Help feeding teenagers
Replies
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Unfortunately due to their ages it has been learned behaviour for 15 and 17 years. It is also difficult to 'educate' someone else's children without stepping on parental toes.
Thanks for the food suggestions so far, very useful!
at that age they can cook for themselves.
My son eats what is prepared or fixes something himself and has since he was about 15...but he's mine.
Now mind you he balked at whole wheat bread so I bought the white whole wheat...now it's only whole wheat..
He and my husband hated ww pasta...I bought it anyway...again eat it or fix something else they got used to the texture.
I wont get into the whole educating other people's children...it can be hard if you don't have support...
ETA: food options are plentiful for "Picky eaters"
Try Chicken Fajita's...lots of protien, veggies, cheese...
instead of whole wheat pasta you have to boil try the fresh..explain the color of it is due to it being fresh because with that it's usually a texture thing anyway
Buy the white whole wheat bread
Taco's are great and heathly esp if you substitue ground chicken or turkey (you can make a salad instead of taco shells)
Try soups full of pasta and meat and veggies
My husband and son love HB soup ( know sounds odd) but barley, carrots, cooked hb, with tomatoe soup and beef broth.
Pizza is great...cook the meat before you put it on and drain the fat.
Spice up the chicken differently...we love greek, lemon pepper etc.
another favorite is chili burger supper (I use whole wheat pasta cause they can't tell), just cook hb and pasta mix together add in chuncky sirloin burger soup, tomatoe soup, cheese and bake for 20mins)
My husband isn't a seafood fan but when I want it I eat it (mind you I usually do that when he works nights)
But really there are options...I have my son to the point where he doesn't ask usually...teehee but I don't serve him tomatoes ever...he hates them, mushrooms is another one unless they are raw.0 -
Off the original topic; you should probably eat more than 1200 calories a day while doing Insanity. Even when not doing Insanity.
Yah and this too...esp doing insanity...not sure how you do it on so little food.0 -
Technically she did ask for advice.So many posts here are just dishing you up a parenting lesson you didn't ask for!0 -
Technically she did ask for advice.So many posts here are just dishing you up a parenting lesson you didn't ask for!
Yes she did...on meal planning not on parenting. If I asked you for advice on buying a new dress would you tell me my hair style was all wrong?!0 -
Technically she did ask for advice.So many posts here are just dishing you up a parenting lesson you didn't ask for!
Yes she did...on meal planning not on parenting. If I asked you for advice on buying a new dress would you tell me my hair style was all wrong?!
how tall is that horse in your profile picture? it seems high.0 -
If it didn't look right with the style of the dress then yes.
Technically she did ask for advice.So many posts here are just dishing you up a parenting lesson you didn't ask for!
Yes she did...on meal planning not on parenting. If I asked you for advice on buying a new dress would you tell me my hair style was all wrong?!0 -
Agreed the 4 year old shouldn't cook for him/her self. The 20 year old should be more than capable.
The 20 year old does cook for herself and for all of us from time to time. I did not say they did not learn to cook, quite the opposite - I said that teaching them to cook was teaching a life skill.0 -
If it didn't look right with the style of the dress then yes.
Technically she did ask for advice.So many posts here are just dishing you up a parenting lesson you didn't ask for!
Yes she did...on meal planning not on parenting. If I asked you for advice on buying a new dress would you tell me my hair style was all wrong?!
Totally agree...0 -
If they don't like it they can make a pb and j.
This....my kids know that I'm not fixing anything different. The 6 year old eats what's on his plate because he knows if he doesn't, there'll be no dessert. The 12 year old will eat it with a little fuss. My 17 year old (when he's home and not at work) will generally eat what I cook, or buy things with his own money.0 -
I live with my boyfriend and his teenagers. My boyfriend wants to eat healthily and I am a week into 1,200 a day and Insanity.
My trouble comes when preparing meals for the kids. They don't like brown pasta or brown rice, prawns and fish in general are a no no for them. So I usually end up preparing two meals, eg a prawn and salmon brown pasta meal and then a chicken and white pasta one.
Does anyone have any suggestions for low calorie meals which are not loaded with carbs for fussy eaters??
You are only eating 1200 calories a day and doing Insanity? I couldn't get past that part at first. Talk about insane...
