Kids, and food with added protein

[Anonymous]

I have a teenage boy athlete, and a younger daughter, also athletic, who has decided to be a vegetarian, so I'm asking these questions both perspectives. We are having disagreement about this between the co-parents.

How do we feel about ingredients that have been specifically modified to increase protein? Protein powder, high protein tortillas, chickpea pasta, kodiak waffles, impossible "meats", etc . . . One parent thinks that adding protein is always a benefit. The other thinks that it's another form of processing and so not ideal.

Also, do you monitor how much protein in is meals, or how much your kid is eating, or figure that given a variety of healthy choices, your kid will get what their body tells them they need?

Finally, for the vegetarian kid, do you worry if your kid is relying a lot on dairy to meet their protein needs? Is variety important?

Parents are on different "sides" on all these issues, and I think it would be better if we parented consistently.

[Anonymous]

OP again, because I forgot something.

If you do monitor how much protein your kid eats, what are your targets and do you think of them as "this is the ideal" or "this is the minimum, more is always good"?

[Anonymous]

You should ask a nutritionist. If the boy is an athlete, he ought to have a meal plan with his macros.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You should ask a nutritionist. If the boy is an athlete, he ought to have a meal plan with his macros.

So, you are on the side of "Kids can't be trusted to listen to their bodies. You need a target that's calculated by an adult." We've used a dietician for other things, but they were very clearly not on that side.

Where are you on the other issues, as far as variety of protein, and whether processed protein foods are OK?

-- OP

[Anonymous]

I think this really depends on your individual kids and what they eat. I have an older elementary school daughter who is hard to get to eat enough, especially protein, so I do monitor for her. We don't do added protein foods, but mostly because we don't have them around. I do encourage her to eat more and to eat more of the stuff with protein, but that's because otherwise she'll eat a couple bites of fish or chicken and some bread and nothing else.

[Anonymous]

I started out parenting as everything should be unprocessed and as whole as possible. While I cook as much as I can, the reality is that a) keeping up with that is a full time job and I already have one and b) once kids get a taste of more processed foods it’s a lot harder to keep them happy with the other stuff. Not to say it’s not important to try, but sometimes I’m going to buy those soft mission tortillas that my kids love instead of the high fiber ones they hate because then they’re eating beans and rice and salsa and other good things.

I do buy Kodiak pancake mix and a higher protein pasta, because I feel like they’re ultimately more filling than the other varieties, less that I’m worried about my kids hitting their macros.

I buy as much fresh fruits and veggies as possible and thankfully my kids grew out of their super picky phases, but I had to comprise some of my earlier ideals to fit our realities.

[Anonymous]

One thought: if you're going to eat a store-bought tortilla, that is already a processed food. So getting the one with protein added is not really negatively changing the equation. Similarly, protein-enriched pasta is usually pasta with chickpea flour added - its just as processed as the non-enriched stuff, but could benefit your athletic kids.

Second thought: I've been getting serious about increasing protein in my own diet, and find that adding mashed lentils/chickpeas as a thickening agent to sauces and curries rarely impacts the taste. That would be a less processed way of incorporating more protein in the foods you might already be eating. Similarly, I sub greek yogurt as the base for any creamy sauce (just don't cook with it, it'll separate in some weird way that sour cream doesn't).

[Anonymous]

Speaking as a fellow mom of teen athletes, just to say where I'm coming from.

Personally much prefer real foods to the things you mention, and my kids agree. Have not liked the protein powders/pastas/bars we've tried, so it's not worth the "numbers" to us.

But we always have nuts and roasted chickpeas around, and beans/lentils are incorporated into meals more often than not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One thought: if you're going to eat a store-bought tortilla, that is already a processed food. So getting the one with protein added is not really negatively changing the equation. Similarly, protein-enriched pasta is usually pasta with chickpea flour added - its just as processed as the non-enriched stuff, but could benefit your athletic kids.

