Skinny teenager

[Ruff]

My boy is 15, painfully skinny, surfs, runs, rock climbs, snowboards in winter as well as being glued to Facebook the rest of the time!

I am a new McDougaller, and am not sure where to start with him. We don't eat much in the way of packaged stuff, just the occasional biscuit. Obviously he has no weight issues, and apparently has no health issues either(except being thinner than most kids his age)

He eats meat (all grass fed, we live in NZ where it is more expensive to buy grain fed than grass fed meat)dairy, cheese, milk, butter, eggs as well as bread ( white!) vegetables potatoes rice etc. He likes chocolate but has always hated candy of the colored processed kind. He likes cakes and muffins that I make at home, and I keep the fat and sugar lower than the recipe says.

There is no way on this planet he is going to change his diet just because his dad and I have! So where to start? Do I cut back on oils first? Or dairy? Or meat? Or do I just make the starch element of his meals a greater proportion of what is on his plate? If you could only change one thing what would it be?

Kate

[TerriT]

Hi Kate

Here's a newsletter article by Dr McDougall on how to gain weight on this diet:

http://www.nealhendrickson.com/mcdougal ... weight.htm

Regarding changing your son's diet, obviously now that he's a teenager he will usually be making his own choices about what he eats! But at home something you can do is to make a McDougall-compliant meal and serve small amounts of meat and cheese on the side for him to add to his meals if he wanted. Perhaps over time he'll want these additions less and less.

Education might help too, such as watching "Forks Over Knives" together and talking about athletes who follow a plant-based diet and have found their performance and recovery times improve as a result.

Good luck!

[organicpaul21]

Kate , if you just keep on with it yourself he will come around in time, no need to say anything, allow his natural curiosity to come through, if you're cooking then slowly introduce it in his meals, but no need to force it,play some McDougall, Dr Greger style video lectures in the background, worked for me and my family.

Good luck

Paul

[carrotlvr]

I think TerriT has good advice for slowly changing his diet.

I cook up lean ground beef sometimes and then add some ground almonds, rice or meat alternative. I will use small amount of this on pasta or in other recipes so they get very little meat.

I also make smoothies for my teenagers for dinner. I sneak in some almonds and flax.

Kris

[Ruff]

Thank you for the advice. I will be trying most of these, I like the softly softly approach. Those of you with teenagers will know it is wise to choose ones battles carefully!

Kate

[Erbse]

What about teaching him to cook? In my opinion, every 15 years old should be able to cook, wash dishes and help with the kitchen tidy up?

The easiest time to teach them is before they are 12 yo but it's never too late. You just get a lot more arguments once they hit the teenage years and you'll get to practice your patience (Don't cave in)

Just say that you want him to be able to cook when he goes flatting. Show him how to cook his meat, eggs etc. Once he can do it, say that you don't like handling animal foods anymore and ask him to cook those foods himself.

I predict that he will be too lazy to cook that much and that will naturally cut down the amount of animal foods he'll eat. If not, at least he'll know how to cook and you have less work.

By starting this with saying you want him to learn to cook, you avoid the argument over meat eating versus vegan.

[AnnaSpanna]

I have the same issue with my boy.
I could have sworn this wasn't here when I posted my thread or I wouldn't have bothered.
I wear reading glasses so I can't blame it on that.
Old age and stuff...