Not to fund teenagers fussy diet.

[confusedalso]

My ds has been following some ex bodybuilder online and now wants to eat cuts of meat, 4 boiled eggs etc in his packed lunch.
He wants only fresh organic fruit and vegetables and has cut out all forms of sugar, gluten, dairy and any junk food or processed food.
He used to take sandwiches which are much cheaper and eat evening meals that the family eats but now he's reading all labels and refusing anything with a sauce or an ingredient he isn't eating at the moment.
AIBU to say I don't want to fund him eating like a king? he's eating so much meat that would have fed the whole family and I've never bought organic options before so the food bill has risen enormously at a time when the cost of living is high enough.
I understand him wanting a healthy lifestyle and that's good but I don't consider the meals I usually cook to be unhealthy but his diet is so restrictive.
He says he feels so much better on this diet but he doesn't have any food allergies it's purely a choice after following this ex bodybuilder on Facebook that advises people what to eat and what not to.
I feel as though his new lifestyle is somehow my problem because I have to change the way I've always shopped/cooked.

Yes to avoiding processed food and more protein. No to organic unless he pays himself.

I buy protein powder and creative for myself and I have said he can use also.

I was in Air Cadets at his age and when we went on camp the amount of carbs was unbelievable but you need it to fuel all the exercise you do. If he's still interested in the navy I'd be getting him to find people with that background for meal/exercise advise not a body builder

Does he still want to join the Navy? If yes, he will not be able to maintain this type of diet when he joins up and will need to eat what is served each meal time.

www.royalnavy.mod.uk/careers/joining/get-fit-to-join/advice-and-guidance/food-drink-and-lifestyle/food/energy-density
( search back and forwards also )

This might interest him - it seems somewhat less extreme and even allows eating out

Is there anybody in person who he would listen to? The obvious one to me would be to ask the cadets leaders to give the kids a session or two on what it takes to fuel a healthy body for training.

We generally follow a low carb diet. Me for blood sugar and DH for health reasons. Not extreme and we still eat out and have chips occasionally but in the main we have whole wheat carbs and ignore the carbs in healthy veg etc.

So, pretty balanced nowadays but will have half/third of the recommended portion of pasta or rice etc.

However DH weightlifts (again just for fitness, he's not a body builder) and he finds that he needs extra carbs before training as it affects his ability to lift. I'm not sure how these body builders are managing if they aren't either cheating or consuming loads of sugar or something before training.

Absolutely nothing wrong in trying to avoid processed food and cutting back on sugar and carbs but not to the extreme and especially not as a growing lad. Massive amounts of protein are simply not required.

It's because of the massive cost.

Also, it's worrying when a child has divided food into good vs bad. That is disordered thinking.

It sounds like it’s impinging on family life eg won’t eat normal dinners like cottage pie or bolognese he’s previously eaten. So missing out on family dinner plus all associated mess and expense of him cooking his own separate meal.
If he won’t deviate he won’t eat out with mates, Sunday lunch at grannys house etc which is socially isolating.
Impossible to eat out as a family or holiday in a hotel.
If it’s not eat versus eat wrong thing he could be going hours no food at school which affects concentration, risk of fainting.
Cutting whole food groups as a growing lad isn’t recommended eg no dairy.
It’s a very slippery slope.

It’s very easy to slip into full blown ED territory eg if he does slip up and eat something he ‘shouldn’t’ will he make himself sick.

Also, it's worrying when a child has divided food into good vs bad. That is disordered thinking.

Some food is bad though, and eating it is associated with poor health outcomes long term.

Does he want to go into the navy? Tell him the food choices will be limited there and more like your homemade meals then high protein body builder rubbish.

My brother started eating like this when he took up body lifting. It cost my mum a fortune. In the end she told him to start buying and preparing his own food for work. He did it for 2 weeks then went back to sandwiches again! Because he said it was too expensive and time consuming! But it was okay when someone else did it for him?! I don't think it's a good idea to.pander to him. It's going outside of your reasonable lunches.

I agree with @Beautiful3 it's easy to demand all organic food and huge amounts of meat when you're not preparing/paying for it yourself.