Healthy Eating

[enderwoman]

How do you get your teens to eat healthily?

My 13 year old won't eat if it's not junk. (Water being the only exception)

There are ingredients in the fridge for quick snacks like ready chopped fruit, yoghurt, fresh pasta, bread for toast, a panini maker etc but at the moment the only veg he eats is in a burger bun.
I ask him for healthy food that he would eat but they are rejected. He gets 20 quid a month pocket money and I suspect they go on pop and snacks. Do I need to stop this?
I obviously can't force him to eat.
He's slim so he thinks he's fine but he's not.
What do I do?

[specialsubject]

stop the cash until he stops abusing his health, unless there is some underlying real reason.

if he listens at school he should know about nutrition. How about he gets involved in meal planning?

[Heyho111]

Try meeting him half way. Tell him he can have the burger etc for tea but he must give you a list of what veg and fruit he is prepared to eat. Don't worry if it's just banana carrots and peas. Just give him what he says he's prepared to eat. Tell him you want a minimum of three. If he's choosing he may feel more incontrol.
If I'm honest some days I don't think my son eats any f or v. I block it out of my mind.
He will come round eventually. And force feed him the odd vitamin ;)

[offtoseethewizard64]

My 17 yo DS eats far more junk than I would like, but it is out of my control a lot of the time as he buys things when he is out and about.

I still put veg on his plate at mealtimes - even though he hates anything green - and it is a bit like being back to the toddler years with him refusing to eat the veg and us saying "just have one piece"

He does like fruit though, although sometimes forgets to help himself to this. DH will often chop up fruit into cereal bowls for all of us and that way DS eats a selection of fruit in the evening. It is easier at this time of year as he likes soft fruit and will help himself to that in between crisps, biscuits and ice cream

[secretsquirrels]

Compromise, compromise. The world of carrot sticks and fruit is gone forever. I never give up trying to educate them about food and healthy choices. There is always fresh fruit and healthy snacks in the house, but, I also buy junk. They are teenage boys, both skinny and with huge appetites.

I do a healthy cooked evening meal which they eat happily. I ignore the rest at least I try.

[enderwoman]

Thank you.

The toddler analogy is so true!!

[MaryMotherOfCheeses]

But what do you do if your teen is not so skinny? I am sstarting to get concerned about DS' s waistline and since he's big enough to look after himself these holidays I dread to think what he's eating.

[TheWordFactory]

My teens eat more biscuits and crisps than I would like, but they are very thin. I concentrate on providing at least one home cooked meal per day, and the wherewithall for a healthyish breakfast and lunch (during the holidays). There is also plenty of healthyish stuff for snacks, but there is also junk, so sometimes they make a good choice and sometimes they don't. I try not to fret!

[chocoluvva]

Would he eat any of these if they were readily available perhaps?

Homemade soup for a quick snack - minestrone, cream of butternut squash, creamed carrot soup etc - with croutons available
Vegetarian chilli/curry/lasagne
Olives
Dips eg salsa, guacamole, baba ganoush with popcorn/tortilla chips etc

So difficult to do - but try not to talk about his diet very much so he doesn't get the idea that you are trying to 'control' his dietary intake (and will therefore do the opposite of what you'd like so he can feel he's exercising his right to make his own choices)