorie.
And still allow for treats. The 'No dessert if you don't eat dinner' rule has been working for many generations.
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My children are both in their mid-thirties, have fairly healthy attitudes towards food, and credit me with instilling healthy food choices. My mother on the other hand, worried about me and my sister's weight and monitored our food intake. I didn't like it so I don't do it to my children. I think it worked out well for them.
Reviewing my comments I think it boils down to increasing the variety of foods by making it fun, finding ways to allow them to be in charge and be creative, make it more about adding new food adventures and new things to try, and don't make it a point of contention in the family.
A commercial I am hating right now includes a "real fruit" gummy treat to add to the child's lunch box. What is more real than real real fruit?0 -
The thing about picky eaters is that if the behavior isn't modified it can last into adulthood. I had a friend who was the youngest of several and super picky. It was awful to go out to eat with her because we couldn't go to any fast food restaurants unless she could special order her food. It wasn't common to ask for a hamburger without anything on it back in the late 80s and she refused to eat anything with any type of sauce on it. She lived on plain meat, plain noodles and plain vegetables. No cheese, no sauces, no spices. You really don't want your kids to end up a person no one wants to eat with. The sooner you can correct it, the better.
My brother's oldest boy was super picky when he was younger and it didn't get better until my SIL made a rule that he had to try one new thing each week. He resisted at first but he soon discovered that there were foods he actually liked once he tried them and then he started getting excited about it. The kid didn't eat his first salad until he was 10 but now he eats them all of the time. One thing to remember is that foods taste differently and have different textures depending on how they are prepared. Broccoli is very different steamed, roasted or raw so if you have the time, try to prepare the new foods in different ways. I, for example, don't like broccoli raw but my family eats steamed broccoli at least once a week.0 -
I am a picky eater and I will say that skinnytaste has great recipes0
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Great advice here. Also try serving vegetables differntly, such as raw instead of cooked. Califlower mash. Roasted veggies. Don't bring white crap into the house and they can't eat it.0
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I remember when my brothers were around 15 -- they ate everything in the house.
Keep foods around that the 15 year old can grab for himself between meals and make good enough portions for him at meal times.
Get the kids involved in food by having them help with
food planning
food shopping
food prepping
food cooking.0 -
There was a study that came out lately on picky eaters, actually, that might help you feel better about how you are doing, anyway. Picky eaters, it turns out, have a stronger reaction to tastes, especially new ones.
For most people, trying a new food about 10 times gives the body enough time to get over the 'ew, weird, I don't recognize this so I don't like it' reaction and into the area where they can actually see if they like it or not.
for picky eaters, it was something like 50-60 times before they didn't like it. So persistence, with new things on the plate every night, over and over, can make a difference, even if it takes a couple months before it feels like there is any progress. :-)0 -
purplemystra wrote: »I have a 15 yr old son and an 11 yr old daughter. They are picky eaters who are steadily gaining weight. . They have grown up with bad examples of how to eat from my husband and I. I didn't know then how to eat better but I'm learning. I have to be very strict with my calorie intake and exercise regularly to lose weight but it's hard to get kids to understand that. I don't know how to teach them to eat better. They hate vegetables. Only eat bananas. I've tried cutting out fast food and limiting snacks at home but it's not working. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
How are you serving the vegetables? I find canned vegetables and overcooked vegetables inedible. I love lightly steamed broccoli with a splash of lemon juice and a dab of butter. Most people like their veggies more cooked than I do so I take mine out first.
I also find the source of the veggies important - kale that is sold already chopped up in bags in the supermarket tends to be tough, as opposed to the tender kale I get from my garden. If I didn't grow it myself, I would buy it from farmer's markets, where produce tends to be cheaper and fresher. (Not suggesting kale is the veggies to start with; just using it as an example.)
(Note: farmer's markets billed as organic tend to be pricier.)0 -
There was a study that came out lately on picky eaters, actually, that might help you feel better about how you are doing, anyway. Picky eaters, it turns out, have a stronger reaction to tastes, especially new ones.
For most people, trying a new food about 10 times gives the body enough time to get over the 'ew, weird, I don't recognize this so I don't like it' reaction and into the area where they can actually see if they like it or not.
for picky eaters, it was something like 50-60 times before they didn't like it. So persistence, with new things on the plate every night, over and over, can make a difference, even if it takes a couple months before it feels like there is any progress. :-)
Interesting. Took me a while to get used to cilantro. I'm imagining my fiance's reaction if I tell him he needs to try cilantro 60 times before he can tell me to never use it again
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You can make (or buy) a few treats,, but stock the house with healthy food. Eating healthy begins in the grocery store.purplemystra wrote: »We don't keep soda in the house and limit soda to once in a while when we eat out. I guess what I'm really asking is how do I make the transition to healthy foods not so overwhelming. I don't want to take everything away and it makes them feel like their world is over. I worry that they will binge behind my back, hide food, develop an eating disorder. Things I did behind my parents back.
