any one know about HANDLing OVER EATING in children?

[noonar]

my dd is almost 9. she is a sturdy build and is fractionally above her ideal weight. in a differnt family she would be very overweight, i'm sure

we are a very healthy family, food wise. i am a bit of a lentil weaver, but do have a sweet tooth. the dc rarely have junk food and we only usually have very healthy food in the house.

however, it is a constant struggle with dd to get her to eat more fruit and veg. she just wants to eat carbs and lots of them!! i try to up her protein intake to fill her up. she wolfs down her food and then wants more. i try to educate her about child size portions, eating slowly, eating 5 a day and stuff like that, but i find still myself saying 'no' or 'you dont need that' to her constant food requests.

its waring for me and i worry about having these constant dialogues with her about food.
i dont want her to develop food issues in later life, but food just seems to be taking up too much our attention.

i never ever tell her she's greedy or that she'll get fat, for obvious reasons, but she is very grasping in relation to food, which upsets me. for instance, always reaching for the biggest portion instead of taking what's closest to her.

yesterday we were leaving a cafe and we had our coats on ready to leave. she stopped on her way out, with coat on, and shovelled a fork full of beans from her sister's plate into her mouth before leaving

we are a family who show love, affection and who know about nutrition. i think dd has a predisposition to food issues, and am worried about 'getting it wrong' and making things worse.

any advice?

Noonar - I'd be interested in the responses to this as I've a 4 yr old who is a bit of a food obsessive (she's currently a very healthy weight but I have the same wears me down her constant requests for food). Fwiw I have tried to combat with as much exercise as possible, swimming, bike riding, long walks etc so that even if she is eating more than an 'average' 4 yr old it is getting burnt off. How much exercise is DD getting?

It's sounds like you are talking about all the right things in the right way. Oh another I do is try and keep snacks to cucumber/raw pepper/carrott sticks as she will happily eat tonnes and tonnes of fruit if I let her and I worry about the auger (albeit natural and better than sweets!)

whatever... its a tough one.

my dd's weight fluctuates quite a bit. she gets enough exercise, but its her food intake that nudges her towards boderline overweight. if she is unwell and off her food for maybe 4-5 days- as she was over xmas- then she visibly slims down to an ideal weight. so i guess we are only talking about about being a slightly overweight.

ie if she were an adult, you'd prob say she could lose half a stone, iyswim, but i have know idea of her weight, as i dont want her to be weighed. i dont know what the child equivalent of half a stone is, lol! but the point is, its an ongoing battle.

Noonar, I think it could be about carbs and I think you are right about trying to increase proteins. I noticed (on my boss :o) that he can eat carbs almost non-stop, it's a yo-yo effect of insuline. But this can later backfire as insuline production will decrease and then they just can't shift weight even if they exercise. Carb-y foods give you mainly calories and energy but not so much in a way of vitamins, minerals or aminoacids.

My ds is now gluten free and carb lite and I tested him (hair sample) for minerals, it turned out he was deficient in Zn.

When I adedd Zn it became much easier for him to start eating variety of foods, it was almost as if he was able to taste and smell better and this encouraged him to try foods that he didn't want to eat before, including meat.

Zn has that effect, often people tend towards either plain/bland/sweet or over-spiced foods because their taste buds are not working that well (and low Zn levels could also lead to poor immunity).

Also, carbs can lead to fungal overgrowth in the gut, which can also mean a vicious circle of craving more carbs or they feel unwell when cutting down on them. Craving feelings can also means that they are deficient in something so they go for food, but not necessarily getting the right nutrients in it so they keep eating more as they are not satisfied.

I think protein shift is a good idea (there is Zn in meat/eggs). If you want to try a supplement, go for Zn, which should help to improve the experience of taste.

hmm, nightcat, i know a bit about the whole candida thing, but hadnt thought of it in relation to dd... we are mostly vegetarian so i do struggle with the whole protein issue. she does love eggs, quorn and fish and lentils,tofu though. but if i'm honest, some of our meals are a bit low in protein and i have to try quite hard to address this.

interesteing point re zinc... thanks

hi Noonar, it's not even candida(this is a bit of a general description), my ds had another type of fungal stuff that only started clearing after we went carb-lite and added Zn, in fact it was ZN that made it clear up completely.

My ds was veggie (self-limiting), I had a shock when I found out we should have supplemented some vits and we didn't , so when I realised that some nutrients are easier to absorb from meat then veg, we went back to meat in a small way. It annoys me that he doesn't eat fish though as I would prefer that. He now eats eggs and he tells me that he can tell the difference between the taste of eggs when away vs eggs I buy at home (organic free range) , ideally I would like home-grown eggs, but this is a pipe dream for me.

noonar, I will watch this thread with interest, my dd too has a tendency to overeat and is always saying she is hungry. I thought she was bordering on overweight until I looked at the MEND website here

I put dd's details in and she isn't overweight which has put my mind at rest. I know her measurements as she is regularly weighed and measured in the asthma clinic. However, I would still value any tips to stop her being so obsessed with food! We do try and keep active as a family and she goes to swimming lessons every week outside of school.

noonar, in [[
www.vimeo.com/10507542
this amazing lecture]] (kindly linked by another MNetter in the News section) there is a mention of overeating.

The lecture is long (but very interesting), the overeating bit comes more or less in second half, having read and applied the drs advice myself using her book, I know where she is coming from and have seen amazing results health-wise.
She does mention vegetarianism too, the reason veg are harder to digets is becuase thir cells have walls made of cellulose and we don't have an enzyme to digest it all.

nightcat - your link doesn't work for some reason. Can you try again please?

PinkTeddy, apologies, for some reason the link refuses to work in the usual way (I tried on the draft), so please copy & paste this into your browser:
www.vimeo.com/10507542

Also, lectures 1 and 2 in the right margin about Principles of Healthy Diet are very interesting.

i couldnt find that article

i have weighed her and she has a BMI of 18 and is on the 78 percentile for weight, which is in line with her charts as a baby/ toddler. i guess some of us are born to be a bit chunkier!

i dont really know what a BMI of 18 means for a child, though. however, i do know that in an adult that is v low but the child ideal BMI is v different.

i have upped her protein intake and she seems to be taking more of an interest in healthy eating recently