My oldest child just went in for a physical today. He needs one every year because he plays Pop Werner Football. He has gained 30 some odd pounds in the last year. Now, I know he doesn't eat the healthiest in the world. I know how he should eat and he doesn't. That being said, I REALLY don't think he has such horrible eating habits that he should have gained so much weight in such a short period of time. He's not the most active child out there either, but he's in football, basketball, and baseball so it's not like he's a completely lazy sloth either!
He has been rapidly gaining weight since he was 5, but no where near this big of rise. Since then, I have been asking the doctors what's wrong with him. They seemed to think it was all my fault and that I just needed to stop letting him drink so much pop, juice, and stuff. They wouldn't believe that I don't let him have stuff like that very often. Until this trip.
The pediatrician has referred him to an endocrinologist. FINALLY! Not that I WANT him to have a problem or anything, don't get me wrong. I'm just thinking that I'm glad that someone finally believes me.
So now he's officially been put on a diet. Well, not an official diet or anything but he needs to eat healthier.
He hates fruits and vegatables, I need ways to help him learn to like them without adding fat to them. He is 10 and prefers red meat and white starches to anything else, the worst things for him I know!
So... if anyone has helpful weight loss hints to share that would be helpful to use with him I would greatly appreciate it! Recipes that are healthy would also be well received.
Thank you for stopping by. Please leave me a message and a backlink. I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Cindy
10 comments:
Unfortunately, to some extent his palate is simply going to have to be re-trained.
It helps to not keep any foods he is not allowed to eat in the house. I find this helps me stick to the restrictions I follow myself.
Here are some things I do, generally:
When cooking recipes you already have, use olive or canola oil instead of lard or vegetable oil.
Leave out the salt and double the seasonings.
If you have non-stick cookware, this can help you to use less oil, period.
Use salad dressing mixes (or make your own from scratch) so you can control fat and sodium content.
Whole grains only, no white flour.
Beans. Lots of beans. Good source of protein, fiber, etc.
Chicken breast can be pretty interesting if it is seasoned right. Garlic and herbs are usualy the route I take.
Fruit-based desserts with minimal added sugar (or none at all) can be very good, especially in the summer.
Applesauce or grated zucchini work well as oil substitutes when making brownies or other similar baked goods.
This is something I've dealt with my whole life. So I understand weight issues. I finally got mine under control with a high protein low carb diet and doing as Christina has suggested.
My success is based on what I have around for snacks and cut up chicken is the biggest must have. It curbs your appetite and helps you get through the day. Here's my other saving foods:
unslated peanuts
vege slices with low fat, low salt dressing
low fat cheese, yogurt, cottage cheese,
Eggs- make him an omlet with lots of lowfat cheese and veges. This will help him get through football season and not go hungry.
brown rice
baked sweet potatoes slices with cinnamon and splenda sprinkled on( adding cinnamon helps the food stay in the stomach longer) Don't give the cinnamon to him until after his test results come back cause it will affect blood sugars.
Low fat and sugar free chocolate pops
Yogurt smoothies--made with fresh frozen fruit, splenda, and a touch of vanilla
Vegetable lasagna or chicken--use wheat noodles.
Run your ground beef under the water or you can actually cook your ground beef in boiling water for all your recipes.
Hope this helps--I lost 100lbs doing it.
I took the lily test too and I like it very much!
Great advice from all above! I would like to add get away from canned foods if possible and opt for fresh veggie and fruits. They cost more then canned but so much better for the body.
My niece was born fluffy and ate bad her entire young life. She is in college now and has recently lost over 130 pounds by counting calories and exercising at least 30 minutes per day and walking everywhere she goes! Some of her secrets are switching from bags of cookies and chips to the 100 calorie packs and only drinking water. Lots of water…
I have struggled with weight issues for the past 15 years of my life so I know how it feels to be fluffy! I am an emotional eater, eating when happy, sad, etc. I wake up each morning with food cravings. It is a difficult thing to control as we must eat to stay alive. I was a smoker and that was easy to get over as I just put the pack of cigs down and walked away. We must eat to survive so I cannot just walk away from food…
I keep a basket of fruit on the table that the boys can snack on any time they like. I only put fruit in it that they like. Our oldest started putting on weight (going from a bean pole to a little thick) when he was about10. He is just now shedding it (pretty quickly) as he nears 14. Maybe some of this is just preteen hormone stuff.
