Healthy snacks for skinny teen

[hugoagogo]

ds [14] has peeled off his hoody for the first time in months and revealed the scrawniest little arms I have ever seen.

How can I feed him up, without the rest of us gaining any?

[secretscwirrels]

For the next three years he will eat more than you ever thought possible. Suspend all rules about snacks between meals. Give him lots of carbs and large portions and he won't put an ounce on but will shoot upwards.
Then, if he's anything like mine around 17 his appetite ill start to go back to normal and he will look less scrawny.

[frankie4]

I have the same with my ds. This week i have given him cheese, peanuts, milkshake, smoothies, cream cheese on crackers.

[flow4]

What scwirrels says about snacking...

Allow him to eat whatever he likes between meals, so long as those meals are healthy and well-balanced. I get a bit twitchy about snacking 5 mins before tea's ready, but even then DS1 will go on to eat a full meal. Certainly it's an everyday experience for him to eat a fill meal, then seconds, then a bowl of cereal... And be back an hour later for more!

[Googlella]

I would get in a supply of healthy snacks : nuts, seeds, fresh and dried fruit, cheese, wholemeal bread, crumpets. ( if only my own snacking habits were that virtuous ).

[lucyt90]

sounds like good advice, he'll be back to normal in no time!

[chocoluvva]

Another scrawny 14YO here (DS, not me ). Legs like twigs.

He eats far too many sweets but he will make himself noodles - quick and reasonably cheap, but otherwise it's crisps, nuts and sweets. Oh and salted popcorn.

[imtheonlyone]

Flapjack is good

[AuntieStella]

Full fat dips, like hummus, made with 'good' oils; nuts; cheese; yoghurt; cereal with full fat milk etc.

And plenty of exercise. Yes, it'll use up the calories, but you want him to bulk up not lay down body fat in the wrong places.

It might be a self-limiting issue though, once he's old enough for beer and late night kebabs

[secretscwirrels]

Teenage boys snack on nuts, seeds, fresh and dried fruit, cheese, wholemeal bread ?
That I've never seen .
The snacks in this house are tortillas, flapjacks, crisps, biscuits, milk shakes, toast, cereal, pasta.
When he was 14 I would watch DS1 eat a huge Sunday roast with piles of veg, roasts and yorkshires, followed by a pudding and an hour later he is eating cereal.

[flow4]

I agree with scwirrels and Mary. My DS2 (13) will - just about - snack on nuts, fruit, cheese and wholemeal bread, but then he is vegetarian by choice... DS1 (18) would not, or only in small quantities in between masses of carbs! I do in fact have nuts, fruit and wholemeal bread available for them to snack on at any time, but (for example) the nuts have so far lasted over 4 weeks, whereas a box of cereal goes in under 24 hours!

And from my pov, if I tried to provide only healthy foods like this, the qualities they eat would mean I had to spend around a tenner a day just on snacks!

Each day, they get through - as well as meals - a sliced loaf, at least half a box of cereal, 2-6 packets of cheap (12p) noodles, a pizza or other ready meal, 3-6 pieces of fruit, and crisps/biscuits if we have them.

[hugoagogo]

thanks for these ideas,

When I said healthy, I didn't mean low fat, just something better than Haribo and crisps.

I hope he doesn't shoot up much more he is already 6ft 1" .

He is so lazy, he will not eat rather than be bothered to make himself something.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

DS1 has just discovered weights and protein shakes maryz

He blends up this powdery mix, uses all my sodding milk, leaves the blender coated in strawberry flavour gunk and examines his biceps and triceps several times a day.

And eats non stop. I swear it costs more to feed him than the rest of the family combined.

Just let him eat OP. A bit of fat and carbs won't hurt, I don't think.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

Same here maryz

Dd is slightly bigger built than my beanpole ds1 who eats non stop and still looks like a stick. Mind you he plays football 5 times a week and runs every morning. Dd prefers a tube of Pringles and a hollyoaks omnibus.
Doesn't stop her complaining "it's not fair that DS can eat so much and not put on weight"

Yes to flapjacks, very filling. DS likes those instant noodles as well and enormous amounts of cereal and toast.

[hugoagogo]

Probably home baking is the way to go, I am a dab hand at flapjacks and muffins, but dh and I are trying to lose weight- we will have to exercise self control.

[ThreeBeeOneGee]

DS2 is supposed to be trying to gain some weight. He has the same meals as the rest of us, then an extra supplement shake in the evening, on the advice of his paediatrician. He is still just as underweight but has grown in height since we started this regime!

[Mumzy]

Get a sandwich toaster good fillings: cheese. & tomato, pickle, bake beans, ham, banana & peanut butter/ chocolate. apple pie filling , spaghetti in tomato sauce. Teach him to make omelettes with mushroom, ham, cheese, leftover veg.

[JonesH]

I can recommend these snack bars called 9bar have loads of different bars, full of nutrients, various seeds, even vegan/vegetarian friendly! It is a great way to replace any nutrients he may be missing and help bulk him up, but also good for an in between meal snack. It's great to keep him having a healthy diet without feeling like you have to fatten him up with greasy food!