Healthy food to put weight on...

mlz1413

Will your daughter eat fish? If so oily fishes are packed with calories but without the fat. Things will butter and full fat milk will help gain calories and calcium without noticable changing her diet so feels different to the rest of the family.

I think your right about keeping a diary but keep it yourself / together and then fill in the day time food by asking it as a general question along with homework questions.

Curious_George_2

angela30 wrote: »

but i really dont want her issues with her weight to become a problem.

then you need to tread very carefully, as its already being focused on...

i was VERY skinny growing up, infact at 18 i was still only 7 1/2 stone (im 5ft 4) and yes i got the occasional teasing from family and others,
it ALL changed when i hit 20, moved in with a bloke who couldnt cook (and neither could i) and thanks to all the rubbish we ate the weight started piling on... one child later and i was 11 stone and while not massive i wasnt happy about it...
im 32 now, have another child and another 4 - 5 stone on top of that and i look like a dump truck...
im going to have to work r-e-a-l-l-y hard to get it off this year (the misery starts after my birthday on wednesday)

There was nothing wrong with me... i was just naturally skinny, and like your DD could eat anything without consequence, im not saying your going to fill her with junk but you want to be careful because as soon as that weight started going on for me ive NEVER been able to eat what i like

good luck though

RuthG

My son used to have a similar issue - still has to some extent. He went to the Dr and discovered that he has 'sucrase iso-maltase deficiency', which simply means that he cannot digest common sugar and anything he eats causes the gut to go into overdrive and passes nutrients through too quickly for the digestive process to work properly. Apparently one in every 250,000 people has it, so in real terms, it's quite common, but not diagnosed very often.

I would suggest your daughter gets checked by the GP asap.

greenbee

BenW wrote: »

My son used to have a similar issue - still has to some extent. He went to the Dr and discovered that he has 'sucrase iso-maltase deficiency', which simply means that he cannot digest common sugar and anything he eats causes the gut to go into overdrive and passes nutrients through too quickly for the digestive process to work properly. Apparently one in every 250,000 people has it, so in real terms, it's quite common, but not diagnosed very often.

I would suggest your daughter gets checked by the GP asap.

I have a similar problem and can't digest sucrose - once you eliminate the problem foods from your diet (and it's easy enough to work out which ones are causing the problem :rolleyes: pretty quickly) then everything else is pretty normal. Luckily for me sucrose is a refined sugar, so its pretty easy to avoid (although wasn't pleasant as a teenager when all my friends were eating biscuits, cakes, chocolate, sweets etc... and I couldn't even eat ordinary baked beans!).

OP - if your DD isn't having any digestive problems then although its worth getting it checked out, try Penny's suggestion of more calorie dense foods, and also lots of small regular meals so she doesn't feel that she's having to eat huge quantities. Calorie dense food doesn't have to be junk, so she can still learn to eat healthily.

Several years ago my mum (underweight) and I (overweight) did the same diet (a superfood/food combining one) for a month - she gained weight and I lost it. Both of us were eating properly (and more than I normally ate), and it helped both of us reach our target weight. I don't think the 'superfood' or 'food combining' was the reason - it was more that we were both eating the right things - lots of fruit and veg and taking exercise which helped her build muscle and me burn fat.

evie451

my DD is similar OP she is a little younger at 12 but at 5ft 2 and just over 5 st she is very thin, she is one of these nervous energy children who actually speeds up when she gets tired! her favourite snacks are carrots and cherry tomatoes and she eats meals which are pretty small, we joke about her having a stomach the size of a walnut!!
it used to worry me that she didnt have much of an appetite but i saw a TV programme which examined the eating habits of naturally thin people and those that struggle with their weight.......it turns out she fell exactly into the thin person category eating much more slowly than the rest of us etc
I have to say though that she doesnt lack energy and gets her weight and height checked regularly at the Doctors due to her asthma so i know that although she is skinny she is on the low end of the spectrum and not actually underweight........
If your DD is feeling low 14yrs old is an important time for growth she is maybe needing a check up, it could be as simple as anemia something that happens pretty quickly at that age and can make you feel quite listless....
i do have to say though that i do stick witht he full calorie options in milk and cheese etc for DD, we dont really buy low fat anything for her! Good old Spag Bol is a brilliant one for skinnies and sheperds pie too.....

