healthy diet

[tartanhaggis7]

i have a 12 year old boy who HATES nearlly all fruit + ALL vegetables !!!! his diet consists of burgers chips & pringles !!! washed down with copious ammounts of fizzy pop although he's not fat he can't be healthy as my old man said you are what you eat 😁😁 i have tried various methods but yet to no avail if anyone has a solution to this worried parent

Stop buying burgers and chips?

what do you suggest i feed him fresh air !!!!

You could make burgers with very lean mince, and make baked home made wedges? That's a bit of a healthier version.

Does he not eat chicken or fish?

Have you tried smoothies? Yoghurt mixed with fruit? If you have a juicer that would be a good way of getting some veg in? Apple, carrot, beetroot, ginger, kale and orange. It tastes really good and you can't really tell there's veg in there.

What about sweetcorn? Most kids like that even if not any other veg.

I hope he takes multivitamins and iron supplements?

I'd say just keep on offering new things and give plenty of praise if he just tries one bite. Bribery might work? Like you can have an extra hour of gaming of you try one new thing?

Hopefully his range of palatable foods will slowly increase. But some people really never enjoy a huge variety.

thanks the juicer sounds a good option but if he sees me putting any veg in he will go radio rental i have in the past given him a meal he's eaten it and says enjoyed i then tell i put veg in it 😣😣😣 it wares me down and for an EASY life buggers he wants he gets

So don't tell him.
Google "how to hide veg".

Have you asked him why he doesn’t like fruit or veg? Is it the texture or taste?

What does he have for breakfast? Lunch?
snacks?
the fizzy pop needs to go.

Well if you only ever offer him burger, chips, Pringles and fizzy pop, that’s all he’s going to eat.
Also interested to know what he eats for breakfast and lunch at school?

This has some good ideas

https://www.sneakyveg.com

He's 12, unless he has ND food issues you should have cracked down on this year's ago. He should accept fruit and veg as part of his diet, but failing that, Annabel Karmel has done hidden veg recipes since the dinosaurs were around its not a new thing.
Hidden Veggie Recipes | My Kids Lick The Bowl https://share.google/e8RptVeQeJFHaIFek
Hidden Veggies Archives | Annabel Karmel https://share.google/Tf6mHfSnVdSRyhZ7m

Try different cooking methods. Simple garlic and soy sauce veg? I know someone who hated veg but only the way his parents cooked them

Is he ND @tartanhaggis7and do you eat fruit and vegetables regularly?

My DD loves burgers and chips...I make them myself with mince and fill the buns with salad. Homemade chips done in the air fryer.

As for the fizzy drinks...just don't buy them. I presume at 12 he's not in charge of the weekly shop?

Chocolate cake.

Seriously there are umpteen recipes that incorporate carrots or courgettes

Mine are also fussy eaters.

Can you try to find bits he likes and make them into different meals. Mine also like burger and chips and so will eat eat meatballs in a basic tomato Sause (onion, garlic, oregano, tinned tomato's) with pasta. As meatballs are similar to burgers. The pasta sauce is a similar taste profile to ketchup and pasta is as bland as chips. Could you try that?

From there you might be able to get a bolognaise (mince is burger, your basic tomato Sause just has added flavors - try just one ingredient at a time for a gradual change from tomato to bolognaise)

Does he like baked beans - mince and beans is the start of chili con carne - could you try rice?

Mine don't like (mixed in) foods, like it separate. They will not eat meaty meat (cant seem to get on with chewing)

But they like hummus so they have it with most meals with cucumber, carrot and red pepper sticks to get some veg into them.

Lots of meals start with a carb (mine love bread) rice or pasta (they are not keen on potato other than fries) Then a protein. They will tolerate fish fingers, breaded chicken (nuggets) and sliced ham as well as mince) Then a selection of bits they will eat, sliced apple or grapes, veg sticks and some kind of dip - ketchup, hummus, peanut butter. The more random selections of food I put on a plate the more they ate as I popped mystery items previously untried or unliked which were tolerated. Then I added some of these new acceptable foods together to build meals.

Its been hard work, time consuming and frustrating but I can see that they are getting wider diets now.

Good luck.

If you’re hand making the burgers, think about hiding some veg in them, maybe add some lentils too to fill it out.

Does he like sweet potatoes? That counts as one of their ‘5 a day’ so could be an easy change to add that in.

If he likes Bolognese maybe try Moussaka after.

Hiding veg and not letting him know is probably best path in the short term. Small steps.

12 is old enough to understand the basis of a healthy diet. Tell him he needs to increase his fruit and veg intake and ask him how he wants to do it.

I have a DS who has autism and sensory issues around food. While he does thankfully eat some raw vegetables it's pretty limited.

I really understand the worry about nutrients. While I don't have much to add other than what others have posted I give DS a 'chocolate milkshake' for breakfast most days. In that it is whole milk, vanilla yogurt and chocolate complan powder. I also add ground almonds for protein and fat and have managed to also blend things like frozen berries in it. (I have to sieve that though before adding to the milkshake because if he sees seeds he freaks out).

It makes me feel better knowing that some of the nutrient and calorie basics are covered. Then i feel less worried about actual veg in the diet.

I will add though that he is now 15 and has made great strides in the last year with expanding his repertoire. He now eats pineapple and pesto pasta which I could not have imagined a year ago. I just plonk things on his plate (often for literally months) and eventually he tries it.