Second thought: I've been getting serious about increasing protein in my own diet, and find that adding mashed lentils/chickpeas as a thickening agent to sauces and curries rarely impacts the taste. That would be a less processed way of incorporating more protein in the foods you might already be eating. Similarly, I sub greek yogurt as the base for any creamy sauce (just don't cook with it, it'll separate in some weird way that sour cream doesn't).

OP here,

I don’t get this logic. I am a busy working mom of multiple kids. I also believe that denying kids things can lead to them craving things, so my kids definitely eat processed food both away from home, where I don’t police at all, and at home where I sometimes choose processed food for convenience.

But that doesn’t mean that I can’t or shouldn’t make choices that move us in the unprocessed direction when that works for our family.

So, for example, one thing that is a hit with my vegetarian kid is quesadilla with refried beans. The first time we made them, I used canned refried beans, pre shredded cheese, store bought tortillas, and store bought salsa. When it turned out they were an easy thing for her to make that she loved, I thought how can we make this less processed, I looked at all the ingredients and decided to do some things. I learned how to make and freeze my own refried beans, I switched to whole wheat tortillas, I read all the labels on the store bought salsa and found one that seemed healthier, and I started serving them with a side of veggies which lead to her automatically going the same. Now if she makes dinner, for the family we are still eating a hybrid of processed (shredded cheese, store bought tortillas, store bought salsa) and home made things, but it’s still healthier than it was. The fact that the tortillas are still processed doesn’t negate the rest of the changes.

This week, I went to the grocery store, and they were out of the brand of whole wheat tortillas I usually buy, which has an ingredient list that starts with water and whole wheat flour, and includes other things I generally recognize, so I grabbed another brand of whole wheat tortillas. When I got home I realized that they were low carb, and the first ingredient were water and modified wheat starch. We were already home so we used them, no one objected.

DH and I had two different reactions. One of us said “ooh these have more protein! Protein is good for our kids! We should serve these every time!” The other said “I would rather serve my kids whole wheat flour, an ingredient I recognize. The meal already had beans and cheese. That’s plenty of protein.”

I don’t know who is right or wrong, which is why I am posting.

[Anonymous]

I make a concerted effort to make sure my kids get plant based proteins from whole food sources every day. Soy yogurt for breakfast, incorporate tofu, tempeh, seitan, soy curls, peas, edamame in meals. If I make something like ratatouille, I’ll airfy tofu cubes and offer that alongside. Snacks are edamame and nuts. There are vegan meats and powders but they are not a good source of protein. Vegan meats I use sparingly.

[Anonymous]

my rule for a kid who decides for no reason something like I want to be vegetarian is that if they are old enough to make that decision then they are old enough to cook their own meals. Obviously it’s different if there is a medial reason for a diet change but just because I want to is not a reason. I wouldn’t cater to that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my rule for a kid who decides for no reason something like I want to be vegetarian is that if they are old enough to make that decision then they are old enough to cook their own meals. Obviously it’s different if there is a medial reason for a diet change but just because I want to is not a reason. I wouldn’t cater to that.

What does that have to do with the question or my anecdote about my vegetarian kid making dinner?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One thought: if you're going to eat a store-bought tortilla, that is already a processed food. So getting the one with protein added is not really negatively changing the equation. Similarly, protein-enriched pasta is usually pasta with chickpea flour added - its just as processed as the non-enriched stuff, but could benefit your athletic kids.

Second thought: I've been getting serious about increasing protein in my own diet, and find that adding mashed lentils/chickpeas as a thickening agent to sauces and curries rarely impacts the taste. That would be a less processed way of incorporating more protein in the foods you might already be eating. Similarly, I sub greek yogurt as the base for any creamy sauce (just don't cook with it, it'll separate in some weird way that sour cream doesn't).

OP here,

I don’t get this logic. I am a busy working mom of multiple kids. I also believe that denying kids things can lead to them craving things, so my kids definitely eat processed food both away from home, where I don’t police at all, and at home where I sometimes choose processed food for convenience.