Cinj you should pick up a copy of this book "Eating for Life" by Bill Phillips if you can. I posted a Chicken Minestrone recipe from this book on my blog (under recipes in the labels). Most of the recipes are pretty simple and very delicious. My boys (teenagers) love everything I've made from this book. I wish you luck!
As a person who has struggled with weight my whole life...I feel your pain. It's a life changing commitment but you can do it Cinj!
To be honest, my suggestion to start is: stay away from sugar free foods or artificial sweeteners, your brain still thinks it's sugar and acts like it when you eat or drink them, there's nothing wrong with a small amount of sugar, the real deal, get him to drink more water, I know, impossible but you can do it, I did.
Do you have a local farmers market? great prices! Have you planted any herbs, they are so wonderful added to foods.
Restrict the carb intake, white bread, pasta, pizza, all the good stuff :). There are whole wheat alternatives for almost everything now.
I cook a lot of chicken. Lots of good recipes and it's even easier when you can grill.
Family walks~set a time every day, no matter what, even if it's for 15 minutes. Even though he's at practice, his body needs more exercise.
Stay away from fast food, buffets, eating out. You'll save a lot of money as well.
You are going to get incredible advice here. My prayers are with you!
Have a Fantastic Friday!
Kathi :)
Just wanted to let you know that I read your post and I am thinking about you and your boy! Everyone has good advice and there wonderful websites, cook books to help you make this transition to healthier eating.
One thing a friend has done with her vegetable and fruit hating son is use them in smoothies...you can make a smoothie healthy by using ice and fruit...no sugar and just the tiniest bit of fat free milk.
Nancy's suggestion to add vegies to everything is a good suggestion. My tomato sauces always had grated zucchini and carrots! Even on pizza sauces...which are made with whole wheat crusts instead of white bread. My other tip is to get rid of all white flour products. If you're really disciplined...you could eliminate any products with high fructose or corn syrup. It's my opinion that America started gaining weight when corn syrup replaced other sugars. I don't use anything where sugars are in the first 5 ingredients in a product. That means no skippy or jiff peanut butters...I use the natural no sugar added stuff. It takes some complaining from kids before they accept it. When you're hungry you'll eventually eat what's put in front of you!
Good luck we're all cheering for your son and you.
gail
Hey everyone. Great tips. I've already used some of them to some extent without much sucess so far. I looked up recipes earlier and it appears that I will need to be using my computer in the kitchen sometimes. I found a terrific looking lasagna recipe that I want to try.
We already drink skim milk, not much pop, use sugar substitutes, light margarine, mayonaise, and salad dressings. I have tried switching from white starchy bread products to whole grain with limited success. Cheesehead insists on white noodles, but they'll all eat the whole wheat breads that I've been serving for a couple of years now. I also bought some expensive non-stick cook ware several years ago so we rarely use oils of any kind when we fry stuff. When baking I have replaced the eggs with milled flax seed and the oil with applesauce. They don't seem to notice the difference anyway. I try not to bake too often though as I don't want them to get used to these kind of foods since they are geneally not good for a person.
I guess we'll just have to keep trying to chip away and hope for the best.
I like the idea of getting rid of sugar substitutes. I have read several books saying that though these things don't have the calories, they still perpetuate the cravings for the stuff.
I'm thinking about trying to bake our own sweet potato chips, has anyone else tried this?
Whoa. There is so much great advice here already, I have nothing to add but much to learn. It's so hard to diet with all the bad food (that looks & tastes so good)around. I understand completely. I wish you lots of luck turning it around.
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