My teenage son swims at least 25 hours a week, and usually rides his bicycle the 5+ miles each way back and forth to practice. At 6 foot tall and 200 lbs, you can imagine how much our athlete can eat! I needed to cut the grocery bill, but didn't want to limit his food or discourage his already very healthy eating habits.
So, here's our solution:
The result? We spend "dramatically" less on food than any other family I know. And we still have happy, healthy teenagers, including the boy who, just before the new plan, ate 3 pounds of grapes at once and called it a snack!
That is what I do w ith my children, I have a chart t hat says what food they can have for snacks and it is not junk food: Potato, Oatmeal, Bread and butter,
leftovers from dinner, Mayo Sandwich ( they like these....) rice, and than fruit juice, the real kind not the kind with High fructose corn syrup...this corn syrup really is bad, regardless of that new commercial about it..... I read at earthlink.com that it had mercury in it from processing it.....ewwwww...anyway I make sure they are eating right from the minute they get up.
I buy bulk items when on sale like raisons,sunflower kernels/dried fruit/and add oatmeal mixture that I had crumbled into bit sizes and add all these healthy things together and put in sandwich bags and freeze up for trail mix as treats. It holds you over until meal times and is very healthy and tasty. Kids love these when going out to play or to the park or outside events, even field trips for school.
When my son was a teenager, I always had him eat a large bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. It was one of the few things that filled him up and stayed with him until lunch.
My youngest is in a fairly heavy work out schedule for ROTC and he can really lay away the food! He keeps a large bag of apples handy and can eat 4 or 5 a day. He's another of those "raised on oatmeal" kids and I think it has really helped make and keep him strong. Good whole wheat bread is very healthy and filling, too.
