Snacks for teenagers ...

nzmegs

Everyone here is advising your child to eat very high carbohydrate options such as pasta, sandwiches and fruit. I am going to go against the grain (so to speak) and suggest that you limit the amount of carbs he eats and stick to protein and fat.

there are several reasons for this. Number one this will slow down his insulin response (insulin is how our body makes fat). carbs lead to hunger increases due to the release of insulin into our blood stream. Fats do not cause any sort of insulin response and they fill us up the most.

My advice is to offer snacks such as hard boiled eggs (two of these will fill up even the hungriest teenager) slices of cheese (no crackers), berries with some whipped cream, full fat greek yoghurt (no sugar).

Expect some rumbles to start with as he is probably addicted to sweets and carbs - but after a few days the hunger pangs will disappear and he will start to lose weight.

if you want confirmation of these ideas please do some research on low carb/high fat diets. it really is the way forward and is recommended by a number of high profile researchers, writers and doctors. Not governments who have the vested interests of the commercial food companies in mind (not our health!).

Jellybro

Would he eat home made cakes? Fruit cake, banana cake, carrot cake?
What about a banana milk shake...1 banana,1/2tsp sugar blitzed with a hand blender with some milk? I know you say he doesn't like fruit... Nor does my eldest ds but he will happily scoff these.

mumlady1

Hi op, I have 2 teenage boys who are often hungry too. Ds2 is 6ft tall & like a rake, ds1 is 5'9" but stockier build (not fat tho). He lifts weights and plays rugby so he could quite happily eat his own body weight in food on a daily basis, lol.
Beans on toast are popular as are toasties. I often leave the ingredients out but leave the boys to put the snack together. I find if I don't leave the stuff out they take the easiest option which is biscuits and crisps etc.
What about mini sausage rolls, cheese straws or prawns in breadcrumbs?
Another thing I try to do is pad out our normal meals where possible with mushrooms/onions etc. This allows me to put aside a couple of half portions which I freeze and again can leave out for the boys when they come home.
Teenage boys have hollow legs, lol.

ceewash

Why don't you just have tea ready and fill him up at mealtime?

pigpen

nzmegs wrote: »

My advice is to offer snacks such as hard boiled eggs (two of these will fill up even the hungriest teenager) slices of cheese (no crackers), berries with some whipped cream, full fat greek yoghurt (no sugar).

And increase cholesterol so increasing risks of heart disease. saturated fats .. those from animal products (cheese cream meat) are not good and recommended you only have them in low quantities. 30g or less is recommended for an adult man, 20g for a woman, if he is having proper well balanced meals the rest of the day the chances are those allowance is used up.

Any restrictive diet should be discussed with a dietician especially for a growing child otherwise they may quite quickly develop malnutrition. For a child as active as the OP's sounds be NEEDS the carbs for energy. I'd reckon it is more the chocolate bars and bottles of pop on the paper round and suchlike that are an issue, unfortunately there is little you can do about these at this age but one day the paper round will stop and remove the trip to the sweetshop twice a day!.

There is also the argument he is going to have another growth spurt soon and will need those stores to enable him to grow healthily. I'm sure at 6ft the OP is delighted with the prospect. My OH was a 'bit chunky' at 14/15, as were my brothers. 1 brother, now 6ft3, didn't eat and ended up being treated for malnutrition (he currently weighs 9 stone!!!), OH and the other brother are 6ft4 and 6ft2 respectively and thin as rakes now.

peachyprice

ceewash wrote: »

Why don't you just have tea ready and fill him up at mealtime?

That won't solve the problem, he'll just be hungry again later in the evening.

pigpen

peachyprice wrote: »

That won't solve the problem, he'll just be hungry again later in the evening.

LOL.. if he is anything like mine he will be starving before bed anyway. My almost 14 y/o has about 5 meals a day.. 2 consisting of cereal, 1 of bacon and brie sandwiches and 2 cooked meals, 1 at school and 1 at home.

skintandscared_2

peachyprice wrote: »

That won't solve the problem, he'll just be hungry again later in the evening.

Then he has a bowl of cereal in the evening. That's what my teenage niece and nephews do.

peachyprice

skintandscared wrote: »

Then he has a bowl of cereal in the evening. That's what my teenage niece and nephews do.

So what's the difference?

He either has a snack early and his dinner later, or has his dinner early and has a snack later, he's still eating the same amount but at different times.

Reggie_Rebel

Make fruit the only option, if he's that hungry he'll eat it, if he won't eat it then perhaps he's not as hungry as he thought