If you just don't know how to make healthy food that tastes good, then get to work on learning. Alton Brown had a great cooking show and while a LOT of it was food you couldn't make on a regular basis and still eat healthy, many shows were devoted to making veggies in ways people like. There was even one whole show on sneaking veggies without letting the kids know. The show was called "Good Eats" and it reruns on the Cooking Channel, if you get that channel and have a DVR.
"Give Peas A Chance" and "Field of Greens" are the only titles I remember, but just about every single veggie got a show over the years. You could try watching those.
Buy healthy foods. Prepare them in yummy ways. It may take some time to learn how to do this, but you can do it if you want to!
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Euggh. I hate cilantro. I use parsley instead.
I used cheez whiz and ranch dressing dips for the broccoli. Back when my children were small, ranch dressing was new. I imagine the dip of choice these days is sriracha. I bet it would be great mixed in with a little Greek Yogurt or light mayonnaise.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »There was a study that came out lately on picky eaters, actually, that might help you feel better about how you are doing, anyway. Picky eaters, it turns out, have a stronger reaction to tastes, especially new ones.
For most people, trying a new food about 10 times gives the body enough time to get over the 'ew, weird, I don't recognize this so I don't like it' reaction and into the area where they can actually see if they like it or not.
for picky eaters, it was something like 50-60 times before they didn't like it. So persistence, with new things on the plate every night, over and over, can make a difference, even if it takes a couple months before it feels like there is any progress. :-)
Interesting. Took me a while to get used to cilantro. I'm imagining my fiance's reaction if I tell him he needs to try cilantro 60 times before he can tell me to never use it again
Cilantro is nasty! I cannot be in the same room with it because of the smell.
I've read that the cilantro thing might be genetic.http://gizmodo.com/5942551/genetic-proof-that-you-really-do-hate-cilantro0 -
Sounds like you have a steep hill to climb.
What I do with my kids is to ask them what they want to eat and we cook it together.
We talk about nutrition, different cooking techniques, and the benefits of a balanced diet.
However, I exposed them to many foods since they were babies and never pressured them to like anything.
They naturally developed their own likes and dislikes.
As a result, my 16yo meat eating son is asking me for okra in tomato sauce and spanakopita.
Best of luck to you.
Just keep at it and be patient.0 -
I think a lot of people associate healthy with bland and not tasting good.
I don't know what your goals are for eating more healthy, but it doesn't have to be all quinoa and kale.
I would start with leaner cuts of meat (93/7 ground beef, triming fat off pork chops, chicken breasts), adding more veggies and fruits, and getting rid of soda, fruit juice, cereal, snack cakes, and chips from the house.
I have 3 kids. I buy 1 bag of chips for the week, and 64oz of juice. When it's gone, it's gone. When they tell me we have no chips, I have nothing to eat, I tell them we're out and I'll get some next week, and cut them up a cucumber with lime and chili powder.0 -
My kids are picky and have food sensitivities (celiac), so I find I have to cook much more than the average mom in order to get them healthy foods.
I make breakfast with pancakes waffles of muffins (only made with coconut flour, flax, chia, hemp, and pureed veggies and fruit with protein powder) almost every single day along with bacon and eggs (I'm the only one who eats the eggs). I make sure we have full fat yogurt and dilute their sweetened yogurts with plain to reduce the sugar content. I always make sure I have quality deli meats, or leftovers in the fridge for snacking along with cheese and prewashed and cut veggies. Dinners, I always overlap so they have something they like whether it is freshly cooked or some leftovers from the night before.
I limit their bread to one slice per day. GF bread costs triple normal bread, and I'd rather they fill up on other things. I never serve juice except for a party drink. I will make them smoothies instead, usually chocolate to hide the green. I don't keep cookies, chips or what I consider to be fattening junk food in the house unless we have an occasion or company (couple of times per month).
The main thing is I had to put in more time. We only eat out once or twice a year (due to celiac) so I am cooking 95% of the time. It's a pain in the butt but it is worth it.
