Feeding three always-starving skinny boys AND myself...?

anjukins

So... all the boys in my family (my husband and two sons) are all so so skinny and super duper active, and we're really strict vegetarians, so I literally have to think of every possible way to get calories into them (protein shakes between meals, lots of olive and coconut oil in the food, an egg a day, etc etc. )... and it is SO hard to plan a different meal for myself than for them... i try to eat smaller servings, but the food itself is still so rich and hearty... and when i eat differently, my kids notice and worry about me... does anyone have any tips on meeting such different needs on a daily basis?

And on a similar note, does anyone have any tips on increasing AM appetite? I can't ever seem to work up an interest in eating before noon, and i know that throws off my blood sugar and metabolism for the rest of the day...

thanks for the tips! xo

rinangel

how much do you eat at night close to bedtime? Also, have you routinely not eaten in the morning? if so, your body is used to this pattern and like anything will take some doing to undo it. Don't eat too much at night before bed, and always always eat a breakfast. Your body's metabolism only kicks on with the first bite of anything, be it at 6am or 2 pm. So start eating something in the morning to start up your metabolism and eventually your body will understand. Also, yes, you need to get out and exercise; with exercise, your body will need fuel. So feed it well during the day, not at night before bed and have a good breakfast.
As far as different needs of vegetarians, not sure what to say about that, except make sure first that you are eating healthy as well. Talk to a dietician to get some better clues as to what you can do. But if you eat right, start with a breakfast and exercise regularly, you might not have to worry so much over time about such different needs.

servilia

How old are your kids? I hate to be nosy but I'm thinking kids need real food as they're growing, not protein shakes.

By the way I don't think there's anything wrong with eating the same foods you give them - eggs, olive and coconut oil, veggies, etc, just stick to portions that will allow you to stay within your calorie goals.
I'm not a breakfast eater so can't help you there...

anjukins

Don't worry about being nosy! And thanks for the opportunity to clarify. My kids eat three square meals, plus two healthy, well-rounded snacks every day, which sometimes (if they're really hungry between meals) include protein shakes- I don't mean that i'm feeding them only protein shakes and olive oil!! hah!

And they're seven and three.

scarletleavy

I think breakfast is just a habit you have to work on. I used to never eat breakfast in the morning, but I started forcing myself to eat a little bit and over the years it's really grown on me. Now breakfast is my biggest meal of the day and I can't even imagine not eating within like an hour of waking up.

My suggestion on the food issue is that smaller portion sizes of what everyone else is eating isn't really a long term solution. I think it might just make you feel more hungry and deprived. I guess that really depends on the person though. I would try to bulk up your smaller portions of the main meal with some lower calorie veggies, cut out the protein shakes.

Also, I was a strict vegetarian for a few years, so I understand the food issues from that side. What kinds of things are you normally eating? Maybe I could help make some suggestions to lighten up your portions a bit.

Tisha247

I hope you are feeding your children the right nutrients! I don't have anything nice to say about your children being fed a vegetarian diet and I don't think you should be getting advice on what to feed them from a dieting forum. Please go and see a dietitian straight away for your childrens health.

anjukins

I think I've been a little confusing... I don't drink protein shakes. my kids do occasionally and my husband does as often as we can think of it- if he doesn't get a huge amount of calories and protein every day, he gets migraines- he's 6'0 and vacillates between 150-160, and it's so hard to keep the weight on him!

I think it's a great idea to eat more of some elements and less of others-- rather than less of everything all together-- that's so simple but something i've never really considered. I think my biggest problem is overdoing the grains- lots of wheat and rice here. I think that's where I'm going to start.

And yeah... exercise, of course. sigh.

anjukins

And thanks so mcuh for everyone's concern about my kid's diets, though, all of you. I am very, very careful about their nutrition- our pediatrician and the office dietitian are both very impressed with their physical health and their diet. I do appreciate the concern- I know that a vegetarian diet can be extremely unhealthy, if done irresponsibly.

And for further clarity... I'm not asking for help on what to feed them- I'm asking for advice on how to meet my own needs while meeting theirs (which I'm already doing, quite well). Thanks again.

heybrit

I hope you are feeding your children the right nutrients! I don't have anything nice to say about your children being fed a vegetarian diet and I don't think you should be getting advice on what to feed them from a dieting forum. Please go and see a dietitian straight away for your childrens health.

Wow, way to get quite rude! You act like a omni diet is so healthy when there are conclusive studies as to the awful effect meat can have on a person's diet. I doubt you are a professional and you shouldn't act so judgmental of somebody who obviously is taking the time to make sure their kids are very healthy. It's a shame you are so quick to judge vegetarians! Maybe you should go see the nutritionist about the positive, healthy effects of a strictly vegetarian diet. Not a carb fiend vegetarian diet but an actual healthy vegetarian diet gets way more healthy nutrients and protein than any of your misconceptions allow you to believe!

anjukins

Thanks for the support, Britney

I'm sure she had the best of intentions, even if she didn't phrase her concerns in a gentle way.

heybrit

Thanks for the support, Britney

I'm sure she had the best of intentions, even if she didn't phrase her concerns in a gentle way.

