Feeding a hungry teenager!! Help!!

valk_scot

My lad is 16 and does a lot of sport, he eats about twice that amount. Breakfast is something like porridge, wholemeal toast with low fat Dairylea cheese and some fruit/fruit juice plus milk. He has a peanut butter or egg sandwich for elevensies with some fruit juice, soup + two rounds of sandwiches or wraps for lunch (current favourite is chicken+ BBQ sauce + salad) and a yoghurt. If he's hungry when he comes in from school he has Weetabix and milk, then a big dinner with lean meat and lots of veg at about 7pm, then if he's hungry again at supper/11pm he'll have soup and bread.

He's not fat but he's big, he's building a lot of muscle atm for rugby and he needs a lot of extra protein for this plus carbs for energy. I don't let him eat lots of cakes, biscuits or sugary stuff for quick energy, they're a waste of calories imho and they do sod all for building a sporty body tbh. I give him lean protein foods like chicken, eggs, lean meat plus lots of veg, milk, fruit, lots of slow release carbs like porridge, wholemeal bread and wraps, brown rice, wholewheat pasta. I'd rather give him a plate of soup or a sandwich than a cake or biscuit and it keeps him fuller and provides more useful nutrients to. Fats do keep you fuller so I don't go for low fat foods but he's not keen on butter or mayo or creamy things anyway.


I think by the looks of your son's meals lots of his snacks are cake, white bread (?), biscuits and sweet things like jam, And what cereal is he having? None of that will keep him full for long, he'd be better off with more protein and wholemeal bread like our permenant standby, the peanut butter sandwich. Boiled eggs are cheap protein, so is stuff like cottage cheese and Dairylea type spreads. Soup with lentils is a great filler especially with a hunk of bread and makes a great late supper at 10-11pm. And extra potatoes or a slice of wholemeal bread with meals etc etc.

Dippypud

I have 2 boys now in their 20s...

they can still eat for England when working hard.

Try adding a spoon or two of mash with his lunchtime soup or a bowl of pasta will a spoon or two of soup as a flavour some sauce.

A large vat of soup he can dip into can be great for him, without costing loads...

lots of veggie offcuts a stock cube boiled up with a ham shank...

get a few days out of that

zcrat41

Hi,

I work on a farm too and I find that if I have eggs for breakfast (normally 2 poached on 2 toast) it fils me up so much more than cereal and toast.

I also eat a lot of flapjack to fill me up and give me energy!

farmerswife75

Wowza!

Thanks everyone!!

I'll be giving him egg on toast for brekkie tomorrow!! He loves soup, as long as i don't tell him what its got in it - all soup is 'vegetable' in our house!!

Your advice has been brilliant!!

Thanks again!

Jx

lostinrates

valk_scot wrote: »

My lad is 16 and does a lot of sport, he eats about twice that amount. Breakfast is something like porridge, wholemeal toast with low fat Dairylea cheese and some fruit/fruit juice plus milk. He has a peanut butter or egg sandwich for elevensies with some fruit juice, soup + two rounds of sandwiches or wraps for lunch (current favourite is chicken+ BBQ sauce + salad) and a yoghurt. If he's hungry when he comes in from school he has Weetabix and milk, then a big dinner with lean meat and lots of veg at about 7pm, then if he's hungry again at supper/11pm he'll have soup and bread.

He's not fat but he's big, he's building a lot of muscle atm for rugby and he needs a lot of extra protein for this plus carbs for energy. I don't let him eat lots of cakes, biscuits or sugary stuff for quick energy, they're a waste of calories imho and they do sod all for building a sporty body tbh. I give him lean protein foods like chicken, eggs, lean meat plus lots of veg, milk, fruit, lots of slow release carbs like porridge, wholemeal bread and wraps, brown rice, wholewheat pasta. I'd rather give him a plate of soup or a sandwich than a cake or biscuit and it keeps him fuller and provides more useful nutrients to. Fats do keep you fuller so I don't go for low fat foods but he's not keen on butter or mayo or creamy things anyway.


I think by the looks of your son's meals lots of his snacks are cake, white bread (?), biscuits and sweet things like jam, And what cereal is he having? None of that will keep him full for long, he'd be better off with more protein and wholemeal bread like our permenant standby, the peanut butter sandwich. Boiled eggs are cheap protein, so is stuff like cottage cheese and Dairylea type spreads. Soup with lentils is a great filler especially with a hunk of bread and makes a great late supper at 10-11pm. And extra potatoes or a slice of wholemeal bread with meals etc etc.

What I would say, though i agree with everything you have written, is that the physical demands of farming are very different to most sports. It IS still physical, but not necessarily in a sports sort of way. The days are long if you are milking, and stamina is important for that, but much of farming is in a tractor now...blaes used to be moved by hand, now that farm bales are big most tractors have front loaders and much of the old physicality is gone. However, the stamina needed is very very real, and physical strength for dealing with livestock at times, and certainly for mainatining bits and bobs and various other jobs, and importantly for dealing with weatherbut.....very few middle aged farmers look like middle aged sports men or gym junkies. :D

The hunger of long days, especially while you are still growing though, must be very real. I am sure witha few tweaks farmers wife can get a break from providing food and he can have a healthy and satisfactory diet though.

From what you say farmerswife, the soup pot for the mid morning and afternnon snacka seems a really good way to go...maybe save the pud/cake for after evening meal? Then if he has a sugar 'dip' its not just as rhe cows come in for the afternoon/evening milking.

