Having a very active son who loves to play just about every sport and whose membership on multiple baseball teams posed a huge challenge for us when it came to his nutrition. Hours of practices and games made my already hungry child a ravenous monster. We call him a vacuum cleaner because he can easily take down three plates of food well before any of us have finished our first serving.
He is constantly hungry when he's going through a growth spurt or has had a long day of running around. Rather than limit his food intake, we took certain measures to set him up to make choices that set him up to eat healthy as an adult without making him feel like he's missing out on food.
Here are some tips to feeding an active and growing child:
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Eat healthy as a family. This has been so important. Everyone must be on the same page, not just one person. I get creative with salads and meals so that they are tasty and healthy. I tend to turn to cookinglight.com and skinnytaste.com for ideas that include lean proteins and complex carbs that everyone will love.
Have healthy snacks around. Sometimes after a tough practice, my son will see the ice cream truck and want a cone filled with creamy chocolate goodness. I try to keep Skinny Cow ice cream cones at home that are much lower in calories and fat. He doesn't feel like he's missing out.
Make sure they eat tons of fruits! Always have in season fruits and have a stash of frozen fruits on hand. We keep lots of strawberries, blueberries, and pineapple around. We toss them in a blender and make homemade juices and shakes. The antioxidants help his body repair and remain healthy.
Don't keep soda or junk food around. I don't feel bad not having chips or soda around. My son gets to have a little junk food when he's around his friends or at get togethers. That's plenty.
Exercise the Wait-10-Minutes rule. Because my son eats so fast, it takes some time for his stomach to register he's just eaten. Before he helps himself to another serving, he must wait 10 minutes. It allows him to learn the difference between feeling hungry and satisfied.
