"dieting" with kids?

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  • Rae6503
    Rae6503 Posts: 6,294 Member
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    My kids eat about the same things as I do. If I feel they need more calories than a meal has to offer (one of them is underweight) I add extra cheese, butter, or high fat salad dressing.
  • sheeler301
    sheeler301 Posts: 16 Member
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    My family eats the same foods, we never used to really eat vegie's but I now make a effort to make sure we do. I used to drink dt. mt. dew and since I gave that up my now 4 yr old daughter is also drinking tons more water and very rarely has pop. There is still some junk food in the house but I try to avoid it and if she don't like what I cook I'll make her a hot dog or mac n cheese, but for the most part she loves chicken and corn is her fav. but she really always has liked vegie's. I just wanted to provide a better example and the rest of my family has followed with very little protest. It's all about trying to get us all to live a bit healthier.
  • mommamindi
    mommamindi Posts: 273
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    My kids are severely under weight. My 6 year old is 31 pounds.

    They need a higher HEALTHY fat intake than I do, so I make the same foods in very different ways depending on who I am serving what to.
  • minussam
    minussam Posts: 127 Member
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    exactly whate every body else already said. There is one meal for our family. My son can pick his portion size and his meals tend to be more starch, less veggies (picky eater at the moment). Mine tend to be less starch and more veggies. I try to make 2 veggies (or veggie + salad) with dinner to increase both of our vegetable intake. More for me to choose from makes me want to eat less starch and he can pick which helps with the picky eating. Win-win!
  • digsoreos
    digsoreos Posts: 16 Member
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    I struggle with this as a single dad. My 4 year-old daughter lives with me and, for the most part, has very healthy eating habits (no sodas, chips, or other junk food in the house). But at her age, her taste buds are changing so that one month she'll love string beans and the next month she won't. What gets me into trouble is pasta. She loves it and so do I. If I make it now, I'll make just a small serving so she can have it and not me. Other meals that I fix, I'll load myself up with the veggies and have some protein like chicken, and she'll have a much smaller portion along with something else that she likes. But it is difficult and you have to plan your meal. Otherwise, you can easily fall into the trap of making more pasta than you should be eating simply because it's easy to boil more than to make something separate for yourself.
  • MollDoll81
    MollDoll81 Posts: 43
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    I just cook healthier. I'm a single mom, with a 10 year old son.

    In some ways I lucked out- he HATES carbonated drinks, his favorite food is brussels sprouts, and he likes artichokes on his pizza. But he also likes corn dogs and macaroni and cheese. He can demolish a bag of popcorn, but his Halloween candy can sit there for a month once he pulls his favorites out.

    Kids learn to enjoy what they have access to. Occasional treats are fine. We often have Little Debbies or Oreos or (more rarely) potato chips on hand, but as often as not, he'll have homemade hummus and pita chips, or carrots/ celery/ broccoli and ranch. We also seem to eat a lot of yogurt.

    He shocked the waitress the other day when we went out to eat, at a place where you can build your own burger, he ordered a turkey breast burger with baby spinach leaves and provolone on a wheat bun. With fries, of course. And a water. Her head just tilted to the side as he ordered.

    I don't limit how much he eats, but I will occasionally ask if he's actually hungry or if he's just bored when his snacking seems to be much more than usual.

    Now- if I could get him to like raw tomatoes, pickles, or mushrooms in ANY FORM, we'd be good. :P
  • TheOriginalGinging
    TheOriginalGinging Posts: 171
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    I really love Myplate.gov for a reference for balanced nutrition. There are charts to help and ideas for families.
  • marieautumn
    marieautumn Posts: 932 Member
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    they won't be losing weight by eating healthy, they will be well nourished. You wouldn’t feed them unhealthy food just to put weight on them I hope.
    If you give them healthy eating habits now, they will naturally eat healthier when they are older and hopefully not have problems with their weight like so many of us do. My five year old loves healthy food (steak, veggies, grilled chicken, etc) and never drinks soda. We raised him to eat those things, so to him its not boring grown up food, its just a normal meal.
  • yallcallmedeb
    yallcallmedeb Posts: 294
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    I think that you have gotten some excellent advice. Healthier food for everyone!

    In our family, we have some added dynamics. My husband and I are both trying to lose weight. I am big into whole, real food while he is big into processed chemicals. My son (6) is considerably underweight and vomits if he eats normal quantities of food in a single sitting. My daughter has a genetic disorder which leaves her with a dramatically reduced metabolism rate and at a tremendously high risk for life-threatening obesity. So, at age 8, we already have to diligently count all of her calories and keep her intake to 1,024 calories per day while ensuring adequate nutrition. So, we will often have variations of the same food. For example, I buy Arnold Healthfull bread for myself (and now my little guy has decided that he likes that best). It is 80 calories per slice. My husband will only eat 35-40 calorie per slice bread. I get my daughter Joseph pita bread which is 60 calories per pita with very low carbs (she also has to have low carbs due to disorder). If we are having cheese, I might use Laughing Cow light for my daughter, lowfat for my hubby and I and full-fat for my son. We have 3 types of milk in the house. My son gets whole eggs, my daughter egg whites. You probably get the idea. No one gets special foods for dinner (although hubby doesn't always comply!); there may be special variations but we all eat the same thing.
  • AmieJess
    AmieJess Posts: 9 Member
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    I tried making separate meals when I was doing extreme diets. It was a total source of frustration, especially since it is often tough to get one meal on the table some nights. I plan my meals a week at a time. I know that if I have a higher cal meal planned (for example mac and cheese), I focus on eating lighter for breakfast and lunch so that I can enjoy the same meal as my family at dinner. I will eat a smaller portion of the mac and cheese and have a bigger portion of veggies along with water to drink vs juice or dairyl
  • jkh107
    jkh107 Posts: 8 Member
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    For the most part, we all eat the same things, but I may end up eating less of it than they do. I may have a salad instead of dessert, or something, but that's easy.

