Diet help for a 10 year-old ?

mardatha

My GD (10) - is putting on the weight a wee bit and my daughter was asking me for advice. What would you all recommend or suggest for meals & snacks that will fill her up and yet not be stodgy and carb-heavy ? Then I can pass onto my daughter. Ta very much !

hot.chick

what does she usually cook as meals?

Fruit and vegatable snax you can't really go wrong with.

I'd worry less about stodge and carbs and go for a healthly balance of all food groups, with sensible portion sizes.

Give us some idea of what she does now and maybe we can tweak it for you, be carefull not to go too much into diet etc... she is very young and I'd worry about her going on a 'diet' as such.

debtmess

fruit and vegetables as snacks ie carrot and cucumber sticks x yoghurts and fromage frais

does she do a lot ie exercise wise ? maybe up that a little more but making it fun in the process

mardatha

That's my fault for putting it badly, I didnt mean diet as in "diet" I should have said healthier eating. I dont really know what they eat a lot of , but they all love macaroni cheese, and I think a lot of toast + things. I just wanted ideas that dont involve a LOT of carbs... ie maybe she gives toast for breakfast, packed lunch with crisps, pasta for tea, and toast for supper ?? I dont know. But is possible. How can we reduce the amount of carbs a wee bit ?

knithappens

fruit and vegetable snacks, and healty balanced meals, it has to be a whole family thing, otherwise the child will feel left out, there is nothing wrong with the odd packet of crisps or chocolate bar, in my house it is friday night is movie night so we get a little treat.

hot.chick

I don't have children - but my guess is that 4 meals is a bit much anyway??

Bread isn't bad for you as such - do you know what is put on it - butter? peanut butter? jam?

You could suggest fruit and yogurt for brekkie - but in colder weather I'd pefer toast or porrage, would she have time to make scrambled egg?

packed lunches are easier - she could try wraps instead of bread? or offer a piece of quiche? maybe not have crisps every day, have carrot sticks, grapes, cherry tomato, yogurt, cereal bar?

Dinners - defo leave the macaroni cheese alone for a while, eat more protien, chicken, fish, lean meat, and up the vegetables, often not easy with children (or adults) does your daughter like to cook? Stirfrys, stews, Roasted veggies with griled meat, just some suggestions.

Also a bowl of soup can be very filling, maybe as a starter or as supper if it's REALLY needed? If home made can be very low fat and practically carb free too

mandco

1st I'd look at whats shes drinking as fizzy drinks and squash can add a huge amount of calories without filling them up.
we make own fizzy drinks using fruit juice or suger free squash and fizzy water. cola ect is only as a treat rather than daily.

try and avoid the diet word. adjust the meals shes already having to lower fat/sugar versions, pad them out with extra veg & less meat.

check her portion size we often eat much bigger portions than we need and this leads to weight gain and kids usually need much smaller portions than we do but often get given similar sized ones. reducing the size slowly will cut calories but not seem like shes missing out.

really depends on what she does eat its easy to say eat more fruit/veg and less junk but not so easy to enforce with kids. also depends on how willing she is to try new foods.

maybe let her cook some of her own stuff smoothies /cakes ect but using low fat spread/less sugar still means she can have treats but lower calorie ones.

another thing to consider is snacks/lunch at school or pocket money buys. my kids are a nightmare for buying chips & fizzy drinks for lunch at school or spending a large chunk of pocket money on sweets if I'd let them.

small changes can make a big difference given a bit of time

hth

adelight

What about smuggling lots of veg into the macaroni cheese? Sweetcorn and onion is genereally easiest with kiddies, but spinach, leek, broccoli are also delicious. Jamie O did a macaroni cheese on his 30 minute meals which used loads of cauliflower and replaced some of the high-fat sauce with the water the pasta was boiled in. Cauliflower can also be used in place of mashed potato, half and half with a sprinkle of cheese on top and GD won't know the difference.
It's probably best to get GD into healthy habits that will keep her full and energised but will also stay with her for life: having brown wholegrain carbs over processed white; porridge or whole grain instead of sugary cereals; eating raw fruit/veg with her lunch instead of crisps/biscuits.

Are your DD's family very active? I know it's hard to get more active in winter, but swimming or a bike ride at the weekend would help and if it's just a fun activity for the whole family she won't feel pressured.

Pitlanepiglet

knithappens wrote: »

it has to be a whole family thing,

^^ this.

Your daughter needs to take this opportunity to encourage healthy eating throughout the whole family and an understanding of why healthy eating is important. It needs to be a whole family thing and it also needs to involve the whole family getting up and active. It needs to be a new way of life for them and it's one of the most valuable things she can give her daughter to set her up for a healthy life with no body issues.

Personally, I don't have any issues with carbs, as someone else said it's what you put on carbs that is usually the problem. I think carbs are a good slow burn fuel that provide a decent basis for a healthy eating plan.

mardatha

Ok many thanks, lots for her to think of here. I will pass this on

LJM

cut down on sugary snacks/drinks/crisps/choclate more fruit and veg, portion sizes are something i have had to address in our house as i tend to cook enough for an army lol also excercise would be something else to look at my girls are out all the time when weather is ok but days when its grotty its more difficult to find something to do