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Meal planning help needed
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We have two boys, 5 & 2, plus my husband and me. My husband will eat nearly anything. My kids are typical in their eating…not terribly adventurous. I’m somewhere in the middle. I do all the cooking. My main struggle is this: my youngest is gaining weight slowly and is being followed by a doctor. I’m trying to do everything I can do to help him gain, including making meals heavy in calories and fat. Consequently, our dinners are heavy…pasta with cheese, tacos, pizza, enchiladas, etc. Both hubby and I are starting to feel the effects of eating meals like this every night. Every once in a while, I will make something not like this…then my son doesn’t eat, and I feel I’ve lost the chance to get some calories in him. I’d like to make separate meals for the kids and for hubby and me, but the time involved….
Has anyone else dealt with this before? Do you have any ideas for me? Like so many of you, I have many responsibilities and a limited time to spend on each. I want a simple, healthy meal plan but I almost feel like I don’t even know how to do that.
Thanks!
Maybe you could make ahead and freeze some of the heavier meals for your son, so that when it’s dinner time you can make something lighter for you and your husband and just pull a meal out of the freezer for your kids and pop it in the oven? You can start small by just doubling a recipe next time you make something and freeze half of it. There are tons of great cook books and websites out there that could get you started.
My thought would be – stick with your meal planning that works best for your whole family. Then provide your son 2-3 robust snacks a day – morning and afternoon that are high calorie to ramp up the weight – smoothies, milkshakes, nuts, cheese and crackers, salami or even mini-pizzas, pasta and tacos. Just keep the fixin’s in the fridge, so it’s quick to pull together.
I second deltagal’s ideas, for a couple of reasons. First, it’s quite possible that your son will not have these issues as he grows older, so you don’t necessarily want him to grow accustomed to only eating heavy meals. Second, he may just be one of those folks who eat best by having healthy snacks in between smaller meals.
My two youngest had slow weight gain in the very early years, and now they are fine. My 10yo dd is still thin, but she eats well and is healthy. My 11yo ds has just always been a bit small for his age, but his height and weight are very proportionate, and he is generally healthy as well.
I have never been a big fan of those liquid supplements that are designed to give kids added calories and nutrition. I feel they have too much sugar and help children to develop a desire for “shakes” and flavored milk drinks. I know they are beneficial and necessary in some cases, but I always tried to find other, less-sugary ways to supplement their diets.
Sue
Is your son unhealthy? Or is he just small for his age?
My ds6 (almost 7) has always been a little guy. The “normal” weight on the weight charts at the pediatricians’ offices are an average of all different children together. Some children are naturally smaller, some naturally larger. If your ds has a smaller frame or high metabolism, for example, he’s probably always going to be small (which will be a blessing later in life). That’s how my ds is. He’s totally healthy, eats great, goes through periods where he’s not hungry, and then through spurts where I can’t buy enough food to keep him full.
He will eventually be the size God intends for him to be. No worries!
Also, I hesitate to say that making meals full of fat and calories ahead of time is the best solution, and here’s why: You want your ds (and the rest of your family) to get good nutrition, not just meals full of fat and empty calories. Pasta with cheese sauce is definitely a meal full of fat and calories, but what is its nutritional value? You said, “Both hubby and I are starting to feel the effects of eating meals like this every night.” So, does that tell you that maybe it’s not the best thing to be eating? If you’re gaining weight, feeling tired and sluggish, lacking energy, etc., it’s probably having some similar effects on the kids.
I’m not trying to criticize what you’ve been cooking, so please don’t take it that way. I used to try to stuff my small child full of stuff, and he never gained weight, until he hit a growth spurt. We started adding good fat to our diets a long time ago, and we all feel so much better than we used to on our diet full of carbs, cheese, and empty calories.
Olive oil, real butter, avocados, almonds, and salmon are all foods full of good, rich fat … not the kind your body stores and then can’t get rid of. A high protein diet will also help your son bulk up without filling him full of nutrition-less calories. We eat lots of veggies roasted in olive oil in our house, and we don’t feel as bad as if we had just eaten four slices of cheese pizza. How we feel is sometimes more about what we’re eating than how much we’re eating. If we’re eating junk, that’s how we’re going to feel … which, I’m guessing, is how you and the hubs are feeling.
I realize pre-made casseroles are really convenient (I have a freezer full myself), but there’s no substitute for good, fresh foods, rich in protein and not just empty, fattening calories.
Blessings,
Lindsey
Yes, I have to agree with what is said. When I first read this, my first question in my head is if there is some sort of medical reason that he is so small.
I think eating the way you describe is a recipe for disaster. Disaster for you and your husband, big disaster for your child that isn’t having gaining problems, and a probably disaster for your small son.
My son has also been skinny and small. As a baby, there was issues with him not gaining weight fast enough – but then the doctor decided that he was doing fine even if he wasn’t gaining weight as fast as expected. (He went from about the 50th percentile down to about the 1st percentile over his first several months! That gets attention!) He always measures small now but is doing everything he should be (he is 7 now) and is fine.
I don’t see much sense in eating empty calories to try to help him gain weight. He and the family need good nutrition. I agree with the making healthy meals, and if needed, supliment him with nutritious, but higher calorie snacks.
I hope that helps…
This will sound counter-intuitive but it worked for us. My eldest (now 14) wasn’t gaining much weight when he was around 2. The Dr’s kept saying to make sure he was getting 3 meals and 3 snacks a day which I had been. I was watching him one day and realized that he never ate much at any meal or snack and realized that he probably never felt hungry enough to eat much. So we actually took away some snacks. I made sure that they were healthy and had good fats (olive oil, coconut oil, avocado, etc) and spaced them all about 3 1/2-4 hours apart (so breakfast at 8, lunch at 11:30, snack at 3, dinner at 6:30). He finally felt hungry and started eating and gaining. Just another thought for you.
I do agree with everyone else with the healthy meals. Use healthy fats for everyone. You could add a bit more to his (ie extra guacamole on his mexican food). Also for the snack/snacks do healthy fat stuff there too (you could then more easily avoid it yourself). Some examples: nuts and raisings, granola (homemade with coconut oil and nuts), chips with guacamole or beans and guacamole.
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