I hope that this is true because her bullheaded ignorance is all that I see at the moment! Glad you have a much more patient demeanor with vegetarian haters than myself ;D

kschhr

I would make meals with a few different components. Maybe baked potatoes with steamed/roasted veggies and veggie burgers? When there's a few things to choose from, it won't look weird not eating a certain part of it. In this case, you could easily eat the baked potato (assuming you don't add butter/sour cream) and veggies, or veggies and the veggie burgers.

scarletleavy

I think I've been a little confusing... I don't drink protein shakes. my kids do occasionally and my husband does as often as we can think of it- if he doesn't get a huge amount of calories and protein every day, he gets migraines- he's 6'0 and vacillates between 150-160, and it's so hard to keep the weight on him!

I think it's a great idea to eat more of some elements and less of others-- rather than less of everything all together-- that's so simple but something i've never really considered. I think my biggest problem is overdoing the grains- lots of wheat and rice here. I think that's where I'm going to start.

And yeah... exercise, of course. sigh.

I think the grains are probably key here. Some people are more sensitive to them than others. When I started cutting back on my grain consumption it really made losing and maintaining my weight a lot easier, even when eating more calories in general. Maybe cut back on your grain consumption and see? I think swapping some of the extra grains with some sort of veggie could be helpful. If you pulse cauliflower in a food processor it ends up with a similar texture to rice. I like to use part grain and part veggie, either riced cauliflower or grated zucchini/carrot, etc. It still ends up being really filling, but you have less of the grain and more of the other stuff.

meggers123

I hope you are feeding your children the right nutrients! I don't have anything nice to say about your children being fed a vegetarian diet and I don't think you should be getting advice on what to feed them from a dieting forum. Please go and see a dietitian straight away for your childrens health.

Wow. I'm reminded of a quote from Bambi's mother... If you don't have anything nice to say.... and all that.

I think it's great that the kids are getting organic, healthy food. And it being vegetarian is neither here nor there. I must say it's 100% healthier than those kids growing up on a McDonalds and Mac n Cheese diet.

Also, I noticed you weren't asking advice on your kids diets, but on yours, so I will address that.

I would agree with the suggestion of dishes with multiple parts, so you can eat less or more of certain things. Syrian dishes like tabouleh, parsely salad, carrot and tofu salad, are delish. You can serve them with muhammara and hummus and pita, which the boys can eat more of. Also curries, stir-fries and other healthy dishes, with an extra side for the boys.

Also, quinoa and amaranth and spelt are good alternative ''grains'' to substitute for rice. Also, mixed rice blends tend to be healthier and lower-cal. I also think lentils are a great (cheap, filling, healthy) thing to add to any chili, curry, soup.

Good Luck!

Tisha247

I replied to your original posting which was titled "feeding three always starving skinny boys and myself"

I have two boys who are feed an excellent diet and I as a mother I would be VERY concerned if they were 'always starving'. I feed my boys based on our government’s recommendations which includes meat. If you want to be vegetarians, go for it I say but when you involve children you have to make sure you are absolutely doing the best thing possible for them. My advice was to seek professional help, that’s not being ignorant. I've since read you have had your children’s diet assessed and that's all very well but I hadn’t read that when I responded.

flipsit

I think it's great that you are raising your children on a varied vegetarian diet. Active children are often hungry as they burn through their energy.
I would look at varying the ratio of your meals so that you can still eat the same foods as your family but your plate will have a higher proportion of vegetables. Also (and I'm sure you know this already), the more you exercise the more you can eat, so squeeze in as much activity as you can.

Best wishes. x

meerkat70

I hope you are feeding your children the right nutrients! I don't have anything nice to say about your children being fed a vegetarian diet and I don't think you should be getting advice on what to feed them from a dieting forum. Please go and see a dietitian straight away for your childrens health.

oh dear.

As the mother of a very healthy nine year old vegetarian who eats far better than most of her meat eating friends, well just oh dear. You appear to have ideas on nutrition that got stuck somewhere in the fifties.

And frankly i don't have much nice to say about that!

meerkat70

I replied to your original posting which was titled "feeding three always starving skinny boys and myself"

I have two boys who are feed an excellent diet and I as a mother I would be VERY concerned if they were 'always starving'. I feed my boys based on our government’s recommendations which includes meat. If you want to be vegetarians, go for it I say but when you involve children you have to make sure you are absolutely doing the best thing possible for them. My advice was to seek professional help, that’s not being ignorant. I've since read you have had your children’s diet assessed and that's all very well but I hadn’t read that when I responded.

no, you responded with prejudice. It's hardly unusual for a parent to describe growing boys as 'always hungry' is it? If it were a meat eating family i think we all know you'd have made a rather less judgmental reply.