So far it works. My kids are pretty lean, probably slightly leaner than average. They are also in sports 3 or 4 days per week. My kids are also also younger than yours (8, 10, 12) so food is easier to control.
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Cook more and add vegetables to dishes, rather than serving them alone as sides. Make desserts that are contain fiber and fruit. Try lower calorie versions of their favorite foods. Turkey or salmon burgers, or burgers from lean ground beef. Make them smaller and use higher fiber buns. Fish or chicken tacos with reduced fat cheese.
This exactly. We mix shredded, pureed, or finely chopped non-starchy vegetables into everything. That includes meatloaf, meatballs, nuggets, burgers, burritos, enchiladas, sauces, casseroles, etc. We use lean meats and lower calorie bread and dairy products, bake instead of fry, etc. We have healthier snacks - popcorn, jerky, nuts, fruit, cheese sticks, yogurt, smoothies, vegetables and dip.
My 7 year old's favorite dishes are bean or chicken quesadillas, any kind of pita pizza, macaroni and (cauliflower) cheese, chicken/zucchini nuggets, and she'll easily eat vegetables if they're roasted.
As someone else said, maybe checking out www.skinnytaste.com would give you more ideas on how to cook things that you typically make, but in a healthier way.0 -
You are the adult, you are actually still in control of what the eat most of the time. Do not try, just do it. These are older kids, they understand. Talk with them about what a balanced diet should include daily, about limiting fast food and other "junk" food to an occasional treat and just implement the plan. These are not babies who will starve, they can very well eat little or not at all until they get hungry and not suffer.
I am not saying to swap all their favourite meals for steamed vegetables of course. Offer them foods you know they like, or at least they tolerate, try to make as healthy variations as possible, and start adding things you know they should be eating.
Ask them to offer ideas about what they would like, and google recipes that seem healthier for these foods. I can think of very few things where healthier alternatives do nto exist. At these ages, they can also be involved in planning weekly menus with you, so they have choices, can help buying groceries and can help you figure out if a recipe you have found sounds appealing or not.
Stop stocking snacks etc at home. When you decide to have a treat, buy enough to eat that day: cookies for one day or a few servings of ice cream or just enough chips to eat while watching a movie etc. They cannot eat what is not available. Arrange one treat evening per week, and try to offer healthier alternatives the other days - not meaning ban sugar or salt etc, just look for healthier choices, or prepare dessert etc yourself. Homemade cakes, pancakes topped with fruit, air popped pop corn, jello, frozen yoghurt, smoothies etc are tasty, most kids like them and they are both healthy and without a ton of calories.
Make sure you always offer salad or vegetables with meals. It helps if you all seat at the table together whenever possible, and they see you eating these things. Try different vegetables, different salads, different seasonings, grilling, boiling, steaming, raw etc. Encourage them to try, and keep offering day after day. It takes time.
Keep fresh fruit around. Have a few on a counter where they will see them. You cannot force them to eat them, but the more they see them, the more probable it is they will at least try.0 -
purplemystra wrote: »I have a 15 yr old son and an 11 yr old daughter. They are picky eaters who are steadily gaining weight. . They have grown up with bad examples of how to eat from my husband and I. I didn't know then how to eat better but I'm learning. I have to be very strict with my calorie intake and exercise regularly to lose weight but it's hard to get kids to understand that. I don't know how to teach them to eat better. They hate vegetables. Only eat bananas. I've tried cutting out fast food and limiting snacks at home but it's not working. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
When you say they are steadily gaining weight do you mean beyond what would be expected for normal development? Because steady weight gain sounds normal for those ages. Maybe talk to their doctor about what would be appropriate calorie intake for their needs.
My dd (15) has absolutely no need to lose weight. We have discussed nutrition and having balanced meals with protein, vegetable or fruit, grains. She doesn't like vegetables much unless they are pureed in a sauce or in soup. Dd likes minestrone soup. She loves many kinds of fruit so it is easy to get her to eat fruit. We always have fruit. We eat out only once per week. We buy limited amounts of things like candy or soda pop. They are "sometimes foods". I encourage dd to put her portion in a bowl instead of eating out of the package.
My dd very much wants to be grown up. Eating more foods is part of that. She eats more than she used to.
I've told dd that exercise is good for everybody no matter their weight. I encourage her to exercise with me. She likes the Just Dance video games.
Be a good example now. Show how much better you feel.
Discuss your concern. As a family brainstorm ideas to change some habits. Talk about the science of food and how the body uses each food type.
