Healthy Meals for Overweight Kids

Basic Nutrition

• Generally, fad diets or diets that eliminate essential components of a normal diet do not help you lose weight or promote your best health. It is particularly important for children--including overweight kids--to ensure that they are getting all of the important things that their growing bodies need, even if this means that it will take them longer to lose weight. It is not healthy to completely eliminate carbohydrates or any particular food group, to eat too much protein, or to try to subsist for days at a time on only one food like cabbage soup--as is the case with most fad diets.

  Carbohydrates should still form the bulk of your overweight child's diet, but these carbohydrates should come in the form of whole grains, fruits and vegetables--rather than white bread, soda pop, and chips. Low-fat protein sources, such as poultry, beans, and low-fat peanut butter and dairy products are the best options when preparing healthy meals for an overweight child. While some fats like Omega-3 fatty acids are necessary to proper brain and nerve development, these fats should come from the healthiest sources possible such as avocados, olive oil, fish and eggs.

  In addition, while the right foods are essential to a healthy diet, losing weight also requires adequate portion control--even if a child is eating the healthiest meal possible, he will still gain weight if he is eating more calories than he is burning. Consider providing six smaller meals throughout the day for your overweight child, instead of three large meals, to help curb hunger. If your child wants a snack, give him a high-fiber food like an apple or sandwich on whole grain bread since these foods tend to make a person feel fuller longer, resulting in eating less.

  It is also important to understand that overweight kids have developed certain eating habits that cannot be broken overnight. Compromise on some things is essential in order to help your child feel as though he still has some control over what he is eating, as well as to help increase his compliance with rules they may not necessarily like. For example, if you allow a special dessert like cake or ice cream every Friday night, your overweight child is less likely to try and sneak cookies during the rest of the week. Or if you set a limit of one diet soda every other day, you'll see better results than if you tried to completely eliminate all soda.

  By following the basic principles of good nutrition and being supportive, understanding, and willing to compromise with your overweight child, you'll be better able to prepare healthy meals and get your kid to actually eat them.

Healthy Meal Examples

• Breakfast is often the easiest healthy meal to prepare for most families with overweight kids, since oatmeal, granola or a whole grain cold cereal with fruit is an excellent option. Be sure to choose a whole grain cereal without a lot of sugar and use low-fat milk, however. Scrambled eggs or veggie omelets cooked without butter or oils, or whole grain pancakes or French toast with fresh fruits and a very light sprinkling of powdered sugar are other good breakfast choices.

  Lunch can be a sandwich made with lean proteins--tuna or chicken salad with low-fat mayo, turkey, roast beef--and whole grain breads, a fresh vegetable with low-fat dipping sauce or salad dressing, and another fresh fruit. Alternatively, try soup with crackers, bean and low-fat cheese burritos and tortilla chips with salsa, or a salad with two or three veggies, hardboiled egg slices and low-fat salad dressing.

  Dinner is usually the biggest meal of the day, but it can also be healthy. Broiled lean roast beef, two steamed vegetables, and a big glass of milk is one option. Or you could have baked chicken with whole grain pasta in a homemade marinara sauce and steamed broccoli, ground turkey meatloaf with mashed sweet potatoes and a fresh spinach salad, or salmon with wild rice and tomato slices.

  Fresh fruits and vegetables, low-fat yogurt and cheese, nuts, and pretzels or plain popcorn are good snacks throughout the day. However, the choices for healthy meals and snacks are practically limitless, so consider buying or borrowing from the library a cookbook of healthy recipes to spark your creativity and add some variety to your menu.