Brown rice is gross. Fix them white rice. Don't force them to eat things they don't like. Fix them pizza. Teenagers love pizza. I have two of them myself, and we eat pizza and lots of pasta dishes. It sounds like you and your husband are clueless about how to eat healthy. Unlearn the myths that the media stuck in your head. All food is potentially healthy or unhealthy.
If I lived with you, I would be so mad.0 -
I live with my boyfriend and his teenagers. My boyfriend wants to eat healthily and I am a week into 1,200 a day and Insanity.
What???? If you are doing insanity the diet guides lowest intake is 1600, please eat more. doing a program like insanity will require fuel.0 -
If you insist on cooking what they like, then how about cooking 2 days worth of food each day, but alternating between your healthy food and their food? For example, on Monday prepare white pasta with whatever they like and they eat that Monday and Tuesday (you'll be eating what you prepared on Sunday). On Tuesday prepare your brown rice and shrimp or whatever you like and you eat that on Tuesday and Wednesday. That way you're only cooking one meal at a time, just larger portions.
I would also have them participate by microwaving the leftovers or helping to prepare the food each night because getting them involved in the kitchen helps to overcome picky eating habits.0 -
Try Chicken Fajita's...lots of protien, veggies, cheese...
instead of whole wheat pasta you have to boil try the fresh..explain the color of it is due to it being fresh because with that it's usually a texture thing anyway
Buy the white whole wheat bread
Taco's are great and heathly esp if you substitue ground chicken or turkey (you can make a salad instead of taco shells)
Try soups full of pasta and meat and veggies
My husband and son love HB soup ( know sounds odd) but barley, carrots, cooked hb, with tomatoe soup and beef broth.
Pizza is great...cook the meat before you put it on and drain the fat.
Spice up the chicken differently...we love greek, lemon pepper etc.
another favorite is chili burger supper (I use whole wheat pasta cause they can't tell), just cook hb and pasta mix together add in chuncky sirloin burger soup, tomatoe soup, cheese and bake for 20mins)
^^ This is a great list for food that the whole family will enjoy. One meal for all isn't that hard if you change your mindset about food being inherently unhealthy.0 -
If they don't like it they can make a pb and j.
This was where we had to go with our kids when DW and I started eating better. It worked once we got past the histronics.0 -
this
Why is this an issue? They are children. They eat what's put before them or they don't eat, or get jobs and buy their own food.
I ate what was put in front of me or I didn't eat.
This is our rule. Eat what I make or make a pb&j. Obviously, my 6 year old isn't going to eat our spicy stuff like buffalo chicken or chili, so we make an exception then but it's usually a pb&j , apple and go-gurt.0 -
I really don't understand the blunt and almost aggresive answers some people are giving. Ok, so in your opinions children should eat what is put before them, but that doesn't always work especially when implemented at a late stage. Being a step parent is tough at the best of times and having a confrontational "eat it or go without attitude" could have major repercussions on family life!
Also, for some children it's more than 'being picky' my son has sensory issues and it's taken me 16 years to get him to eat something close to a normal diet...even now he won't eat anything with runny sauce/gravy or any vegetable except peas/mange tout and similar and they have to be raw! Needless to say I cooked seperate meals for him for years. A health visitor once told me to put food in front of him and not allow anything else to eat until he'd eaten it, as children won't starve themselves. I followed her advice and after 48 hours gave in as he was very distressed and so was I! He was 3 at the time and the meal was sausages and mash.
Anyway, to the OP, my advice is similar to what's been said by a few people already.
1. Teach them to cook and provide them with basic ingredients to make simple meals - my son can now cook a few basic meals for himself and it helped him realise how hard I'd been working to keep him fed all these years.
2. Keep talking to them and showing them what you are cooking for yourselves, letting them try what you've made if they want to. My younger son has always tried what we're eating and at 14 he's a lover of all thing fishy.
3. Batch cook something they like (say lasange or similar) that you can freeze and microwave when needed. Maybe make this a cooking lesson for them too?
