Help for Hangry Teens

After age 9, many kids describe being hungry “all the time” or “within an hour after every meal”. 

Some of them connect this with bad mood and impulsiveness, but many do not.

They describe the food at home as “fine, but always the same.”

Maybe they love family dinners but not breakfast and lunch.

Maybe they don’t enjoy eating at school and getting teased for whatever they packed - a cultural problem that isn’t going away soon.

Here are the strategies I offer them, and offer moms who reach out for coaching:

1. Anything can work for any meal - leftovers, soup, grilled sandwiches are great breakfasts when you’re tired of eggs and toast or oatmeal. Eggs and toast work for dinner.

2. Everyone eats more when there’s more variety, so add some fun “extras” to each meal. A small bowl of nuts, a pickle, a piece of fruit, some veggies and dip, will be far more filling than just a sandwich and milk

3. Copy your favorite fast foods at home. It’s a shame when home food is “boring” and eating out is “fun”. Make your own coffee drinks, fancy sandwiches, fries and burgers, chicken Caesar salad. Every food has a couple of tricks that make it pop, and you can learn those.

4. Protein, fat, and fiber have staying power, but active kids will also need far more carbs than an adult could handle. Carb load your sporty kids systematically with dried fruit, smoothies, potatoes, oatmeal, and grains. 

5. Encourage kids to take their time over meals, at least 20 minutes, rather than “Eat and run”. For school kids, this might mean dinner and an after school snack next to math homework. For homeschooled kids, this can mean breakfast or lunch. Set a timer, and bring a workbook to the table while they munch on fruit and nuts.

6. Kids usually enjoy food they made themselves. Help them find simple favorites they can make (and share!) and clean up well enough. Building agency is your gift to them.

7. Vitamins - particularly Iron and B Vitamins - can help a poor appetite. Also, limiting dairy, which has no iron but is filling, tends to improve appetite dramatically and lead to more variety in their choice of food.

Whether your kids have odd favorite foods, or they need more variety, or they seem picky, there are many ways to approach filling them up with nutrient-dense foods. Involve them where possible and you are building a future where they eat well on their own.

Our next Girls Health Class start Wednesday, November 5th at 4:30 PT/ 7:30 ET.

We'll cover this and much more - cycles, sleep, attitude, immunity - over the winter so she feels great over the cold months and is ready for spring sports.