Hello, I was just wondering if anyone has any ideas on how to cook for the kido? My husband and I was both banded this month. My son could afford to lose a few lbs himself. I'm trying to help him with this since he is just a child and can not be banded of course. Are there things to cook for all three of us that follow the guide lines of what is expected of us but be a better choice for him? Any suggestions would be great.

Protein and veggies are a good choice. Maybe add a starch for him?

Granted my kids are college aged, but I cook Lean, Green & Clean (by that I mean lean Protein, lots of veggies and try to use non processed and organic ~ but I'm not rigid on the organic) and they eat whatever I provide.

Last night I made pot roast, but with turnips instead of potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms, parsnips. Brussel sprouts on the side. There was a bit of grousing at no potatoes, but I ignored it and they ate it. I weighed/measured out my 3oz of roast, 6 brussel sprouts and a little of the veggies from the roast and if my husband was banded, that's what he would've gotten too. He's doing Atkins, so he kinda/sorta eats like I do...just more meat.

If banding is a fairly new occurrence in your life, it may take a little time to adjust to the "no processed" foods. Might not want to cut them out cold turkey for the child, but slowly find better substitutes.

Good luck to all of you!

i cook for my family lean and green. they eat it like i originally cook it but i have to smush mine a bit more. i am on stage four of post op food. i rarely cook bread or biscuits any more but still do on occasion. you child will get adjusted to the new still of eating and he will benefit from this healthier way of eating. Good Luck!

The way we eat is good for kids too. Protein, vegies and starch. Fruit is a good in between 'snack'.

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I think kids need to eat what their parents eat. Unless the parents are on a fad diet that's not healthy everyone in the family needs to eat the same food. When I was a kid if we complained about dinner my mother would say "eat rocks". Boy did that annoy us! But looking back there was nothing wrong with the food she made. In fact she cooked what they call today the "Mediterranean Diet".

Kids food should be smaller portions of adult food, instead of nuggets and such. My family eats whatever I am cooking. This week I made an egg bake and they ate that also, just more than I did. The loved it. I am lucky though. My kids are adventurous eaters. We have what I call "Experimental Dinner Night". This time I made a cottage cheese loaf (vegetarian meatloaf) that had eggs, cottage cheese, onion, bran flakes and walnuts. While we decided we won't make it again, we all tried it and ate it. The rule on EDN is that if you take at least 4 'no thank you' bites and are still hungry, you can cook yourself a can of (healthy) soup. If your kid has been on processed food for a while, just make small changes like someone else mentioned, and replace with a better alternative. Also, be excited and act like it is a privilege they are getting to try new special things, instead of "you have to" or " you need to eat healthier". Just remember, they won't starve.

Just make the same for him. The band isn't a "weird diet" I eat pretty normally, I just eat slower, and less. If you chili, he can have chili, if you have chicken salad he can have chicken salad. Just maybe his can be a sandwich, or he can have crackers with his chili.. things like that. If you have pureed something just give it to him in full form, then you eat yours pureed.

Thanks everyone for the tips. I'll work on it. He is ready and welling to eat healthier with us. All the snack foods are out of the house and replaced with fruits. We are still on the soft food diet so it's just been hard to find things for my son to eat. We have cut out eating out so that should help as well. We will get there. Do any of you know of any websites I could visit to get good recipes? Thanks again!!!!!

This is one of my favorite recipe sites for low carb cooking: http://genaw.com/lowcarb/index.html

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Think of it this way, the cycle of abuse of food starts NOW! You are giving him tools to use when he's older and can make healthy choices for himself. Good luck!

I have a hard time with family meals. My 80 year old father lives with me (think meat and potatoes) and he is at the phase where nothing tastes good to him. And he has more limiting palate than my teenager! My teenager is very picky eater and a carb-o-holic.

So, sometimes we have three separate meals! I have given up trying

to find stuff we will all like to eat.

MaineJackie, I totally get your comment about parents and food. My mother is widowed and finally lives alone (now that my nephew has moved out!). From my Dad I got low blood suger issues so I have to eat 3 meals a day. When Mom is here I feel like I need to provide protein, veggie, carb. But living alone she now eats 2 meals a day and lives fast and loose with the four food groups.

Its all been said above. Kids need the same thing as adults, maybe a bit less but when it comes to teenagers, maybe a bit more. My DH and I are both banded and the kids get what we eat. Its summer here now, so we might put some steaks on the BBQ, make a big tossed salad, if anything, I'd bake some potatoes for the kids. We dont low carb or anything, we eat normal balanced diets in smaller quantities, so there has never been any need to do anything different for the kids.

www.bariatriceating.com

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/bariatricrecipes

http://theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com/ (RNYer but her stuff should work for us too)

http://www.bandfriendlyrecipes.com/

www.cookinglight.com

caloriecount.about.com

That should get you started.

I just look for recipes for whatever I want to cook and make changes to make them higher Protein, lower carb, lower fat. works for me .