Healthy & yummy sides & snacks

Log in / Sign Up

List of Forums + New Post Recipe Box Usergroups Following My Posts Bookmarks

Private Messages Advanced Search Rules New User Guide FAQ Advertise Contact Us

Forum -> Children's Health

View latest: 24h 48h 72h

proudmomma

Sun, Oct 06 2019, 11:42 pm

Hi! Unfortunately my daughter inherited the fat gene from both sides of the family. I love her to pieces and want to spare her the struggles of being overweight.
I know that stressing about it can make things worse and be counterproductive. She is still little & I feel a responsibility to do everything on my part to help her.
Any practical advice?
She's BH a great eater & eats her vegetables & proteins nicely.
I try to have healthy snacks, but do allow some junk for Shabbos/ special occasions so she won't feel deprived. She's a beautiful , happy child but her weight keeps climbing & buying clothes for her is a nightmare.
Any tried & true tips would be appreciated!

proudmomma

Mon, Oct 07 2019, 8:34 am

I can't be the o ly mothwr who's dealing with this. Please help me help my child.

Teomima

Mon, Oct 07 2019, 8:49 am

Don't keep any junk in the house. Don't keep juice or soda in the house. Reduce snacking, even healthy snacking (make sure "healthy snacks" doesn't mean things only disguised as healthy but really less than ideal, such as sugary yogurts, carb-rich pretzels, fiberless juice, etc.) and aim for multiple small meals a day instead of three big ones plus snacks. Eat balanced, homemade meals. But also, don't tell her you're doing any of this, don't do or say anything that will make her self conscious and feel bad about herself, just make the changes gradually and guide her (your whole family, so if she asks you can day you're doing this for them, or for you yourself) into healthier eating patterns (because despite what you say about her eating well, she's obviously eating too well, if you get what I'm saying. The proof is in the scale).

amother

Babyblue

Mon, Oct 07 2019, 9:39 am

Also get her involved in a sport/dance/gymnastics that she likes to encourage exercise

LAmomrach

Mon, Oct 07 2019, 9:41 am

I am/was in the same situation with my daughter. It was especially hard for me because I personally never struggled with weight, I've always been slim my whole life so I really felt lost about how to deal with it. There is a fantastic book by Ellyn Satter called “Your child’s weight: helping without harming”. Firstly it’ll give you a new perspective on what your role is as the parent, and she has a specific feeding method that she goes into detail about as well. I found it extremely helpful to me. No, my daughter did not lose weight once I implemented her feeding system, but that isn't really necessarily the goal, as you will learn from reading the book. Good luck!

amother

Coffee

Mon, Oct 07 2019, 9:50 am

Make sure her portion sizes are age/size appropriate. I try to make my kids wait at least 20 minutes before asking for doubles and they have to take a cup of water. I’m not perfect and it hasn’t helped with the scale necessarily but at least it makes them aware.

Page 1 of 1