is 15yo dd eating too much?

[nuttyveg]

i've posted on teenagers, but i haven't gotten many responses, so i thought i'd post here for traffic.
15yo dd has been eating more recently and i don't know if it's too much or not, she's a healthy weight, not like a beanpole but not fat.
today she's had
2 slices of vegan cheese on seedy toast and a milky coffee made with oat milk and stevia for breakfast
about 5 wedges, 4 mini falafels, 3 oreos and a small handful of salt and vinegar crisps for lunch
4 more oreos as a snack
and will be having chickpea and roasted vegetable soup for dinner with a slice or two of seedy bread
and homemade apple cake with custard for pudding
and she usually has a bowl of cereal with oat milk before bed, so i imagine she will tonight too.
thank you for any responses

Doesn’t sound like a lot. I wonder if she’s slightly undereating certain food groups which is driving her need to snack - protein in particular keeps you fuller for longer and obviously being a vegan she’ll struggle to eat as much protein without careful planning. But I think if that was what I ate I’d need a bowl of cereal at bedtime too - soup especially I find terribly unfilling.

I also had a massive appetite as a teenage girl - used to pride myself on eating as much as the boys. I weighed under 8 stone at 18 and 5’6”. My appetite has settled down since. People have different metabolisms. As long as she’s not ‘officially’ overweight or unhappy with her size, I’d leave well alone and just make sure her diet is balanced despite being vegan. Being in lockdown is a great time to learn to cook more from scratch rather than using preprepared falafel etc.

@Newgirls she won't eat eggs, but i think she'd quite like nuts, so i'll definitely try suggesting she has some instead

That's not a lot of food for a teenager. She needs more protein, as stated above - this would fill her up more. Hide the oreos!!

As long as she is getting plenty of protein because she is still growing, a few oreos are ok. My DC is a beanpole, eats four meals a day plus snacks, so I have to make sure that the days food is balanced overall.

I am curious that you felt this would be an usual enough amount of food that you had to seek advise.🤷‍♀️ Three healthy meals a day and a couple of snacks. What was driving your concern?

Doesn't seem that much. My 9 year old eats more than that. Probably too many Oreos but if not every day not an issue really. With regards to B12 she should be taking a supplement (as should almost everybody as even those who eat meat do not get enough). There are plenty of Vegan food ideas online to give her ideas for healthier snacks that are full of protein and will make her feel more full. Scrambled tofu is delicious as a scrambled egg substitute and full of protein. She could have that on her toast for breakfast and she would feel full for longer. If she isn't overweight then I wouldn't worry. I would just ensure she ate more fruit and veggies.

Doesn’t sound like enough food to be honest.

A bowl of soup and two pieces of bread, I’d be starving!

Are you worried she’ll put on weight? Doubtful!

It doesn't sound like too much food to me. You've said yourself that there are days when she eats healthily and days when she doesn't. So do most people. I've been having a bit of a bad day myself in terms of unhealthy stuff but oh well. Unless she is visibly putting on weight I wouldn't worry about it.

My dd14 has today had:

B: fruit salad
L: chicken & salad wrap with nando’s peri sauce & a smoothie
D: having takeout Indian with dh & I
Snacks: lemon cake

This is probably quite an average day for her - She is generally the healthiest of my dc’s and doesn’t eat chocolate/crisps (which the boys do). She has started looking a little bigger during lockdown as she isn’t doing much exercise but she’s still very slim. I think your dd’s diet sounds fine but could do with a bit of fruit. I wouldn’t worry about eating a pile of Oreos so long as it’s not loads every day.

So long as she’s a healthy weight I wouldn’t be worried.

What’s worrying you, OP? Has anything made you concerned about your DD’s food intake?

I think it’s interesting to have soup for dinner because you’re going to have pudding. That sounds like you’re very careful with your food intake. I think you need to make sure you aren’t projecting this onto your daughter. Her food intake seems fine.

Not seeing enough protein in that diet - might want to look at how to increase that. No, she doesn't seem to be eating too much.

That seems normal to me tbh, teenagers are growing so I would try to curb it unless she's overweight. Just make sure you include plenty of healthy veg in the main meal

Sounds like too little good to me. If she likes marmite I would have that on toast instead of vegan cheese for b12 for breakfast and then the soy yogurt and berries you said she has as well. Soup isn't enough for dinner unless it's just a starter.

i just wanted to know if this is somewhat the amount other teens eat, or if it's a concerning amount at which point i'd have to limit it

Don't be silly. You can't control how much a 15 year old eats. If you try, she'll just go out and buy junk.

Why are you so bothered about this, OP? If she is healthy and not overweight, what is the issue? As long as she is not overweight, I'd be much more worried about anorexia at that age than a few too many Oreos.

Probably too many oreos and the pudding but this sounds overall, quite low to me. If the light dinner to compensate for delicious pudding is a once off and tomorrow dinner will be more substantial with no pudding, then fine. Although I'd still cut back on the oreos.

To be honest, I'm a bit concerned if people think this is a lot of food. Because it really isn't outside of the treats. And as a vegan she really should be making an effort to eat more variety.

I don't see proper meals here imo, just small snacky type meals and snacks in between. She needs more protein to fill her up and some fruit and veg

It doesn't look that nutritious.

what are wedges? Wedges of what? Potato? Cheese? Sweet potato?
what are Oreos?

She seems to be eating a lot of the same thing- mainly carbs- and can't see much green veg, fruit, calcium.

Ffs.

That's not a lot of food at all. Dont mention it to her you will cause her to become insecure and possibly cause an eating disorder.

It sounds like a perfectly normal amount of food for a growing teenager, but a dodgy lunch menu. Potato, potato, falafel, biscuits? It would have been more balanced if it'd been, say, either wedges or crisps, falafel, vegan dip with celery sticks and carrot sticks, followed by the biscuits. And then instead of 4 biscuits in the afternoon, 2 biscuits and a piece of fruit.

Oreos taste like cardboard to me but, if I'd been craving a particular sort of biscuit for ages and finally got my hands on a packet, I'd probably wolf the lot, yet I have always been a healthy weight (BMI 21). A whole packet of biscuits occasionally is not going to do any harm.

It seems appropriate. She is a growing teenager and not overweight. I think you should stop counting what she is eating so intensely...

@JinglingHellsBells potato wedges, and oreos are biscuits with a kind of solid cream between them? i'm not sure how to explain them

Again, it does not sound like a lot of food, more like grazing and soup and bread for dinner is hardly filling?
Do you have issues around food, is that why you are concerned?

I agree with greyish and electric. Please don’t project on to your daughter. My dad was incredibly controlling about food, we weren’t even allowed a packet of crisps as a snack, and now I have a horrible relationship with food . She is self regulating so leave her to it.