space_rider

evie451 wrote: »

my DD is similar OP she is a little younger at 12 but at 5ft 2 and just over 5 st she is very thin, she is one of these nervous energy children who actually speeds up when she gets tired! her favourite snacks are carrots and cherry tomatoes and she eats meals which are pretty small, we joke about her having a stomach the size of a walnut!!
it used to worry me that she didnt have much of an appetite but i saw a TV programme which examined the eating habits of naturally thin people and those that struggle with their weight.......it turns out she fell exactly into the thin person category eating much more slowly than the rest of us etc
I have to say though that she doesnt lack energy and gets her weight and height checked regularly at the Doctors due to her asthma so i know that although she is skinny she is on the low end of the spectrum and not actually underweight........
If your DD is feeling low 14yrs old is an important time for growth she is maybe needing a check up, it could be as simple as anemia something that happens pretty quickly at that age and can make you feel quite listless....
i do have to say though that i do stick witht he full calorie options in milk and cheese etc for DD, we dont really buy low fat anything for her! Good old Spag Bol is a brilliant one for skinnies and sheperds pie too.....

I have a very thin 9 year old who is just 4st. She puts on about 3lbs a year. If she carries on like this she will be tiny. She gets weighed and measured regularly at the hospital and although thin she is following her own curve.

I don`t let her have any low calorie foods and I add butter and cream to things like pasta, mashed potatoes, jacket spuds and also use cheese where I can. She always has desserts which are high in calorie and she also has ice cream with added cream. She doesn`t eat much at all so I am happy for her to snack but I wouldn`t let her have sweets and too many packets of crisps. I also limit the amount of fizzy drinks she has as they can make you feel full and it`s empty calories. Unfortunately she isn`t a great meat eater but I can get her to eat any kind of fish and she`ll have plenty of it.

evie451

Spacerider my DD was the same at that age absolutely tiny! she was still in the kids size shoes and remained a 12/13 until she was 11 then in the last 18mths or so she has rocketed up to a 4! she has shot up to her present height which is not tall but pretty respectable so you really never can tell......
we do similar with the adding cheese to stuff and using cream and butter to mash her potatoes with.......i have to be careful though as she doesnt like things to be 'greasy' as she puts it and wont have anything on her bread like butter etc.....she also hates drinking milk.....:o
I find if she has been ill and gone off her food etc i try and give her a supper, she loves raw carrot and will eat a few cheese cubes with it...french toast is another good one....
carbs are a real problem with her i worked out she is on her own personal version of the Atkins diet!

space_rider

Evie, Thankfully she is still happy to have lots of butter. I did have a problem when they did healthy eating at school and told her what is healthy for her may not be healthy for others.

evie451

space_rider wrote: »

Evie, Thankfully she is still happy to have lots of butter. I did have a problem when they did healthy eating at school and told her what is healthy for her may not be healthy for others.

oh Spacerider dont start me on that one!! sometimes the schools can be too general to say the least! i explained to her that some people eat too much fat and they dont use it up so its stored around their body etc she uses all hers up so she is fine......my mum and sister always yo yo dieted i eat what i like when i like and have never been overweight but it does mean i refuse to even own a pair of scales and i am so desperate to not make an issue of the weight thing but its not easy when kids at school call her anorexic!!

jonnyy

Hi Angela,

Have you thought about speaking to your GP? They may not be able to tell you any more than you already know, but they may be able to refer you to a dietitian who should be able to help. Also, as a previous poster said, they'll be able to check that there are no medical reasons.

A dietitian would get your daughter to do a full diet diary and would be able to work out exactly how many calories she was getting. They'd be able to show you both tricks and ways to increase her calorie intake without changing her eating patterns too much.