But that doesn’t mean that I can’t or shouldn’t make choices that move us in the unprocessed direction when that works for our family.

So, for example, one thing that is a hit with my vegetarian kid is quesadilla with refried beans. The first time we made them, I used canned refried beans, pre shredded cheese, store bought tortillas, and store bought salsa. When it turned out they were an easy thing for her to make that she loved, I thought how can we make this less processed, I looked at all the ingredients and decided to do some things. I learned how to make and freeze my own refried beans, I switched to whole wheat tortillas, I read all the labels on the store bought salsa and found one that seemed healthier, and I started serving them with a side of veggies which lead to her automatically going the same. Now if she makes dinner, for the family we are still eating a hybrid of processed (shredded cheese, store bought tortillas, store bought salsa) and home made things, but it’s still healthier than it was. The fact that the tortillas are still processed doesn’t negate the rest of the changes.

This week, I went to the grocery store, and they were out of the brand of whole wheat tortillas I usually buy, which has an ingredient list that starts with water and whole wheat flour, and includes other things I generally recognize, so I grabbed another brand of whole wheat tortillas. When I got home I realized that they were low carb, and the first ingredient were water and modified wheat starch. We were already home so we used them, no one objected.

DH and I had two different reactions. One of us said “ooh these have more protein! Protein is good for our kids! We should serve these every time!” The other said “I would rather serve my kids whole wheat flour, an ingredient I recognize. The meal already had beans and cheese. That’s plenty of protein.”

I don’t know who is right or wrong, which is why I am posting.

Glyphosate tortillas are not good for your child whether they have protein or not. Find a non wheat version or make your own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should ask a nutritionist. If the boy is an athlete, he ought to have a meal plan with his macros.

So, you are on the side of "Kids can't be trusted to listen to their bodies. You need a target that's calculated by an adult." We've used a dietician for other things, but they were very clearly not on that side.

Where are you on the other issues, as far as variety of protein, and whether processed protein foods are OK?

-- OP

"Listen to your body" works for basic things like hunger and thirst, maybe the feeling of low blood sugar. Not getting enough protein is probably going to manifest in the short term as simply feeling hungry, but in the longer term in things like anemia, lethargy, and muscle degradation (for a high-level athlete). Getting a performance-focused set of macro targets from a registered dietician isn't telling your child they can't be trusted, it's giving them the information they need when they're making food choices. It's not "either/or" regarding processed and unprocessed food, it's "I should probably have a protein bar with these grapes if I want to make it through 90 minutes of sportsball this evening".

For my kids (ES age), too much whey or soy protein causes stomach upset, so we don't do most protein-enhanced foods. Kodiak Kids used to make frozen waffles where the protein boost was from whole wheat gluten, but I haven't been able to find them recently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should ask a nutritionist. If the boy is an athlete, he ought to have a meal plan with his macros.

So, you are on the side of "Kids can't be trusted to listen to their bodies. You need a target that's calculated by an adult." We've used a dietician for other things, but they were very clearly not on that side.

Where are you on the other issues, as far as variety of protein, and whether processed protein foods are OK?

-- OP

"Listen to your body" works for basic things like hunger and thirst, maybe the feeling of low blood sugar. Not getting enough protein is probably going to manifest in the short term as simply feeling hungry, but in the longer term in things like anemia, lethargy, and muscle degradation (for a high-level athlete). Getting a performance-focused set of macro targets from a registered dietician isn't telling your child they can't be trusted, it's giving them the information they need when they're making food choices. It's not "either/or" regarding processed and unprocessed food, it's "I should probably have a protein bar with these grapes if I want to make it through 90 minutes of sportsball this evening".

For my kids (ES age), too much whey or soy protein causes stomach upset, so we don't do most protein-enhanced foods. Kodiak Kids used to make frozen waffles where the protein boost was from whole wheat gluten, but I haven't been able to find them recently.

We have gotten different feedback from our RD, an in my experience my kids certainly figured out that if they just eat grapes practice will be rough.