Help with chubby 8 year old

[strungouteyes]

I hate that I'm writing this.

My daughter is 8 and really getting a little chubby. It's nothing major, but I'd like to nip it in the bud.

The issue is that she's autistic, so she has some issues around food. I think I was always thrilled she was eating ANYTHING so healthy meals took a backseat while I was getting her to just eat what she'll eat.

Now she's older she's actually getting more adventurous and will try other things than the usual beige so there is hope!

She does not like - anything too wet / mushy (think stew, mince, stir fry where it's all mixed together). Nothing spicy. No tuna, hummus, coleslaw, anything too textured.

She does like - fish (white fish or salmon), chicken, broccoli, carrot, tomato, yellow peppers, cucumber, mostly all fruit, rice. She will eat some pasta but it's a new one.

Basically I'm looking for some suggestions of simple healthy meals she can try, and just general advice if anyone has been in a similar situation.

Please be gentle 🥺 I want to help her without giving her more issues!

What is her diet like at the minute? What does a typical day of food look like for her? Just so that we can all advise better!!

FWIW I wouldn’t overly stress or make a big deal out of things - DD went through a bit of a chubby stage around that age and then soon stretched out with another growth sport to be a very slim tween.

She does like - fish (white fish or salmon), chicken, broccoli, carrot, tomato, yellow peppers, cucumber, mostly all fruit, rice.

that’s fantastic , just give her more of that

does she snack? I would cut down on that plus i would up the protein (I give Garden of Life protein in milk), will keep her full and will help with growth

I actually just went through this 6 months ago with my 7 year old. For her it was the quantity she could eat. We just swapped out some basics, like filling her plates with lots of veggies that she liked. We started giving her more proper like eggs and yougurts and this seem to fill her up for longer.

i was really careful not to say diet/fat etc.

roll forward 6 months and her weight and eating habits are so much better

She's a big snacker, yes. I think I'm needing to find ways to make her feel full without so many snacks. I will have a look at the protein as I think she would drink that fine.

So one favourite in our house is cod and sauce so it's a pice of cod from the air fryer, some pasta Carrots and Brocoli all in separate piles with the pasta sauce in the side as dippy sauce ( my 4 yo doesn't like his food mixed up)

In general I would try serving the food you know she likes in this ki d of deconstructed pile manner and introduce one new thing so next time. Sub the Carrots with green beans.
After that sub the pasta with mashed potato. Then sub the fish with a chicken breast and so on. At least she is then eating the rest of the food she likes.

you tell us what she does not eat

but what does she eat? ie how regularly does she get the healthy stuff she likes?

For snacks try things like peanut butter on rice cakes or apples. Or at her age would she just eat the nuts?

Perhaps on the snacks try cutting down (I wouldn’t stop altogether)

on the main meals definitley up the protein, pasta is a killer ; eggs, avocado , milk much better. I give protein powder in milk twice a day (fills him up massively)

you might want to start making your own desserts/snacks for the week (healthier cupcakes etc) so you know what’s going in

Try and keep the snacks to raw veg.
Would she eat chicken and veg skewers? Add variety by switching the marinade or flavouring of the chicken (lemon and garlic, paprika, honey and mustard etc) and using different veg.
How about a fritata, you can adapt to include the veg she enjoys.
Stir fries with what ever veg and salmon or chicken, make your own simple sauces.
In the sunny weather a ham and egg salad with a few new potatoes is good.

Is there anything she wishes she could eat? I have 2 with afrid/asd and the dietian got dc1 to write a list of foods he'd like to try. Each month we'd write a list of 4 items. Try one a week (several times). It didn't even have to go on the main plate but his side of the deal was he'd try it. Somethings were tried and never eaten again some became regular. Sometimes it wasn't a new food but a new combination for example could eat pasta sauce on pizza but not on pasta, so we tried the pasta and sauce together getting bigger amounts each time.

This is a brilliant idea, thank you!
I thought we could maybe look at some healthy recipes books and see if there's anything she wants to help me make.

Not sure if it helps, but my niece was exactly like this at age 6 - 8. Always snacking on biscuits. At 12 you can't believe it's the same kid. She got really into exercise and dance at secondary school, and is also very clued up on protein. But mostly it was the fun of activity that made her forget about constantly snacking.

That does help actually, she's into gymnastics and shown interest in some outdoor pursuits, so that may well help to encourage and talk more about fueling her up for activities.

I love this idea of serving the same meals deconstructed. I never thought of having a dip sauce rather than everything mixed together. She likes noodles, chicken, some veg, and soy sauce as individual items and not combined... No idea why I never thought of just serving them all separated! Thank you!

Yes, good practice is not to cut portions but to add in vegetables, and (very much) lower sugar.

(Plus filling protein like eggs and Greek yogurt)