More Food Talk

I don't know how to start this post because I don't want to sound like an obsessive, vain mother. I hope that when you read what I have written here that you will hear my heart that my desire is one fully of care and concern for my chid.

We have an obesity epidemic in our country. If you agree with nothing else I say, I know you agree with that. And childhood obesity is a serious issue! I look around and see so many children who are vastly overweight, if not obese. And I immediately blame the parents. Many of the parents are overweight themselves. But even if they aren't, it is solely their responsibility if their children are.

All three of our older children are tall, super thin, and have never had to worry one second about what they have eaten. I am not overweight, although with age I do try to watch what I eat and, especially, watch my levels of carbs (because I am a carb addict!) Our family is hereditarily blessed with a fast metabolism.

And then there is Brynne. She is shorter, stockier, built bigger, thicker, and loves to eat. She is heavy in the middle and in her chest area. She has a very bloated stomach. I've been a little concerned about her weight and growth progress for the past couple of years, but haven't made a big deal about it. She has a lactose intolerance and, recently, I identified that she has IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome). This winter she has gained a lot of weight, especially in her back, stomach and breast area. And then this week I noticed that she even had some fat forming around her neck and chin. Brynne loves to eat. She eats in large quantities. We are actually all pretty big eaters, but no one seems to gain weight except for her. Her BMI is in a higher range than I would like it to be.

I do not want Brynne to struggle with her weight. I don't want her to experience physical and emotional difficulties because of it. She is too young to monitor her own eating, and she shouldn't be monitoring her eating anyway at this age. It's my job to teach her a healthy eating lifestyle so that it becomes second nature to her.

As a family we are not horrible eaters. We rarely eat out. We eat dinner at home every night. We sit down and eat together most nights. I try to cook meals with lean meats (mostly chicken or ground turkey), whole grains and fruits. We do eat more processed foods and snacks than we should. We are not good vegetable eaters. We eat way too many carbs.

Brynne's specific challenges (with her lactose intolerance and IBS problems):

• Her meats are limited because she can't eat any red meat or dark meat poultry.
• Her dairies are limited.
• No soluble fiber (so no bran, no whole wheat bread or pasta, no apple peels, no brown rice).
• Limited insoluble fiber.
• No artificial sweeteners, so no low-fat or sugar free foods.
• No butter.
• All of this means mostly white, refined breads and pastas, and she needs to eat more vegetables and she doesn't like vegetables.

There are challenges. Real challenges.

This week I decided to keep track of her calorie intake over the course of a couple of days. According to "experts", she should be eating around 1200-1400 calories a day. When I looked at the actual portions she eats, it's astonishing! Just her nighttime snack (being transparent here) can easily comprise of 500-600 calories. The girls LOVE goldfish crackers! The things she eats isn't too horrible, but it's the quantity she eats that is bad! (And that's all MY fault!)

The thing about Brynne is that she loves her comfort foods, but she WILL eat other things if I offer them to her. Of course she is going to fill up on her comfort foods. Wouldn't you? And you would especially if nothing else was being offered.

So, I am becoming proactive. She has no idea I am doing anything because of her. She just thinks we are making some changes as a family. (We can all benefit from the changes anyway.) When I was talking to Dawson and Taylar about it last night, Dawson even asked me to buy the V-8 drinks that contain fruits and veggies (or the Aldi brand, is fine). He said, "I like that juice a lot, and if it gives me a serving of fruits and veggies, then that's great! ... but, I'll have to hide it from Taylar or she'll drink it all."

I am reading the book Ending the Food Fight by David Ludwig, MD., Ph.D. It is insightful and has excellent points to follow.

Here is where we are starting:

I am back to using our food group plates I bought at Walmart. It helps me keep portion sizes down and to make sure the kids and I are able to visualize that the food groups are being followed.

I will measure out portion sizes of other foods they eat.

I will put a vegetable on Brynne's plate, even if she doesn't eat it. (Eli likes raw vegetables like carrots and broccoli, so he is not a problem when it comes to this.) Once a week I will introduce a new vegetable that I want her to try to see if we can find any she will eat. She does like tomato soup, cooked carrots in homemade chicken noodle soup, and I am able to hide veggies in some of her food (like tonight we had turkey burgers with grated carrots and celery cooked in the meat.) Otherwise ... nothing.

She won't be denied her favorite foods on occasion (even if they are not as healthy), but she will only receive a portion size and will be required to eat all of the food on her plate (minus the veggies until she gets more used to eating veggies) before she gets seconds of anything else. However, she has yet to ask for seconds after eating everything on her plate.

Drinks will be limited to water, her lactose free milk, and green tea. Occasionally she will be offered a glass of juice. Thankfully the kids typically ask for water to drink, so it's not a big problem. Eli doesn't like soda, or anything carbonated, but Brynne loves soda. We never have it in the house. She gets an occasional soda if we are away from home doing something special, but it is rarity.

I will go back to making a homemade treat of some kind for snacks, like banana and zucchini muffins and oatmeal raisin cookies. I will purchase even more fruits to offer for snacks.

I am looking forward to reading more of the book to see what tips Dr. Ludwig has to offer. We are also increasing our activity level, which will become much easier once spring hits. Brynne is wanting to play softball this summer, and we have started doing Billy Blanks, Jr., videos for P.E. each day. They are fun dance exercise routines.

** I want to end by saying this as a disclaimer: Brynne's weight is not an emergency ... BY FAR! She is just a little girl who is built a little differently than my other children and she will, likely, need to be more conscious of her food choices than the other members of our family. It is our job to EDUCATE her and help her form healthy eating habits. That is my goal. I am not putting my child on a diet or even trying to have her lose weight. We are just working toward the future.