Try different ways of preparing vegetables and fruits. Throw vegetables on pizza. Involve your children in food shopping and food preparation. Try new vegetables or fruits. Grow a garden.
There are lots of books and web sites about nutrition aimed at kids.
http://www.choosemyplate.gov/kids
http://www.amazon.com/Janice-VanCleaves-Food-Nutrition-Every-ebook/dp/B0024NK5PG/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1439920287&sr=1-7&keywords=nutrition
http://kidshealth.org/teen/food_fitness/
http://www.healthyeating.org/Healthy-Kids/Kids-Games-Activities.aspx
http://www.cdc.gov/bam/nutrition/game.html
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/nutritionforkids/games/index.htm0 -
On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing. 0
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Lead by example and keep reintroducing the healthy stuff. It can take several exposures until they start liking things.0
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quiltlovinlisa wrote: »On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.
Yup, I do this in zucchini season. This year has been terrible for squashes
My cucumber plant died, the summer squashes I planted in early JUNE have yet to produce a single squash, and the zucchini I planted a month later isn't producing yet either.
My future mother-in-law has been jonesing for Chocolate Zucchini Cake, which goes something like this: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/chocolate-zucchini-cake-9070 -
kshama2001 wrote: »There was a study that came out lately on picky eaters, actually, that might help you feel better about how you are doing, anyway. Picky eaters, it turns out, have a stronger reaction to tastes, especially new ones.
For most people, trying a new food about 10 times gives the body enough time to get over the 'ew, weird, I don't recognize this so I don't like it' reaction and into the area where they can actually see if they like it or not.
for picky eaters, it was something like 50-60 times before they didn't like it. So persistence, with new things on the plate every night, over and over, can make a difference, even if it takes a couple months before it feels like there is any progress. :-)
Interesting. Took me a while to get used to cilantro. I'm imagining my fiance's reaction if I tell him he needs to try cilantro 60 times before he can tell me to never use it again
Cilantro is nasty! I cannot be in the same room with it because of the smell.
I've read that the cilantro thing might be genetic.http://gizmodo.com/5942551/genetic-proof-that-you-really-do-hate-cilantro
If it's genetic, it's a recessive thing because I despise cilantro and my parents and three siblings all love it. Trust me, I've had it more than 60 times (it's ubiquitous here in the southwest U.S. and restaurant owners seem to think that everyone loves it) and I still can barely stand the stuff but at least it doesn't make me want to vomit any more.0 -
If you're the cook, you are in control of their meals. And if you're in charge of buying food, you control what comes into the house. Easing into good eating habits is fine, and will probably be best, but talk to them about your (and their) eating habits. Let them know you're not going to forbid junk food or eating out, but in order for all the family to be healthy (and to save money!), those items will be limited. You'll still make foods they like, and really, healthy eating doesn't have to be bland or horrible, which is what they might think. Ask them to find recipes online they want to try, and get them involved in making them. They need to learn how to cook anyways, and they're both old enough to do so. Being involved in the cooking process is a good way to teach good eating habits and is a good activity to do together.
And if all else fails, use the phrase my mom always used: if you don't want to eat it, fine, but you're not getting anything else until the next meal. If you do tell them that, stick with it. One skipped meal isn't going to hurt them, and they'll be much more willing to eat at least part of what you put in front of them later!0 -
quiltlovinlisa wrote: »On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.
Yep, I posted this earlier, but I make everything with half veggies, especially nuggets. I'll shred 2 large zucchini or squash, squeeze out the water, add to 1lb ground chicken and add an egg and seasoning. Cover with breadcrumbs of choice and bake at 425 for 17 or so minutes on a rack.
I freeze them for easy meals - when you're ready to eat thaw in the microwave and broil both sides until crisp.
My kid has never told me she hates zucchini or squash in the past 7 years I've made these. I keep them on hand at all times.
ETA: we make seasoned breadcrumbs out of chex cereal0 -
Queenmunchy wrote: »quiltlovinlisa wrote: »On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.
Yep, I posted this earlier, but I make everything with half veggies, especially nuggets. I'll shred 2 large zucchini or squash, squeeze out the water, add to 1lb ground chicken and add an egg and seasoning. Cover with breadcrumbs of choice and bake at 425 for 17 or so minutes on a rack.
I freeze them for easy meals - when you're ready to eat thaw in the microwave and broil both sides until crisp.
My kid has never told me she hates zucchini or squash in the past 7 years I've made these. I keep them on hand at all times.
ETA: we make seasoned breadcrumbs out of chex cereal
Those are AWESOME looking!
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