Tisha247

As I said I have two boys myself that I feed, they arn't starving all the time! Obviously that suggests something is missing! Don't alarm bells ring, if your children are stick thin and hungry all the time.

Stop trying to turn this into some sort of vendetta, that's not helping any one!

And being concerned about the health of children is not being nasty or prejudiced, I'm entitled to have an opinion just as you are.

anjukins

gaah. ok. i wasn't going to respond to this personally, but enough is enough.

i used inflammatory language in my initial posting title- i see that now. for someone who is already predisposed to anti-vegetarian sentiments, my using the term "starving" to describe my kids is only going to add highly flammable fuel to a fire that was burning long before i showed up. they are "skinny" because their papa graced them with very slim genes, a lightning fast metabolism, and a proclivity for intense physical activities. thank goodness, on all counts.

i've been vegetarian my whole life. i'm not anemic, i'm not brain damaged, i'm not blind, i'm not wasting away, i have healthy brain and bone tissue, and lots of reserves. in fact, i'm fat! hah! my thyroid is crappy thanks to my inherent biology, and i don't exercise nearly enough. my vegetarian diet is probably the only thing saving me from morbid obesity at this point. i had two exceptionally healthy vegan pregnancies (though i chose not to raise my kids vegan, because getting them all the necessary nutrition for development is much easier when one is willing to include healthy dairies and eggs), and my children are beautiful, healthy, clever, active, strong, hungry growing kids. incidentally, my thyroid issue requires no pharmaceutical intervention when i'm following a vegan diet, funny thing.

i would respectfully encourage all potential posters to both read carefully the original posts, and to consider the tone and intention of their response postings. I would encourage anyone with concerns about vegetarianism to engage in some continued, open-hearted research, as a lifetime of experience/witness has shown me what a physically, socially, ecologically, and psychologically sound choice vegetarianism *can be*.

the only other thing on this topic that i feel absolutely compelled to say is... following a diet "recommended" by the american government... you know, the one operating off of the corporate funding of the beef & dairy industries, not to mention the fast food industry, the pesticide industry, the agricultural biotech industries... um... well, that doesn't sound like a particularly great idea. In my humble, obviously biased, opinion.

finally, what i read about this website is that the forums are always respectful, always supportive, always nice. high quality, low drama. i certainly never intended to start this type of conflict amidst an otherwise supportive community. i do so sincerely appreciate those of you who piped up with your support.

p.s. xo

Tisha247

I'm done with this post. Starving was your word - not mine. You also mentioned that your were having trouble feeding them. Perhaps you should do your research.

I'm Australian! I follow Australian recommendations!

gaah. ok. i wasn't going to respond to this personally, but enough is enough.

i used inflammatory language in my initial posting title- i see that now. for someone who is already predisposed to anti-vegetarian sentiments, my using the term "starving" to describe my kids is only going to add highly flammable fuel to a fire that was burning long before i showed up. they are "skinny" because their papa graced them with very slim genes, a lightning fast metabolism, and a proclivity for intense physical activities. thank goodness, on all counts.

i've been vegetarian my whole life. i'm not anemic, i'm not brain damaged, i'm not blind, i'm not wasting away, i have healthy brain and bone tissue, and lots of reserves. in fact, i'm fat! hah! my thyroid is crappy thanks to my inherent biology, and i don't exercise nearly enough. my vegetarian diet is probably the only thing saving me from morbid obesity at this point. i had two exceptionally healthy vegan pregnancies (though i chose not to raise my kids vegan, because getting them all the necessary nutrition for development is much easier when one is willing to include healthy dairies and eggs), and my children are beautiful, healthy, clever, active, strong, hungry growing kids. incidentally, my thyroid issue requires no pharmaceutical intervention when i'm following a vegan diet, funny thing.

i would respectfully encourage all potential posters to both read carefully the original posts, and to consider the tone and intention of their response postings. I would encourage anyone with concerns about vegetarianism to engage in some continued, open-hearted research, as a lifetime of experience/witness has shown me what a physically, socially, ecologically, and psychologically sound choice vegetarianism *can be*.

the only other thing on this topic that i feel absolutely compelled to say is... following a diet "recommended" by the american government... you know, the one operating off of the corporate funding of the beef & dairy industries, not to mention the fast food industry, the pesticide industry, the agricultural biotech industries... um... well, that doesn't sound particularly well-thought-out. In my humble, obviously biased, opinion.

finally, what i read about this website is that the forums are always respectful, always supportive, always nice. high quality, low drama. i certainly never intended to start this type of conflict amidst an otherwise supportive community. i do so sincerely appreciate those of you who piped up with your support.