4. Sometimes you just have to cook two things, even if we're all having the same meal I have to cook gluten free pasta for my husband and normal white pasta for the rest of us, I'd prefer brown but I'm not cooking 3 lots! You just have to compromise sometimes.
thanks - it's easy to see which posters actually are bringing up children. Most of those with the "take it leave it" attitude seem to be referencing their own perfect childhoods.0 -
I'm all for letting them cook for themselves--just don't antagonize them by turning it into a fight. Ask them what they like, buy what they need, and get their dad to help and both of you can teach them. I agree it's not your job to parent them, but you do need to establish a friendly relationship with them--one of mutual respect and cooperation. Whenever you can, help prepare the foods you do have in common or make a little extra of yours and offer them a taste. Teenagers do have a grueling day at school (yes, we have the same at work), but they are accustomed to being cared for and cooked for and they get anxious about change. If they see your efforts as a way of guiding them to adulthood and personal responsibility (and freedom), they may respond more positively. (Remind them that when they graduate high school and go on to college/career, they will want to know how to shop and cook for themselves). My girls started cooking for themselves in high school and now in college they are fully capable of doing their own meal planning, shopping, and cooking. If they see you making progress and having more energy, they may become more interested in healthy eating also.0
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I have a picky husband, I call him the complainer. Don't tell them they are eating healthy just try to disguise it. Brown pasta put sauce on it. the rice, take your potion out and put a little butter and grated parm cheese on it, you'd be surprised how just that improves the flavor. I try to eat low carb but I make a starch every night for them, I just don't eat it. Mashed potatoes, add cauliflower to it they will never know! Grind up loads of veggies in a food processer and mix them in, they will never know! Tell them to try what ever you make, if they don't like don't eat it. I do this my whole family eats better and actually like the healthy stuff! good luck!
Oh my...
Finicky teenagers are going to detect cauliflower in mashed potatoes.
My husband would, and he'd be unhappy at my misrepresentation. And that's what it would be.
No they won't. I pulled this over on my nephews just a few weeks ago, and they didn't know. They even went back for seconds. After I told them they were astonished.
Still misrepresenting.
"Pulling it over"
How nice. Lets not be honest, let's trick them.
Then let's wonder why they don't trust us.0 -
I have a picky husband, I call him the complainer. Don't tell them they are eating healthy just try to disguise it. Brown pasta put sauce on it. the rice, take your potion out and put a little butter and grated parm cheese on it, you'd be surprised how just that improves the flavor. I try to eat low carb but I make a starch every night for them, I just don't eat it. Mashed potatoes, add cauliflower to it they will never know! Grind up loads of veggies in a food processer and mix them in, they will never know! Tell them to try what ever you make, if they don't like don't eat it. I do this my whole family eats better and actually like the healthy stuff! good luck!
Oh my...
Finicky teenagers are going to detect cauliflower in mashed potatoes.
My husband would, and he'd be unhappy at my misrepresentation. And that's what it would be.
No they won't. I pulled this over on my nephews just a few weeks ago, and they didn't know. They even went back for seconds. After I told them they were astonished.
Still misrepresenting.
"Pulling it over"
How nice. Lets not be honest, let's trick them.
Then let's wonder why they don't trust us.
This. My kids knew what they were getting, and why. Just because they didn't like it, didn't mean they didn't have to eat it, if it was good for them. How will they learn to eat healthy if they are tricked into eating healthy foods? Who is going to sneak it into their food when they move out on their own?0 -
ETA: If it's in the house my son is allowed to eat it pretty much. If I don't want him to eat something I don't buy it. He can either eat what I provide, starve or go buy what he wants himself. That's what I did when I was 17. I didn't like my mothers cooking much, so I often spent my hard earned cash on my own food.
I did the same thing at times. I see so many posts on MFP from teens and college aged individuals who complain that they don't like the groceries their parents buy, or they refuse to purchase Quest bars, etc. I am always taken aback. When I was that age, before actually moving out on my own, I considered it like a "bonus" that I was able to eat with my parents most of the time since I already knew food was expensive.
haha. As parents we are required to feed the children. We are not required to feed them what they want. I tell my son this all the time. I say I am only required by law to feed you. I buy the food I buy because I love you and I want you to be healthy, I occasionally buy the unhealthy things you like because I love you and I want you to be happy. I am required to do neither. As long as you eat everyday I fulfill my legal duty. If you do not like what i offer you, feel free to go purchase your own food. I take the same approach with clothes and living arrangements (he hates his room because it's smaller then his last 2 rooms, not because he is lacking anything ). It stops the argument and gets him thinking. I've actually taken him to the store, let him pick out all the stuff he wanted and then we totaled it all up and he was completely shocked at how much eating what he wanted to would cost. So now he eats what I make without an argument and if he really really wants Doritos (which I never buy) he doesn't even ask me anymore, he just goes and gets them himself.
