Health advice for my 8 year old overweight son please...

Taliahmai

Thank you Liz! It has been helpful...i also have a set of measuring cups, but have never used them...ever lol.

rozmister

Taliahmai wrote: »

ill look out for it! and i will defiantly start to add more veg and less pasta...he does have a bowl full at the moment,

I know this sounds really stupid but I find having pasta on a plate rather than a bowl helps with portion size. If, like in our house, you have the standard cereal bowls they actually hold quite a lot of food and I find when I pour a cereal bowl of pasta on a plate I'm surprised how much it is but in a bowl it doesn't look like that much. I may sound mad but it makes sense to me!

I'll pop the recipe up after I get in from work this evening or tomorrow morning before I go back. It's a weightwatchers one so it's low in fat

onlyroz

For a great cheese-free pasta sauce try: chopped tomatos (fresh or from a can), chopped garlic, olive oil and (fresh if poss) chopped parsley. If you want, add a bit of tabasco to give it some heat. Just fry the garlic in the olive oil for a minute, then stir in the tomato, parsley and tabasco, then heat it through. You can also add a handful of prawns if you think your boy would go for them.

[Deleted User]

Taliahmai wrote: »

It is a lifestyle issue your right, but him been the weight he is is also effecting his health. I honestly wouldnt have a clue who to ask for advice about it other then a dr? Its my own ignorance and lack of knowledge that has made him the weight he is and i know if i dont do anything about it now he is only going to get bigger, I was hoping my dr would help me with this, but he hasnt. I never thoght about it been an age thing on his part. I think the best thing would be to find a dietition/nutrionalist privatly and get advice from them. There is so much conflicting advice out there...its confusing me even more lol

You could always read the official government advice on the subject... http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/

or the NHS page on healthy eating http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/Goodfood/Pages/Goodfoodhome.aspx

Good advice is not hard to find anymore

mountainofdebt

OP

With regards to my post about managing your son's expectations, I was wondering if, instead of seeing the total amount of weight to lose as a target, it would help him if if he had milestones to aim for?

Instead of facing the prospect of losing his total weight why not have a milestone of say 7lbs? If he loses this then he gets to do something as a treat.

To be honest this is the only way I can deal with trying to lose weight - I've promised myself if I can lose a stone and a half by May then I'm buying myself a new dress for an event I'm going to.

GEEGEE8

I wouldn't get him to lose weight, just to maintain it.

Turn the fat into a bit of muscle.. and as he gets older he will grow into his 8stones and then add more as he needs to.

jeanniebeanie_2

Taliahmai wrote: »

Kimberley, he loves pasta, his fave meal is a bowl of pasta with grated cheese and tomato sauce....not healthy i know...but he loves it. Unortunately his sister hates pasta lol

Nothing wrong with that if you mean a real tomato sauce and not ketchup. Just swap to parmesan cheese, it's very strong so you only need a little bit. Small changes can make a big difference!

Gigglepig

Taliahmai wrote: »

It is a lifestyle issue your right, but him been the weight he is is also effecting his health. I honestly wouldnt have a clue who to ask for advice about it other then a dr? Its my own ignorance and lack of knowledge that has made him the weight he is and i know if i dont do anything about it now he is only going to get bigger, I was hoping my dr would help me with this, but he hasnt. I never thoght about it been an age thing on his part. I think the best thing would be to find a dietition/nutrionalist privatly and get advice from them. There is so much conflicting advice out there...its confusing me even more lol

I think it is brilliant that you are facing up to this - given that his diet so far has been poor you should see a big change on a healthy diet.

It doesn't sound as though you are putting him on "a diet" but more like start giving him proper, nutritious food. Well done you. :T

If your son says he thinks he needs to diet, that is sad. Perhaps tell him that no, you don't need to diet, but that the food you have made before was not healthy for either of you, so you are learning more about food and new things to cook that you did not consider before.

