MOOKS: anyone use a food tracking app for their child?

[6fsn]

I haven’t posted here in ages, but I cannot imagine my 12 year old caring about calories at all. I make sure the house is dilled with healthy snacks and slice apples, peel oranges, lots of things with oatmeal/peanut butter/quinoa, cube up cheese, carrots, cucumbers, etc. Fruit doesn’t fill me up so I try to have goo carbs to fill them up.

I don’t hide food, but chips and treats are limited. Small treat after dinner. Chips are more for travel.

Have you had a well visit? Maybe there’s a real need for the extra food?

[devonpow]

Is he overweight? Is he exercising? Does he eat healthy foods in addition to sugar? And how much sugar?

I think you need to be REALLY careful of food shaming. The easiest method is to have less in the house but not ban it completely. Plus make it a regular conversation about food as fuel and what it accomplishes (does he play sports or admire athletes? We talk a lot about how athletes eat and train, plus how good fuel helps DS1 accomplish his fitness goals).

My older son is almost 14 and he eats INSANE amounts of food - both healthy and unhealthy. The kid can eat an entire bag of Tostitos at 10 pm. I did have to cut down on the amount of snacks I had in the house since the pandemic started (almost all sports have been cancelled here for the past year), but he’s also shooting up in height and basically being a typical teen boy.

[erbear]

I would not do this. Kids this age grow like weeds. They eat junk if it's there. Buy healthy stuff, have a few desserts on hand (a couple of times a week) and keep exercising and eating healthy.

[ohgillian]

I'm going to assume that all of the "just buy healthy food" replies on here are from people who have not been through a similar situation with a child. I have one kid like you describe, and one that is a typical eater. It's been so difficult to know how to handle the physical issues in a healthful way without food shaming or creating body issues. Our pedi is great but wants to be more forthright with my kid than I've been comfortable with. I don't plan to get into it on here, but PM me if you want to chat.

[VillainV]

Please do not do anything unless he’s under the care of a doctor or counselor. The only way this could work is if he decides he wants to change his rating habits. Even then, it will probably look more like a food journal with what/when he eats and not tie it to calories, carbs, sugar, etc.

[al dente]

I would talk to a registered dietician before doing any sort of "diet" or food tracking.

Kids Eat In Color is a great RD on social media. She always suggests that when kids are sneaking food to make it super available so the allure is gone, and to serve it regularly so they don't feel it's restricted.

Here's a couple posts she has, but I would look through her instagram she has a bunch more things on there.

kidseatincolor.com/19-tips-for-managing-sugar/

kidseatincolor.com/toddler-eating-habits/

[wanderingback]

Have you talked to your child’s doctor and/or a dietician?
Are you describing that your child is binge eating?

I don’t think a tracking app is the way to go and I’d recommend you reach out for some professional help.



FWIW, in my household growing up we didn’t have much sugar/unhealthy snack foods. I did typically have 1 treat at lunch. That’s just how our household was. I never binge ate sugar. So I know you say you’re worried that if you all have more healthy foods available that’ll cause him to binge more, that’s not necessarily the case. It sounds like there’s an underlying problem regarding binging that needs to be addressed, but having healthy food choices isn’t necessarily a bad thing to think about as well.

[ilikedonuts]

Is your doctor concerned? My 9 year old eats non stop. She has 4 meals a day (breakfast, lunch, first dinner and second dinner) plus she snacks constantly. She’s a swimmer though so I always just figure she needs the extra food.

Is your child binging to the point that they are sick? If it’s to that point I’d want to see a nutritionist and therapist who specializes in kids who need help for it.

[awkwardpenguin]

How is the rest of his eating? Does he eat well at meals and snacks? Have you talked to his pediatrician? Met with a dietitian?

I would strongly caution against any sort of food tracking or diet mindset. At least in adults, dieting is shown to make binging much worse. The cornerstones of treatment for BED in adults is stopping all dieting and three meals and 2-3 snacks a day where nothing is prohibited.

I would encourage you to bring in a professional before trying anything new. I would want to be sure I was doing the right thing and not unintentionally causing harm.

[jorja]

Please please get professional guidance on this.

My parents created such a fucked up relationship with food that it lead to very disordered eating as a teenager and is something I still very much struggle with.

[ellipses84]

In my experience having boys of my own and tons of nephews, they eat so much food in the tween years. They also have a pattern of gaining a lot of weight to the point of looking chubby or not like they’ve ever looked during childhood for several months, then having a huge growth spurt where they get tall and skinny, then that cycle repeats several times throughout puberty.

Talk to the pediatrician and nutritionist. Talk to him about behaviors that are actually a problem, like being sneaky or eating all of something that was bought for everyone in the family to enjoy (instill the importance of being honest and being thoughtful). Make healthy meals and have healthy snacks available but don’t deprive him of treats sometimes. I don’t know if he’s home all the time with virtual school, but I know tons of adults who have gained weight and struggle not to snack while WFH during Covid.

[lilac05]

I don’t have any suggestions, I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone.

My 10 year old sneaks junk food, too. My 7 year old does not. It’s just not as simple as some people like to think it is. I read the article above about 19 things...and we do almost all of those on a consistent basis. No food is “bad” in our house. I feel like I’ve tried it all. I’ve tried giving full access like just having a bowl out. He will eat very little of that, but will search through everything to find the stuff that will go in the bowl next and sneak eating that. It’s absolutely maddening. His doctor is not concerned at this point.

Honestly, for him, I think it has less to do with eating itself and more to do with impulse control in general.

[lilac05]

Jan 26, 2021 3:42:08 GMT -5 ellipses84 said:

Talk to the pediatrician and nutritionist. Talk to him about behaviors that are actually a problem, like being sneaky or eating all of something that was bought for everyone in the family to enjoy (instill the importance of being honest and being thoughtful). 

This is my biggest issue. It’s really not the food. It’s the sneaking and the dishonesty that is an issue. Or when I find that he has eaten stuff that we purchased to take to the food pantry. Or chocolates that were given to me as a birthday gift. 

[SusanBAnthony]

This won't be helpful for anyone with serious issues but is a a small thing that was helpful.

It seemed to help my kids to have more control of snacks/treats. I started letting them each pick a treat for the week that was only for them. I think the combo of "here are your treats for the week- eat them all today, or space them out", as well as again them getting to choose it, helped a lot.

I also have a teen who hoovers everything up. The school meals actually have helped with that because he can go eat a bunch of that stuff and it is fairly healthy and easy to grab and eat similar to a snack food. I also buy ridiculous quantities of stuff like nuts and fruit cups and such, and we have a whole shelf of the cupboard where it is kept, that is right at eye level and easy to get to. He seems to need vast quantities of food. Milk is also good for this- fills him up and is easy to consume.

I don't really keep other treats around except I do have a stash of my own in my trunk haha. So there is nothing to go find.

[ohgillian]

Jan 26, 2021 10:01:56 GMT -5 lilac05 said:

I don’t have any suggestions, I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone.

My 10 year old sneaks junk food, too. My 7 year old does not. It’s just not as simple as some people like to think it is. I read the article above about 19 things...and we do almost all of those on a consistent basis. No food is “bad” in our house. I feel like I’ve tried it all. I’ve tried giving full access like just having a bowl out. He will eat very little of that, but will search through everything to find the stuff that will go in the bowl next and sneak eating that. It’s absolutely maddening. His doctor is not concerned at this point.

Honestly, for him, I think it has less to do with eating itself and more to do with impulse control in general.

The bolded x 1000.