that might not work if they aren't your kids, but i'd tell my boyfriend this is how i operate. I will no treat your kids differently. You want them to get a special meal, you can cook it.0 -
I have a picky husband, I call him the complainer. Don't tell them they are eating healthy just try to disguise it. Brown pasta put sauce on it. the rice, take your potion out and put a little butter and grated parm cheese on it, you'd be surprised how just that improves the flavor. I try to eat low carb but I make a starch every night for them, I just don't eat it. Mashed potatoes, add cauliflower to it they will never know! Grind up loads of veggies in a food processer and mix them in, they will never know! Tell them to try what ever you make, if they don't like don't eat it. I do this my whole family eats better and actually like the healthy stuff! good luck!
Oh my...
Finicky teenagers are going to detect cauliflower in mashed potatoes.
My husband would, and he'd be unhappy at my misrepresentation. And that's what it would be.
No they won't. I pulled this over on my nephews just a few weeks ago, and they didn't know. They even went back for seconds. After I told them they were astonished.
Still misrepresenting.
"Pulling it over"
How nice. Lets not be honest, let's trick them.
Then let's wonder why they don't trust us.
This. My kids knew what they were getting, and why. Just because they didn't like it, didn't mean they didn't have to eat it, if it was good for them. How will they learn to eat healthy if they are tricked into eating healthy foods? Who is going to sneak it into their food when they move out on their own?
:drinker:0 -
I live with my boyfriend and his teenagers. My boyfriend wants to eat healthily and I am a week into 1,200 a day and Insanity.
My trouble comes when preparing meals for the kids. They don't like brown pasta or brown rice, prawns and fish in general are a no no for them. So I usually end up preparing two meals, eg a prawn and salmon brown pasta meal and then a chicken and white pasta one.
Does anyone have any suggestions for low calorie meals which are not loaded with carbs for fussy eaters??
It's a challenge to provide meal suggestions because only you and your boyfriend know exactly how fussy they are. And, I will admit, I can't tell from my seat where their fussiness comes from. I've known people who were fussy because they didn't like the food offered, people who were fussy because they didn't like the person offering it, and even people who were fussy because they didn't like that we didn't go to the restaurant they wanted to go to.
So fussiness could come from many areas.
I do think that the idea of letting people load their own plates is a possibility. I've been to many big family meals where that worked very well to accommodate different tastes. Don't like Brussel Sprouts? Just pass them on to the next person.
There's also, given that we're talking about teenagers, some merit to the idea of "eat what is provided, or make your own meals" because that should be within their capabilities.
I will say that in my family as I was growing up (so this doesn't have to apply anywhere outside my family), the rule was that we ate what mom cooked or went hungry. And, while you weren't required to clean your plate, you DID have to finish it before you could eat something else. There was no saying "I don't want to eat my beans" at dinner and then eating chips an hour later. And that meant you sometimes ate things you didn't really like, but there was still some level of what you might call accommodation. My brother didn't like peas (or anything green, for that matter), so we wouldn't have peas TOO often, and when we did, he was allowed to have a smaller portion, especially as he got older. But my parent's approach was that, as long as my brother and I were their legal responsibility, that included making sure we ate a balanced diet, so he still had to eat his veggies. When he turned 18 and went off to college, he was allowed to eat pizza for every meal if that's what he wanted.0 -
How do you feel about crock pot meals? You can assemble a bunch at once, throw them in the freezer, and pull them out as needed. You can adjust your eaten portion, have it with brown rice while the others eat with white, or whatever.
Here's a blog a friend linked to me yesterday, this page has 10 recipes but if you look on the right there are links to previous entries of 8 or 23 top crock pot recipes. Most of these are a protein and a bunch of vegetables, with things like soy sauce and barbeque sauce (you can probably adjust that for healthier results if you are watching your sodium, etc) :
http://www.mommysfabulousfinds.com/2013/10/easy-crock-pot-freezer-meals-2.html
Beyond that...I'd be tempted to eat a Lean Cuisine every night and toss them a cookbook when they ask "what's for dinner".0 -
It's not so much parenting advice, as perhaps shock at the disrepect and ingratitude. Growing up, I didn't love everything my parents cooked for meals (both cooked), but I ate them because your past palate is neither a predictor of health, nor your future one and if you don't expand it while young, it actually can become very difficult to expand later.
