Teens badgering me about protein powder and creatine. Anyone else? .

[tompoolery]

Two DS’s 14 and 16. The 16yo is going to the gym most days, the younger one a little less. Older teen is getting quite serious about building up muscle. Not worryingly so, it seems to be the latest thing amongst his friends who are all equally sporty.

He keeps asking me to get protein powder. The younger one has asked me to get protein bars in the weekly shop and has also asked for creatine.

Ive said no to all of this (and will continue to say no). They shoukd be getting everything they need from their diet. They’re typical teens in that they choose “bad” snacks rather than better protein heavy ones. So using supplements is non-sensical to me.

I assume I’m not the only parent facing this?? Does anyone let their teens use these powders / bars?

Have they calculated their protein requirements using a scientific method? Do they measure their current intake so they know what the shortfall is?

if yes and yes, can you afford the necessary amount of eggs/dairy/ cheese/chicken/ tuna?

Creatine is a well researched supplement but needs to be taken in conjunction with enough water and protein. Protein powder often has lots of unnecessary junk in it and UPF

let them do the research including side effects and effectiveness studies. If they can’t be bothered then continue to decline

One of my teens did this years back ( he's 30s now) bought his own powder and weights bench and ended up with stretch marks on his biceps from building up muscle too fast. (Still apparent although obviously haven't mentioned it to him but doesnt look nice😬). Hes also recently had to have a scan due to injured shoulder which also showed arthritis in his shoulder and bulging discs in his neck which I'm convinced is due to the weightlifting he did (doesn't do it now).

Try to get them into healthier eating instead, you can buy naturally high protein foods such as eggs, skyr, fish, there's also plenty of higher protein foods now like bagels & milk. I'd encourage healthier eating by buying good stuff but not the powder and the bars are so expensive🙄

Would they be pacified with something like these? Pretty decent ingredients, not mega bucks and it’s very.. “protein” adverty
I actually get the Grahams chocolate caramel one from Lidl as I like the taste

You haven’t really said why you don’t want them having these things? Your eldest is in the gym trying to build up muscle so it’s not such a stretch for him to consider protein. You say he should be getting everything he needs from food but are you providing him with enough high protein foods?

My son has been into the gym since he was about 15. He is 19 now. He got a job at 16 and has always bought protein powder and creatine himself. Although I pay for his gym membership. He has a very healthy diet. I could think of a million worse hobbies!

Because they don’t make use of the real food that i buy that would help increase the amount of protein that they consume. I l ready buy high protein yoghurt, Skyr etc as I’m a menopausal woman so I protein is important to me too.

I want them to improve their diet first, start making healthier choices day to day.

This is a bit worrying! It’s all a balance, isn’t it?

I hate the pressure on kids now. It was bad enough when girls had to be slim with large breasts in the noughties-but at least most of us couldn't go out and get boob jobs. Now it's relentless for both sexes, with products all over their channels.
I would go over the science with them. Could you see if there's a youngish "cool" trainer at the local gym that they'd respond to, and could you book a session to go over safe training and nutrition? Look at how fibre is missed out, and why just eating protein bars and mixes won't help. Encourage them to put together a balanced meal-it'll be nice to cook together, good skills for them to learn and nice for you to spend time together in this way.