    Working around my diet isn't really the problem. I have a child with multiple food allergies who is also a picky eater, he's really the one it's difficult to cook for while still making foods we all like. I wouldn't say I'm a "health food" person per se but it's sometimes a better choice to buy and cook whole foods when you're dealing with someone with allergies!
  • robot_potato
    robot_potato Posts: 1,535 Member
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    I make the same food for everyone. I weigh and log what i eat, and everyone else however much they are hungry for. The few lowfat items i do buy are only for me, the only huge change we have made is lower sodium, which is a change that it healthy for everyone.
  • bicoastalgirl
    bicoastalgirl Posts: 85 Member
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    I have two children under four, and they eat what my husband and I eat. I just watch my portion sizes. So on Tuesday, for example, I made beef stir fry. My plate had extra veggies and half a serving of rice. My husband eats more than I do. My daughters eat less. But we all eat the same thing.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    We eat the same dinners. I will eat smaller portions, and sometimes add in a salad while they have different veggies. At other meals, we will eat other things, but generally, other meals no one eats the same in the house.
  • NoAdditives
    NoAdditives Posts: 4,251 Member
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    I make one healthy meal. My toddlers and husband eat it. If I need to (for caloric reasons) I'll eat a smaller portion. If our meal includes a salad, I'll eat a lot of salad and only a little of the entree.
  • kmm7309
    kmm7309 Posts: 802 Member
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    I sneak my healthy eating onto my sons' plates. For example, I found boxed macaroni and cheese at wal-mart with a full serving of vegetables in each helping. I am notorious for using vegetable noodles and veggie-full sauce. If I'm feeling froggy, I use ground deer meat for the hamburger, or deer steaks, or pulled deer bbq sandwiches. Deer is lower in fat than hamburger, and is really good for you (I think, when seasoned right, tastes about the same!). My stepsons' mom feeds them high fat and high sugar diets (I've been grocery shopping with the woman... she didn't even buy any lean meats or vegetables within $300 worth of groceries!), so when they come over, I have to hide the good stuff and make it look bad so that they'll even try to eat it. I don't do "diet food", so I don't think what I'm feeding my sons is a bad thing.
  • dinosnopro
    dinosnopro Posts: 2,179 Member
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    I have two children under four, and they eat what my husband and I eat. I just watch my portion sizes. So on Tuesday, for example, I made beef stir fry. My plate had extra veggies and half a serving of rice. My husband eats more than I do. My daughters eat less. But we all eat the same thing.



    This is what my wife and I do, for the most part. Some nights we do let the kids have their own dinner though, kind of a treat for them.
  • BrionaLoree
    BrionaLoree Posts: 45
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    i make dinner for my little brother and sister for the most part, and i make them the same thing but i just eat smaller portions sometimes. they dont loose weight but theyre not doing the exersice like me. nothing wrong with having kids eat healthy as long as it still tastes good to them:)
  • AJ_Pete
    AJ_Pete Posts: 863 Member
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    A healthy, balanced diet is beneficial and the sooner you introduce a healthier lifestyle to your kids, the better. I have a 2 and an 11 year old. The 2 year old, my son, eats what I eat which is healthy everything. My daughter, at 11, is a different story. She's already overweight and reversing that is much harder than preventing that.

    Let's be fair here, you're eating healthier AND exercising, thus creating a calorie deficit. They are active, I'm assuming, but weigh less than you.... requiring less calories than you. Typically, they're not going to be at a deficit like you are.

    Just buy some healthier snacks for them to munch on.... fruits, nuts, etc. That'll give them the extra cals without the crap.
  • claire7090
    claire7090 Posts: 67
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    We eat together as much as possible (all evening meals and most breakfasts), I have had never had an issue with what we ate only portion control. We eat healthy and primarily home cooked foodand rarely eat fast food - my kids have been to MacDonalds twice in their life (age 5 and 8), we occassionally (1xmonth) eat at Frankie and Bennys (diner style restaurant). What I ate was never a problem just the portion sizes, so we eat the same as before but I just serve myself smaller portions and when we go out I make sensible choices (eg choose from the low cal menu).

    If you are truely having a healthy diet reducing portion sizes is all you need to do and the kids should not notice anything different except that hopefully you are shrinking! (My daughter was really pleased when she could reach all the way round me to give me a hug!)

    Kids do not suffer from eating a healthy diet!

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