This is so not true!
My parents had very simple tastes, they still have actually, and my brother and I spent the first 16 or so years of our life eating very simple meals of meat and veg. Casseroles, roasts ans such were almost all my Mum cooked, a treat was when Dad cooked a full English breakfast when Mum was working late. However as adults we both discovered a world of food...literally. We are both keen cooks and will eat (or at least try) just about anything. Your palette changes as you get older, in fact you start to lose the ability to taste strong flavours, so strong flavours that children dislike will likely be fine for them as they get older!
There are lots of foods I wouldn't touch as a kid that I tried again as an adult and enjoy eating. Most grown-ups expand their food choices. Kids need not be forced to eat things they don't like. In fact, it could potentially cause an eating disorder if you force them to eat.0 -
I have a picky husband, I call him the complainer. Don't tell them they are eating healthy just try to disguise it. Brown pasta put sauce on it. the rice, take your potion out and put a little butter and grated parm cheese on it, you'd be surprised how just that improves the flavor.
Eww. Sauce does NOT help pasta or rice with a nasty texture.0 -
if you move into their home, and they accept you, throwing a hissy fit about having to boil two pans of pasta is petty and stupid. cooking just for herself and her partner would send a very unpleasant signal about how she views the family unit. looking for compromise meals is a reasonable first step.I wouldn't bother educating someone else's children, either. If he raised them to be that way, let him cook for them or let them buy their own food and cook for themselves - they're well past the age where they should be able to cook for themselves.0 -
I really don't understand the blunt and almost aggresive answers some people are giving. Ok, so in your opinions children should eat what is put before them, but that doesn't always work especially when implemented at a late stage. Being a step parent is tough at the best of times and having a confrontational "eat it or go without attitude" could have major repercussions on family life!
Also, for some children it's more than 'being picky' my son has sensory issues and it's taken me 16 years to get him to eat something close to a normal diet...even now he won't eat anything with runny sauce/gravy or any vegetable except peas/mange tout and similar and they have to be raw! Needless to say I cooked seperate meals for him for years. A health visitor once told me to put food in front of him and not allow anything else to eat until he'd eaten it, as children won't starve themselves. I followed her advice and after 48 hours gave in as he was very distressed and so was I! He was 3 at the time and the meal was sausages and mash.
Anyway, to the OP, my advice is similar to what's been said by a few people already.
1. Teach them to cook and provide them with basic ingredients to make simple meals - my son can now cook a few basic meals for himself and it helped him realise how hard I'd been working to keep him fed all these years.
2. Keep talking to them and showing them what you are cooking for yourselves, letting them try what you've made if they want to. My younger son has always tried what we're eating and at 14 he's a lover of all thing fishy.
3. Batch cook something they like (say lasange or similar) that you can freeze and microwave when needed. Maybe make this a cooking lesson for them too?
4. Sometimes you just have to cook two things, even if we're all having the same meal I have to cook gluten free pasta for my husband and normal white pasta for the rest of us, I'd prefer brown but I'm not cooking 3 lots! You just have to compromise sometimes.
thanks - it's easy to see which posters actually are bringing up children. Most of those with the "take it leave it" attitude seem to be referencing their own perfect childhoods.
Mine are 14 and 16. They know how to make basic things like a sandwich or mac n cheese. I make several things that my husband and I enjoy and they don't. I simply announce it ahead of time, and they will know that they are on their own for dinner that night. It's not "take it or leave it," but rather, "take it or make your own." I am so glad they are old enough to take care of themselves now.0 -
if you move into their home, and they accept you, throwing a hissy fit about having to boil two pans of pasta is petty and stupid. cooking just for herself and her partner would send a very unpleasant signal about how she views the family unit. looking for compromise meals is a reasonable first step.I wouldn't bother educating someone else's children, either. If he raised them to be that way, let him cook for them or let them buy their own food and cook for themselves - they're well past the age where they should be able to cook for themselves.
Good thing no one suggested hissy fits.
You're a tad ahead of yourself. She's neither a parent, nor a step-parent.0 -
Ricist.if they don't like brown rice or pasta, just call them racist.
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Thats exactly what I say to my step children.0
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