Dd15 eating habits - help needed

[GizmoIsSoFluffy]

I'll try and keep it brief:

Recently turned 15.

• Hasn't eaten breakfast for a while.
• Just found out she isn't eating her packed lunch either (with food she has chosen, she makes her own).
• Eats home cooked meal every evening.

Buys her own body weight in snacks and eats those. She has a paper round, so her money to spend on what she likes. The junk habit is about 2 years old. We thought she would learn to self regulate, but it's getting worse.

Worried that she is only eating junk until tea time. We've tried talking to her about health, and have always cooked home meals her whole life.

Any suggestions on how to encourage her to ditch a bit of the junk? Surely noone can survive on junk and air until 5pm.

She is very body conscious and I'm scared that restricting her will cause an eating disorders.

Not sure if you can do much at that age tbh. I lived on candy, fries and red bull at that age. Later exchanged the redbull for beer and cigarettes. Lived like that til my mid twenties when i started thinking about having a family. I have a pretty healthy diet and lifestyle now 10 years later 😃

Are you concerned about her weight or just health in general? I think its pretty normal to have a junk food phase.

There's a column in The Guardian today about this exact problem. Have you seen it? Not sure if I'm allowed to post links here so if you don't see one, search "Barbieri" at The Guardian online.

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/jun/30/my-daughter-will-only-eat-junk-food-how-can-i-get-her-on-a-healthy-diet

These people are experts, so please listen to them instead of me. That said, I am surprised that they recommend NOT talking about weight or health:

'Dr Harris also said “talking about her weight is an absolute no-no. Forget talking about healthy and unhealthy food, just go with it.” '

I was an overweight teen who didn't know the first thing about nutrition and someone should have bothered to talk to me about weight and health because I didn't know any better. My weight problem created so many other problems and I had to spend so much energy on solving it as an adult when I could have been enjoying life or doing other things. I resent my parents for not addressing it.

But that said, as long as your daughter isn't gaining or losing a lot of weight and is eating a healthy meal in the evening that provides good nutrition, you probably don't need to worry. I lived on nothing but porridge and then bagels for years because I was too poor in money and time as an undergrad - PhD student - low-paid starting employee to manage any better. Most people I knew were in the same situation. Yet detailed health check-ups that were required at work always showed that I was doing fine as far as health/nutrition. It wasn't until recently that I started having to worry about vitamin D and iron.

Anyway, the reality is that your daughter is old enough to eat junk if she wants to. You will have instilled good knowledge and habits in her and at some point, that will bubble up again. It's not unusual for kids to go through a junk phase in life. Honestly, she'll be fine. There are kids out there with much worse food habits.

Sounds like you're doing a good job of what you can.
I have DD16, she eats a reasonably healthy diet but at that age can get away with some things I (and many others) can't.
@antst has covered it well. If she is a conventional size commensurate with her height and content with herself, all you can do is warn gently of the consequences and advocate good nutritional choices. She has to learn to live in her body and what works for it/her. I feel like I have talked about sensible choices and so have her two schools. And as the Guardian article reports, people can live on many things.
In the end, all you can do is present the information because at that age she is old enough to twig.

Thank you for your replies. I hadn't seen the guardian article, so thank for pointing me in that direction.