Need 13yo son to gain mass on his 1st whole30

[Bridget McNeill]

Doing my second whole30 starting tomorrow. It will be the first for my husband and my 13yo son. My son is a football player and because I do not want him to suffer that performance lag starting about day 7 and ending day 15ish and the fact that I do not want him to lose weight but to gain some clean mass, I am modifying for him (leaving dairy and some starchy carbs). Anyone with similar experience in modifying have any advice?

[Colleen Roy]

In my experience working with 11-14 year olds as a middle school teacher, all the boys eat huge amounts of food! I would imagine that if you give him larger portions of whole30 compliant foods and extra veggies, he'll do well. However, if dairy doesn't seem to bother him and your purpose for having him join you is to just get him to eat more healthy foods with you and your husband, I don't see why that would be a problem for him. Just getting rid of processed foods will help him!

[MrsStick]

Up everything for him. Seriously. Meat 2+ palms, fat 2+ thumbs, and all the veggies, especially starchy ones, you can shove down his throat. He'll need it.

[amberino21]

While you don't want him to experience the tiredness, so want to modify the whole 30 for him, this kind of defeats the purpose....you get the slump as your body hasn't worked out that it is getting more fat for energy. A few days of tiredness are surely worth a more prolonged period of better energy and performance?

This isn't a low carb lifestyle, and he doesn't need milk to put on weight - he just needs to eat food! Compliant food, lots if it. Give him protein and plenty of starchy carbs post training, on top of his other meals. Non training days, perhaps give him 4 meals instead of 3...

Or don't make him do a whole 30! Maybe he doesn't want to, have to or need to? Anyone would benefit from eating predominantly whole foods without the restraints of a whole 30

[Fenderbender]

Load him up on sweet potatoes,plantains, fresh fruit, even dried fruit, nut butters and almonds with all his meals..... May even want to get him to eat 4-5 meals per day especially if he's on the foot ball team. If he gets enough calories from starchy veg and plenty of protein he shouldn't experience the " slump"

[ultrarunnergirl]

I saw somewhere on the Whole9 site in an official answer to a question from a mother, white potatoes are fine for kids and can really fill that gap. Nutrient dense food makes you full very quickly.