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

when i was a child, i had binge eating disorder, and then in my teens i had anorexia bulimia subtype, so i guess i'm a bit over cautious of what she's eating and how much

Does she choose her own food or do you sit as a family and eat?

If you don't buy stuff that you don't want her to eat, then she will eat what you do.

It looks like a load of processed snacks other than the dinner of soup.

To eat as a vegan and do it well is very hard IMO.

Teens risk being short of iron and calcium when they need a lot. She needs to look after her bones.

@ThePianist38 Oreos are vegan, they contain no animal products. ☺️🤣

Do you eat as a family?

Honestly, it's really obvious from your posts that you had an eating disorder @nuttyveg. I get that it's hard but please try not to fixate on what your daughter is eating. It might be worth looking at some of the principles of intuitive eating? She sounds like she's doing a great job at regulating her hunger.

It doesn’t sound like a lot - in fact I’d say that my under 10s eat about the same amount and they’re a very healthy weight. Kids love loads, and teenagers are doing so much growing they are ravenous a lot of the time.

Plus, its a very healthy, balanced diet. I wouldn’t worry

@JinglingHellsBells dh is away at work most of the time, so not as a family no. she isn't allowed to eat in her bedroom, but i don't insist she eats with me, but most of the time she chooses to, but eats what she fancies, instead of me making set meals everyday. i do usually make a proper meal for dinner, but for lunch she generally eats what she wants.

It’s not too much food. It’s too much sugar if the Oreos and cake and dessert and cereal are all daily things, but it’s not too much food.

I think it's odd that you have soup because you're having pudding
Why can't you have a normal dinner and pudding?
I think you are really projecting, her diet sounds fine and pretty typical, that isn't a lot of food at all.

@kmc1111 the cereal is an almost daily thing, but the oreos and pudding aren't. we very rarely have a proper pudding, and the oreos were something she'd wanted for ages, and i saw them while i was shopping today so i thought i'd pick her some up

I haven’t read all responses but I’ve seen hints at needing more protein in the comments above... I disagree. She has protein in every single meal. Bread, vegan cheese, falafels, chickpeas.... that’s definitely enough.

Agree with others, op you sound fixated on food, something which is much more likely to be damaging to your daughter than a few too many Oreos. Tread lightly, as many on here can tell you (and you should know from experience) lifelong issues with food are so easily created and such a common millstone for women to carry.

Seems to be seriously lacking in fruit and veg.

So she will have had

Three slices of bread - 250 kcal
Two slices of cheese - 80 kcal
The equivalent of a medium sized potato - 150 kcal
The equivalent of about 3 tablespoons of chick peas - 150 kcal
Vegetables in soup - bugger all kcal
500ml of Oat milk - 240 kcal
Oreos - 320 kcal
Cereal - 120 kcal

Total - 1,320 kcal.

Add pudding - maybe 350 kcal?

Do you have an eating disorder?

Considering she wears baggy clothes, there's a good chance that she could, as that's under the requirements for a 15 year old girl who is likely to be entering another growth spurt. Especially if her mother thinks that she needs to forcibly restrict her food to even less than Not Enough in case she's getting a bit porky.

that's less than what a lot of people I know eat in a day. sounds perfectly normal to me.

Short answer to your question OP - no, she’s not eating too much.

I remember as a teenager I had a reputation on my family for being so hungry all the time. I ate huge portions and loved my food - people were often shocked at how much I could put away but I was always slim - I do think teens can put more away without the consequences. Things obviously slow down a bit more in to adulthood but that sounds really normal to me

Why are you monitoring what your daughter eats and her weight so much?! Is it really the end of the world if she did gain a few pounds? You sound like my dad and I now can't eat in front of him because of years of him making comments and observations about what I eat. So damaging.

@MitziK i have never limited her food intake, and i wouldn't unless she was gaining weight. i asked about limiting it earlier in the thread because if she was eating a lot more than other teens, i was worried she may start to gain weight. she's always worn baggy clothes since she's been buying her own choice of clothes. i had eating disorders for all of my young life until i was about 23, but since having dd i have been recovered as well as you can from such an intense eating disorder.

I just RTFT and saw you say you had an eating disorder, which could not be more obvious from your OP. Do you really want your daughter to go through the same? Do you want your daughter to develop an ED? You need to reign it back.

I swear I read somewhere they have milk or come in contact with milk etc , my apologies if I’m wrong .

They are made on a production line that also handles milk, hence why they are labelled as coming into contact with milk. They are still vegan though as they don't actually have milk in them.

I'd say she needs to be eating more but more filling things too. Soup and bread will leave her hungry after not long, hence the cereal. If you can';t eat four oreos at 15 when can you!?!

I dont think it sounds like a lot of food if Im honest! My DS had cereal/toast for B/F ,Some soup /Ravioli for lunch. and a Chocolate bar .Supper is a Roast Dinner ,and Apple pie .and some cheese on toast fo r a snack later on .If she is not overweight then no need to worry .

My children eat more than that, especially just before a growth spurt. My teen age boys eat everything they can.

"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."

That whole question just troubles me. And you later posted that "when i was a child, i had binge eating disorder, and then in my teens i had anorexia bulimia subtype, so i guess i'm a bit over cautious of what she's eating and how much " which I have to say didn't surprise me. But at least you know your view on food might be disordered so running her eating past other people is a sensible move.

So, for starters - her diet is not good. It's carb-heavy and fruit&veg-light (no the soup is not enough). The excessive oreos is fine as a one-off, terrible if frequent. And you said this was her eating more than normal - well it still doesn't look to be enough for a growing girl to me, so she's habitually under-eating too.

If she's serious about being vegan, she needs to eat a hell of a lot better than this. Dropping animal products is all very well, but like I already noted, she's not getting enough fruit and veg.