Wylie you have to decide what values your kids live by - those of their LCD zero impulse control peers, or the wisdom you have acquired in your longer existence on planet earth.
Appetites are in general a conditioned reflex. If you let kids take sweetened cereals and high fat fast foods, and you add unstructured downtime with vague or zero goals and shared responsibility for household chores and meal prep, then they are more susceptible to impulse eating and appetite.
I've got two step kids who had a little too much unstructured time and free choice before I came along (lost their father when 8 and 10). Left to their own devices, they'd serve themselves up heaps of meat and starch, and the only veg would be what was put in a casserole or meat dish. They'd also hit the peanut paste and honey sandwiches before touching healthier staples. And probably ate 3 pieces of fruit a week.
Here's the changes that I've successfully introduced:
- in this hotter weather, a salad is made for every dinner. the boys have to cover half their plate with salad, qtr with starch and 100-200g of protein/meat.
- 2nds (more starch or meat) is only allowed after the salad is gone.
- initially the boys wanted to smother the salad in Paul Newman dressings or similar. they have progressively cut back on that as their taste buds have returned to normal.
- we always make more than enough salad for leftovers. these are used for lunches the following day..... wraps, sandwiches, or plate. We put a plastic lattice thing in the bottom of the salad bowl and cover it and this keeps the salad ingredients fresh in the fridge for 24 hours. We also add new ingredients as needed. A fruit like sliced apple, mango, and nectarines are included in salad.
Breakfast on week days includes diced fruit, yogurt, and low sugar cereals with minimal fibre removed (weet-bix, vita brits, puffed wheat or corn or rice, shredded wheat, quinoa, rolled oats). Weekends can include pancakes (made from oatmeal) or a cooked breakky.
My daily goals for the boys are the following:
- at least 2 pieces of fruit
- at least 5 cups of steamed vege or salad
- higher fibre starches
- lower fat protein sources (lean cuts, fish 1-2 /wk, cottage and ricotta cheese, conservative use of processed cheeses)
- they cook dinner once each week.
If they achieve the above at meal time, I don't care if they eat a bit of junk at other times (chocolate, crisps, etc).
Now here's the thing. When I tried to introduce these changes, they thought it was gay, and complained about xyz. But within 4 weeks, they were volunteering to eat more salad and less fatty food. Their taste buds and blood sugar was returning to normal without them realizing.
Not only that, they had both been on expensive lotions and antibiotics for acne for over a year with little to no change. As they let the peanut paste and other high fat foods go, their skin improved dramatically. When they slip and eat more fat and starch and less salad and fruit, their skin flares. BTW, you won't get a GP who will say overtly that diet influences acne, but I confirmed this is the case with one of Qld's high profile dietitians.
The other positive changes I attribute to their diet change is they are less impulse driven, they can concentrate for longer, and they now rarely snack on junk or sweets, and both have lost fat around the waist. Mind you, we control what is in the house....and have a push up and chin up competition running....and their internet access gets blocked at 10.30pm.
When attempting to get someone back to healthy eating, they will resist and complain, but you just have to persevere. Eventually their physiology returns to homeostasis, and the benefits are priceless.
Onwards and Upwards.