Although things are confusing, you can get a long way with some basic principles. Here are a few thoughts that may help:

- at least 5 portions of vegetables (mainly) and fruit a day. Potatoes etc. do not count as "vegetables"! Perhaps it may help to serve salad on the side with every meal. Steamed or oven roasted vegetables are probably a better idea than cauliflower cheese.
- avoid deep fried food and other foods high in saturated fats. Fat from meat is not so good, fat from fish on the other hand is great. Olive oil is a good household staple. You need fat, just try to make it of the types that are good for you.
- eat fish several times a week (fresh or frozen fish but look for "real" fish and not things covered in batter! A can of tuna in olive oil (drained or used as dressing) is great in salad)
- try to have complex carbohydrates (e.g. wholegrain everything, rather than bread, cakes etc made with white flour. Brown rice rather than easy boil white rice etc.) Look out for sugar - if you start reading the back of the pack you'll be surprised at how much sugar is in many food products. Yoghurts, fizzy drinks for example can contain shocking amounts.
- Sweets, crisps, sugary treats and snacks - if you must, try to limit it to 1, on a given day of the week.
- if you want to add little "treats" to lunch boxes try something fresh or home cooked rather than "snacks" from the shop. To perk up a sandwich, think salad, fresh sliced red pepper, cucumber sticks, celery sticks, peeled carrots, mustard, hummous, spices ...
- drink water

This isn't going to be easy, but you can do it :-)

Perhaps you can even find a cooking school for new ideas - I noticed one here in Scotland had parent child cooking classes. Although it may be hard to change one's food from sausage pies and chocolate to healthier things, think of all the wonderful possibilities you have not yet explored

ailuro2

http://www.motleyhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/eatwellplatelarge2.jpg

is a picture of a plate that is more or less a "pie chart" (pardon the pun) of what types of food we should all eat....

you don't have to buy a plate, just get him to draw a chart and colour in green boxes for when he has fruit and veg, and maybe an orange box for cheese, yellow for milk.... you get the idea. That way you can both see how much he is eating...

If you make every portion the size of his palm, then it will be easy to compare for him... so one portion of chicken the size of his palm, one of veg, one of pasta and fruit for dessert about the size of his palm.

Once he starts eating foods in the right ratios he will be full up with vegetables and fruit and lean proteins and he won't be dieting, just stopping eating when he's full...

One thing I sometimes do with my DD is give her a grated carrot to eat while she waits for me to cook dinner.... she doesn't like it cooked anyway, but it starts the process off to get her stomach telling her brain it's eating and then when she's having her tea she's closer to that signal that says she is full up. Nothing wrong with giving fruit before a meal either... some people think it's better to eat fruit on an empty stomach anyway, because it gets digested quickly.;)

I think you're halfway there already, I didn't have a Mum who cared as much as you do, so a lot of my learning about what's good for me to eat has been done as an adult. I have done all the WW and slimming world diets - on the sensible diet plans, most veggies can be eaten with no limits, the only veggies ever limited were... sweet potato, sweetcorn, potatoes, parsnips. I think it's because they are all higher carb , therefore making them higher calorie - that doesn't mean they are good for us, just that they go on the carb part of the plate instead of the veggie portion.;)

Good Luck ( both of you:hello: to our young reader too)

thedeans

I have recently joined slimming world - and have been amazed at just how bad some of my food choices were

But on the plus side i have found that there are lots of things i can eat and enjoy - and some things i can eat lots of (also I'm not a salad person BTW as have IBS and can't eat things like lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, onions etc)

My children are the opposite of yours and are underweight - but after joining SW I have realised that their diet was not healthy as it contained lots of salt and fat - in various different forms - so mine were "overweight" but on the inside

I have found loads of lovely meals for us ALL to enjoy - sometimes I tweek the childrens slightly to suit them better
We enjoy fat free versions of our normal stuff - cottage cheese, muller light yogurts esp the one with chocolate sprinkles add some broken up meringue very tasty and virtually fat free - mine love the muller light cheese cake ones again almost fat free
We still eat chips but we make healthy ones using fry light
We eat chippy fish - but remove the batter (now I make my own)
We enjoy a heathly fry up (SW) - and cook everything we can on our george forman
We still eat burgers as I make my own burgers using lean mince
My biggest help children wise is mine have a healthy "mini" meal when they come in from school - this stops snacking
However snack wise mine like snack a jacks, bananas, a few jaffa cakes, 3x cadbury fingers, rolled up ham, piece of cooked chicken - some they can have all day if they wanted - the chocolate ones they would have max once a day
For breakfast mine love porridge -the " in the microwave sachets" - sweetened if needed with some "sweetener"(not sugar) or little bit of honey/jam

We haven't really changed what we eat - but have instead made our own low fat versions - and swapped fat filled snacks for healthier ones