Diet help for a 10 year-old ?

Rowan9

Hi Mardatha - thinking back to when mine were littlies - sometimes a portion of cereal, especially in the evening if hungry-ish. weetabix maybe - could slice banana through it. Is she interested in helping with baking? Maybe healthy muffins etc. If i'm a bit peckish I like a nice fruity yoghurt with a chopped apple and a crumbled up digestive through it. Hits the sweet needing thing. Wraps? Filled with loads of chopped raw veg + apple so nice and crunchy? A little tub filled with healthy nibbles like nuts, raisins, carrot sticks, apple chunks, some home made crisps or wedges? Would be fun to nibble her way through. Twinks for a sweet moment? Bananas again - I freeze over ripe bananas and then just slit the skin and nuke them, stick in a dollop of honey (or not) and eat with a spoon. Home made popcorn?
W

sexymouse

A hard-boiled egg is a good filling snack, and you can boil a few and keep them in the fridge.

BitterAndTwisted

I'd be thinking more about portion-size first than cutting down on certain foods, although most primary-aged kids these days would be aware of avoiding eating too much in the way of crisps and snacks as well as soft drinks. I reckon a ten year-old should be eating from a side-plate/tea-plate rather than a large dinner-plate.

tessasmum

We have seen a dietician recently and she recommended looking at portion sizes, and making sure that the child is actually hungry when she eats, not thirsty or bored. The recommended portion size is the size of the person's fist, so actually not that much at one sitting.

mardatha

ok many thanks. She is just getting a wee bit plump, nothing major. We wanted to nip it in the bud now though.

BitterAndTwisted

Depending what kind of meals are served and how they are served I would have thought that offering slightly-plump bairn with a plate of food with more veg and less carbs would be fairly easy. Everyone helping themselves from serving-dishes on the table slightly less easy. Do any families actually eat like that, except on Sundays any more?

valk_scot

tessasmum wrote: »

The recommended portion size is the size of the person's fist, so actually not that much at one sitting.

I am just thinking of this in relation to my nine year old DD, who atm is eating almost as much as her 6'4" father. She's whip thin, not scrawny but sinew and muscle and tall for her age. It's utterly astonishing how much she can eat....but the secret, for her, is the amount of exercise she gets. 3x2 hours of swimming training a week, gymnastics, karate, scottish country dancing once per week each and another general fun excercise class. That's on top of walking to school every day, Cubs and playing outside as much as possible. She needs a LOT of fuel.

So my suggestion is to up the fruit and veg intake, keep an eye on fatty and sugary foods and up the exercise a bit. My local council offers free "Girls on the Go" classes every Friday afternoon, for example, where P5-7 girls try out lots of different activities like trampolining and kick boxing. They also offer heavily subsidised swimming sessions for school kids and run several free or very cheap activity clubs in school at the end of the school day as well. and walk as much as possible.

My personal opinion is that focusing just on the food...and playing "good foods bad foods" tactics just encourages kids to start fixating on food as the only thing that makes them fat, where in fact it's not. Carbs are not bad foods (I though the low carb diets had been shown to be unhealthy anyway?), neither are some fats, and making some foods totally forbidden can also make kids crave them more, like sweets and crisps. And don't get me started on folk that stop allowing girl children to drink milk and eat cheese and yoghurts on the grounds they're fattening. Everything in moderation...and remember it's the imbalance of calories in v calories out that makes folk fat, so work on both ends of the equation.

valk_scot

Oh, and the other thing is that it's perfectly normal for a child enter puberty to put on a few pounds just before a growth spurt. Obviously that just means a few pounds, not stones! But trying to make a child actually lose weight at this point can actually affect their growth. It's better to hold their weight steady and let them grow through it iyswim.

rachbc

i was just about to say same as Val - my ds always plumps up a bit before a growth spurt - I'd leave it a wee while and see if this what is happening...having said that replacing crisps with veg sticks and moving a bit more if she is sedantary wont harm at all.

Fruball

Snacking on skinless roasted chicken drumsticks is great for low carb but very filling snacks.

I'd be very wary of letting your GD know that she is having her diet 'adjusted'. Increasing her activity would be a great way of burning off calories and ensuring she has a positive body image