DS 15 Greed/ Binge eating

[FakeSucculent]

DS has eaten a whole bucket of chocolate crispy treats to himself.

I bought them yesterday and he had some after dinner. He asked me if he could take the whole tub in to his room and I made it clear that they were not just for him and that what he had already had was more than enough - he had four and I would say a "normal" portion would be one or two.

I went to get one for myself this morning and the tub was gone - at some point last night DS has taken it in to his room and finished the lot.

He has done things like this before - always with "treat" food - a whole tub of Ben & Jerry's or several packs of crisps, f9r example.

I'm not strict with food in the house - there is always some treat food - nothing excessive but the usual pack of chocolate biscuits in the cupboard, ice lollies in the freezer which I don't stop him from having a normal share of e.g. an ice cream after dinner.

He also has his own money, some of which gets spent on "rubbish". So is by no means deprived.

He is an active, growing teen with a big appetite so I appreciate he will eat more than me but I'm worried about the way he treats this sort of food.

We eat healthy, normal dinners with plenty of protein, he has a generous portion and there is plenty of fruit, yoghurt, cereal etc. which he is encouraged to have if hungry outwith meals - it is only the rubbish he binges on.

I am guessing some people will tell me to stop buying things like this altogether which is fair, however I've read on here before that restricting too much turns it in to a "forbidden fruit" and means he's probably more likely to scoff it when he does have it.

Any experience or advice on how to handle? I've had plenty of chats about eating healthy, ashamed to say I did get a bit nippy with him about this and probably shamed him a bit which I realise in the long run might result in him hiding his habits which isn't helpful either!

For full disclosure I am overweight myself, but not in the habit of munching a full box of cakes to myself in one sitting!

I bought lots of carbs.

So brioche bread, crumpets, cinnamon rolls, bagels.

Also taught them how to make eggy bread (cheap and has protein).

however I've read on here before that restricting too much turns it in to a "forbidden fruit" and means he's probably more likely to scoff it when he does have it.

He is scoffing it when he does have it.

Imo you can't leave him to it because he'll turn into one of these greedy entitled husbsnds that eats everything nice on shopping day and leaves nothing for his family. He'll become entitled to the biggest, best, and lions share.

Which is not a good trait at all.

My ds went through a phase of doing this....I don't think it's necessarily worrying. Teenage boys get very hungry. I actually make my ds two dinners a night now. He has one straight after school then a few hours later I make him something else... usually a stir fry with noodles.

Most teen boys eat like hippos. Your problem might be that his snacks have no protein or healthy fats and are foods that are known to stimulate appetite rather than satisfy it:
“there is plenty of fruit, yoghurt, cereal etc. which he is encouraged to have if hungry outwith meals”

fruit, yogurt, cereal - the first two are high in sugar and the sugar crash leaves you more hungry than before. The last, cereal, is highly processed carbs which are quickly converted to sugar and, you guessed it, the sugar crash leaves you feeling more hungry than before.

I would encourage mini-meals for snacks. Something that has fat & protein in it so it satisfies his hunger and doesn’t cause a sugar crash.

Things like a fried egg or peanut butter sandwich, or some cottage cheese, or a few slices pepperoni, or some lentil Dahl on a bit of flatbread,

He did take "his share" initially; he had 4 or 5 after dinner. Later on he went back to the cupboard and took the rest of the tub to his room - I hadn't had any and there is nobody else here so he did end up eating the whole thing.

Anyway, it seems this is more common than I thought and it's just something teens do. I do understand that he is a hungry, growing boy which is why he is served big portions of filling dinners and not stopped from helping himself to snacks.

He is able to prepare simple meals himself but I think the convenience of things he just has to unwrap and munch is more attractive than faffing about with pasta etc.

He just a growing boy who's hungry like millions of others

My DS is constantly hungry compared to DD a year younger who eats half the amount of him

I drives me bonkers when he opens the fridge door half an hour after a huge filling meal

I think it's a tad greedy and possibly not about hunger at all. As a one off I wouldn't take issue with the greediness but more the selfishness. Especially if they were m & s crispy caramel millionaire thingamabobs. They are amazing!

@SummerHouse that's exactly what they were!

The fact he hadn't considered that I might want some too did irk me, but my main concern was that it seemed like an awful lot of sugary crap to eat in one night - as I said if he'd had several slices of toast and cheese or something similar I probably wouldn't have thought as much of it.

Generally speaking he is not selfish and is good at sharing so not overly worried about that side of things.

Ah, that both makes it more understandable and more annoying. They are 270g and around 1300 calories. That's quite a lot of sugar hungry teen or no. It would annoy me too not least because I love those crispy delights. But then I suppose you get that in some fancy Costa drinks which somehow seems more acceptable.

Wait until he’s a bit older.
Teenage boys will eat you out of house and home.
Its staggering the amount of calories they need.

I think teenagers just eat huge amounts of junk food. My own (very slim) DD eats insane amounts of sugar. I can't even control it as she buys big bags of sweets on the way home.
I think teenage boys eat even more. I remember my brother would eat 6 big macs whenever he went to Macdonalds. He was thin as a rake then and is still slim in middle age.
As long as he's active and not putting on weight I wouldn't worry. Obviously you can encourage healthy choices but you'll be fighting a losing battle.

At this age I steered my DS towards

Toast
Cheese roasties
Cereal
Bagels and peanut butter

My only issue with DS behaviour, like you, is that he would eat anything and everything without considering that others would want some too. That isn't about eating habits it's a question of being inconsiderate and he got bollocked every time.

Still drives me mad when he finishes things and does ask me to add more to the shopping order, it's a constant row in this house.