dripdripsplat Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 My 17 year old son has decided to do a round of Whole30 with us this time, but he literally thinks we're starving him. Personally, I think it's mostly in his head, since we eat paleo year-round, and have since 2010, but since Day 1 he's been saying he's still hungry after meals, despite the fact that he's getting at least 6 oz. of protein per meal plus a rainbow of veggies, and a healthy dose of fat. A sample menu from yesterday: Breakfast: 6 oz chicken thigh with skin, a boat load of carrots, coffee Lunch: 6 oz chicken thigh with skin, 3 eggs scrambled, +/- 1 cup cauliflower/carrot/onion puree, 1 sweet potato with a hefty dollop of ghee, seltzer water Dinner: 6 oz sirloin steak, +/- 1 cup broccoli with mayonnaise, mashed potatoes with cream/butter/green onions/bacon mixed in, leftover potato wedges, water So I can see that yesterday's menu was a little lacking... I wasn't home for breakfast so he "fended for himself" and definitely ate less then he usually does. A normal breakfast for him usually involves eggs, a protein source (ham, sausage, chicken, etc.), a sweet potato with butter or coconut milk, a handful of walnuts or a spoonful of sunflower butter, and a banana or apple, plus a cup of coffee. And holy mackerel did he have a lot of potato! This is definitely not typical, but shouldn't it have left him satiated? So what do I do with this boy? I feel like my entire month of groceries is going straight to his stomach, and yet 30 minutes to an hour after he eats he's "starving". And for the record, while he's not sedentary, he's definitely not extremely active right now... He'll go for a run once or twice a week, play soccer or football once or twice a week (for about an hour), and we go walking some nights during the week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snowflower Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 I'd say increase his protein serving size. Teenagers need a lot of food in my experience (I have 2) and 6 oz at breakfast and dinner seem to be small to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmcbn Posted November 3, 2016 Share Posted November 3, 2016 How much is 6oz in relation to the palm of his hand? Remember also that at 17he's likely still growing, most likely pretty active, and his metabolism will be fast and so he should eat to the high end of the template in terms of protein especially - so 2 palms at least, and plenty of fat. His breakfast looks particularly light to me, so he was probably playing catch up all day - try to focus on breakfast going forward as it really sets the tone for the day. I'd probably switch the morning fruit/nut butter/nuts for more actual food and leave the fruit etc until later in the day. Many people report feeling hungrier sooner when they eat fruit, tahn if they eat the exact same meal without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators SugarcubeOD Posted November 3, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 3, 2016 Just to clarify, when you talked about the 'cream/butter' in the mashed potato at dinner, you didn't mean dairy right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dripdripsplat Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 10 minutes ago, SugarcubeOD said: Just to clarify, when you talked about the 'cream/butter' in the mashed potato at dinner, you didn't mean dairy right? Doh! Bad habit. Usually it would be cream and butter but for Whole30 we've been changing everything to ghee and coconut milk... You have no idea how many times I had to go back and change butter to ghee in the initial post. I must have missed that one... My brain is just stuck on all things dairy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators SugarcubeOD Posted November 3, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 3, 2016 Excellent! Just wanted to be sure but I was almost positive this would be your answer... I would suggest in addition to what the other advice you've gotten is that you let your son portion his protein to his palm size... no idea what 6oz of protein means to his palm size but if he's in more control of how much he plates, that might help... also increase the fat... he's a teenage boy, he can both handle it and probably needs it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dripdripsplat Posted November 3, 2016 Author Share Posted November 3, 2016 Okay, so this morning we tried adding more protein and fat, and so far so good. Breakfast was 2 palms worth of roasted chicken thighs with skin, 2 eggs scrambled with ghee, coconut milk, red peppers, and green onions, about a quarter cup of guacamole, and a cup of coffee with ghee in it. I can't even believe he ate all that, but at least he's satiated, and hopefully that'll last till lunch... Fingers crossed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators SugarcubeOD Posted November 3, 2016 Moderators Share Posted November 3, 2016 Excellent! Keep tweaking until he's going 4-5 hours. Dont forget that we want the plate FILLED with veggies so unless he ate 2-3 cups of red peppers and green onions, that's the next place to look at Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dripdripsplat Posted November 4, 2016 Author Share Posted November 4, 2016 5 hours ago, SugarcubeOD said: Excellent! Keep tweaking until he's going 4-5 hours. Dont forget that we want the plate FILLED with veggies so unless he ate 2-3 cups of red peppers and green onions, that's the next place to look at Well it was a success! He went about 4.5 hours before he felt peckish so we'll just be focusing on getting a good sized breakfast in him and upping the veggies. He actually ate about a cup of red pepper, and there was leftover eggplant to go with the meal but he was too full to eat any... It's a miracle!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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