How much fruit is too much?

[IlanaK]

I am trying to get ds1 (3) to eat healthier as he has a tendancy (like the rest of the family) to put on weight. He has a bit appetite so often asks for snacks. I have been directing him to the fruit bowl whenever he says he is hungry between meals. The result is that he has been eatin 2-3 apples, 1-2 bananas, and some grapes per day. Is this too much? I am fully aware that fruit contains lots of natural sugar. When out and about, for snacks, I generally take Organix oat bars or raisins. He occasionally gets biscuits, icecream, etc for a treat. If he asks for a dessert after a meal it is a "fruity yogurt" - not actually a yogurt, just a fruit puree pot.

Anyway, I am wondering if this is ok or I should be encouraging him to snack on different things? I did wonder about cutting up carrot sticks, cucumber etc and leaving it in a box next to the fruit bowl each day. I am sure he would rather have fruit though so not sure this would work.

Any ideas or comments?

ilanak i would be grateful that your son loves fruit i also give my ds plenty of fruit and he loves cucmuber i wouldnt realy worry to much about him putting on weight as ong as he running around alot you will find he will burn it off quicker than he puts it on just silly little things like a game of football plus if i remember right you burn off natural sugar faster than the fake stuff found in choclate
hth

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So far today my son has had a peach, banana, raspberries, strawberries and a kiwi! He loves fruit too. I wouldn't ration fruit at all as it provides lots of vitamins and minerals. Are these the only fruit he likes? Perhaps a bit more variety wouldn't go amiss.

We have tried to encourage him to eat other fruit, but he is quite resistant. Pears and tangerines are a sometimes thing. He will not try anything else at the moment.

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I would love my dd to eat apples and grapes! the only fruit she will eat is banana, pear and occasionally a bit of tangerine.Sounds like all these healthy snacks are good for him so I wouldn;t worry at all - far better to snack on fruit than biscuits and cakes!

ds is nearly 1 and has already, at 10.18 eaten what your ds eats in a day except actually its at least 3 bananas. I suppose he has been up since 6 but even so.

You probably should be encouraging cucumber etc but why not just have a big salad in the evening?

I'd have thought fruit would be better than oat bars as they don't contain sugar.

My dh has a sciency background and calls fructose (the sugar in fruit) "left handed sugar". Apparently it is IDENTICAL in make up to sucrose or regular sugar but it is the other way round. THere is also I think intended to be a lesson here for me about artsy hippy grow-your-own-food lefty types prefering "natural" fructose to "artificial" sugar.

I wou;d also prefer fresh fruit eg grapes over raisins a. as theres more chewing needed to get the sweet stuff b. theres more to stick to the teeth with raisins c. raisings are very sweet so may accustom kids to articifically sweet taste.

But all in all it sounds like youre doing a great job. I know it all cos I haven;t faced it yet-ds is not yet one and so eats practically anything (latest triumph-tahini on wholegrain rice-cakes). I know I've got a rude awakening coming!

I just wish my ds2 (age 3) would eat fruit. He will have the occasional slice of apple but will not eat any other fruit. Only way I can get him to eat fruit is organic fruit bars and home made fruit lollies. Ds1 on the other hand will eat any fruit (except banana for some reason)
I just thank heaven that ds2 wasn't my first born or he would have driven me round the twist by now with his faddy eating.

I was advised when I had the same concerns about DS eating perhaps too much fruit to just keep an eye on his poos. As long as they are not continually runny then it should be okay. (a day of runny poo I was told was okay, but not 3/4 days all together if you get what I mean)