Feeding growing boys

[3brightstars3]

Sorry i am posting here for traffic.

I don't know what to feed my 12 year DS.

Unfortunately despite enjoying exercise he tends to put on weight and it's making him really self conscious especially when we go swimming. But he's constantly hungry, I don't think he's eating the right things and so he can ends up snacking and thinks I don't notice.

His normal diet as far as I now is toast for breakfast with peanut butter. A panini for lunch, then he comes home starving so eats dinner about 5 tonight it was spag Bol and apple for snack. But now at 9.30 he's starving. Any chocolate / biscuits/ crisps in the house disappears. I keep trying to encourage him to eat more proteins like eggs or beans on toast, but he refuses and so sneaks more crap out of the kitchen.

Please please give me good ideas for yummy healthy snacks to feed my growing boy...

Cooked breakfast with eggs ? Protein is more filling. Greek yogurt with fruit? Take a banana to eat at lunch, would he consider a school lunch of something like a jacket potato (if his school does them?). Or maybe a more substantial packed lunch from home rather than a bought panini?
My teenage DS has a snack when he gets home, cheese & biscuits, fruit smoothie or a peanut butter sandwich & then eats a bit later, around 7ish as that suits our family,
And, hate to say this ... but don’t buy biscuits etc but have plenty of fruit, and ‘healthy’ snacks to eat.

My ds is 11 and would be hungry on what you described..he has

Breakfast... croissant, apple, yoghurt, glass of milk

Lunch...packed lunch, usually has chicken in some form with veg crudités, fruit, crisps, sweet treat

Comes home and has a drink, biscuit

Dinner...today he had roast chicken, peas and potatoes...cake for pudding

Then right before bed, he has what we call a snack plate...usually includes carrot sticks, cream crackers, yoghurt, babybel, fruit

He is never full!

Would he eat a big bowl of porridge with a banana and some honey? He could have that when he comes home from school, or cheese and crackers, or wholemeal toast and peanut butter, something substantial so he can eat his dinner later. I was just thinking that would help stop the urge to snack in the evening.

Is he drinking enough? He may be eating when he in fact needs fluids.

He’s eating a lot of carbs. My son seemed addicted to carbs - he’d eat cereal every meal if he could! He was, like his elder brothers before him, quite chubby at 13. But something inside him changed and he went on a regime of diet and exercise and lost loads. But it came from within himself. He will always have to be careful - it’s in his genes to put on weight easily.
Yes you can limit the cookies and other snacks you buy, but he has to regulate his own eating. Something has to spark his motivation. I don’t know what - nothing I said to my son made any difference. Is there someone he admires and emulates? If not a person in his life maybe a sports figure? Some one like James Haskell who is very keen on promoting good health? You need to be supportive and encouraging which I’m sure you are, and hopefully he’ll get it.

I have two boys 10 and 14. They have decided to go pescetarian (veggie with fish) though, but this is what they tend to eat. (they are normal weight and don't seem to get too hungry). This is what they ask for anyway!

Breakfast- Beans on toast (two lines each wholemeal with butter) sometimes with chopped apple / grated cheese. or Porridge with full fat milk / weetabix.

Lunch- Eldest- baked potato and more beans / cheese..flapjack Younger: tuna and mayo sandwich, yoghurt, fruit and crisps

Dinner- combination of pasta / potatoes e.g. backed potato, or sometimes noodles with lots of veg (carrots/broccoli/ sweetcorn and peas) and protein so quorn burger / fish fingers (the large ones) or quorn mince bolognese etc.

They don;t really eat pudding or snacks though apart from fruit as that is what the primary school allows. They sometimes have supper if extra hungry - bowl of cereal perhaps or a plain biscuit and milk.

Stuff like the panini and early tea...might cause blood sugar to fall soon after so he's still hungry. Would maybe suggest more at meal times - filling slow burning things...and maybe a healthy snack after school and slightly later dinner.

I think 5pm is a very early dinner for anyone, so most would be hungry again before bed.

Can you shift it around so he comes home and can have a healthyish snack after school, and then all have dinner together at 7pm?

I think he doesn't sound like he eats much for his age. Peanut butter toast, add a banana or yogurt after. Panini lunch,add fruit/veggies

He's probably due a growth spurt OP,at 12 he's nearing the time when boys fill out then suddenly shoot up and there's nothing of them.

More protein and keep fewer snacks in the house.

Ds will often make himself eggs in between meals,he is also never full.