Its a funny old weather year though, and starting in this cold summer will not have helped...cold days, and odd hours of hauling things in at breakneck speed from the fields. Autumn seems set to be colder and wetter than we have become used to, so hot soup then might well beanother plan.

Fwiw, in summer we do the same thing...batches of gaspacho to drink cold from the fridge.

babyshoes

As others have said, protein is very satisfying, especially when there is some fat with it. The Atkins diet (for example) works simply because you end up needing to eat less. When we were on that diet, we used to make up snacks like roasted chicken legs, boiled eggs, cubes of cheese, cooked sausages, slices of ham etc to keep in the fridge for anytime snacks - though with a high protein breakfast and lunch we didn't end up needing as many snacks as before. Perhaps some of these types of foods might replace his cake/bread snacks? Living on a farm, I would have thought you would keep chickens for eggs, even if just a few for personal consumption. They used to say that you shouldn't eat more than one egg a day because of the cholesterol, but recent research has disproved this. Current advice is that you can eat as many as you like! There are so many ways to eat eggs which are quick and easy to cook, they are a great standby for a growing boy. Perhaps you can teach him to whip up cheesy scrambled eggs (still a favourite here) using a mixture of cream cheese and rat-trap stirred in at the end of cooking on wholewheat toast, a simple omlette, boiled eggs etc. You can even cook scrambled / poached eggs in the microwave! (perhaps a good standby for the 8pm munchies?)

Additionally, the fibre in complex carbohydrates such as wholewheat flour, brown rice, skin-on potatoes etc keeps you fuller for longer as it expands when it mixes with the liquid in your stomach - it is of course also essential for a healthy digestive system. Combining these with protein for breakfasts and snacks will help keep him feeling satisfied for longer. Things like cream cheese on ryvita, peanutbutter on wholewheat bread, wholewheat pasta with a little pesto and grated cheese, wholewheat cheese and ham toastie, egg fried brown rice, baby potato salad with ham, jacket potato with beans/cheese etc.
Fresh veggies are another brilliant source of fibre, so don't forget those! Your soup sounds great with loads of veg. There was a documentary I saw ages ago which showed that blended soups stayed in the stomach for longer than the same ingredients eaten/drunk separately in the same meal.

Veggie sources which combine significant quantities of both protein and fibre include most types of beans, peas, nuts, lentils, chickpeas, soya products etc - all the legumes basically. These tend to be fairly cheap, so use them in recipes on their own such as hummus, or add them to meat dishes to stretch them without significantly reducing the protein content. Beans on (wholemeal) toast is actually a pretty balanced meal with plenty of protein, fibre and vitamins. The only downside to commercial baked beans is the sugar and salt content in some brands - but even so, a person could live reasonably healthily on just baked beans plus toast. If you added fresh veg you'd be fine! Those snack sized pots might be another quick thing he can make himself, or alternatively get one of those large plastic jars they do now to keep in the fridge - he can have just enough to satisfy him each time instead of opening a whole tin.

Of course, there is still a place for treats such as cake and biscuits as he is active enough to burn off the extra calories, just don't try to fill him up on them. The destablising effect they have on blood sugar levels when eaten alone is well documented, so combine them with high fibre and/or high protein foods to even out the blood sugar peaks and troughs. For example, a ryvita / boiled egg / piece of cheese followed by cake is far better than a larger quantity of cake alone. Or try to make higher fibre / protein versions of such treats - oaty /nutty biscuits, carrot cake with nuts, wholewheat scones etc.

pandora205

My son (just coming up to 21) is very active and is a bodybuilder and eats masses. He would often have several eggs for breakfast (mainly whites), steak or chicken for lunch and fish, etc. for evening meal. He eats a lot of protein and when I was cooking his meals was costing a fortune. He was also refusing some of my cooking.

In the end I suggested he shopped and cooked for himself, which sorted out the issue to some extent. We reduced his 'keep' and he buys his own - and he spends much more than I would! However, we do share between times as he buys too much and I'm good at turning stuff like chicken breast into curries, etc.

So, two thoughts for OP: one - increase the amount of protein in your son's diet, especially early in the day, and two, let him buy and cook his own food.

PS You do need to be prepared for a bit of mess with the latter option, especially with regard to the cooker.

grandma247

Just had a quick read and agree he needs more protein. I also used to make cakes especially chocolate cake and added sunflower seeds and sesame seeds as well as an extra egg to it for my growing boys. I also used wholemeal flour or half and half. You do need a little more baking powder. You can give him larger portions than the others because he will work it off.

The seeds slow down the digestion a bit so it stays in the stomach longer.

cyclingyorkie

My DS (20) is a trainee plasterer and is constantly hungry. He goes to the gym after work and eats more than his sisters put together. He is interested in nutrition and if he is hungry in an evening will make himself something like sardines on toast.

I agree with comments re the carbs - DS won't eat porridge, but will eat flapjack - which fills him up for longer than biscuits...

I also put a banana in his lunch most days.....

cheekyweegit

From what you have posted your son eats, there seems to be no fruit. Is there any reason for that?

It's amazing what a banana, or small tub filled with raisins / currants will do to stave off the munchies for a while.

Even if one of your puddings was a fruit crumble, using milk or cream with it to help fill him up.

I know where you are coming from though with a 6ft 6 inch teenage in the house and possibly still growing. It's just not the same that at 5ft 10 inches tall myself I fit under his chin for a cuddle.

Oh and make sure he drinks plenty, diluting juice or water, that's one of the things which helped my lad as he kept getting hunger and thirst muddled up.