Pediatrician wants a weight check follow up

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

Fact check. Blending does not remove fruit fiber. The whole healthy fruit filled with vitamins is still there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

Fact check. Blending does not remove fruit fiber. The whole healthy fruit filled with vitamins is still there.

It breaks it apart, so that your digestive system doesn't need to work hard to break it apart. The whole point of fiber is that it slows down digestion and thus the absorption of glucose. Whole fruit > smoothie

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

You’re thinking of juice. The fiber is still in the smoothie. (If it wasn’t where could it possibly have gone?)

It is, however, much easier to consume a much high sugar content QUICKLY, which is one of the primary drawbacks to smoothies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wtf is an 88% BMI?

His Body Mass Index is at the 88%ile. It is a pretty standard measure of relative weight.

It usually listed as an integer between 0-25. Never heard it as a percentile.

Your pediatrician doesn't show where your kid falls on the height and weight growth charts? They are pretty standard.

This is a stupid rabbit hole but my answer is no. Pediatrician just says “kid is on track, X% height and X% weight”and plots it in the growth chart.

That’s different compared to BMI. I haven’t heard BMI expressed as a percentage since BMI is based on a height/weight combo, and it doesn’t seem like the most helpful metric when expressed as a percentage.

Doesn’t make sense to me but it’s not a hill to die on.

DP. Okay.

The BMI percentile is how the American Academy of Pediatrics defines the weight categories (underweight, healthy weight, overweight, obese). Same for American Academy of Family Physicians. Same for US Preventive Services Task Force. Same for CDC. Same for standard research metrics.

FYI.

https://www.healthychildren.org/English/health-issues/conditions/obesity/Pages/Body-Mass-Index-Formula.aspx
https://www.aafp.org/news/health-of-the-public/uspstf-high-bmi-interventions-youth.html
https://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/uspstf/recommendation/obesity-in-children-and-adolescents-screening
https://www.cdc.gov/growth-chart-training/hcp/using-bmi/screening-measure.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

Fact check. Blending does not remove fruit fiber. The whole healthy fruit filled with vitamins is still there.

It breaks it apart, so that your digestive system doesn't need to work hard to break it apart. The whole point of fiber is that it slows down digestion and thus the absorption of glucose. Whole fruit > smoothie

NP.

No one has said a smoothie is BETTER than just eating whole fruit. But you (or a different PP) claimed that blending fruit “takes out” the fiber, which is simply untrue. Nor does blending the fruit “destroy” the fiber. That is a commonly held belief but it has been largely debunked.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

You’re thinking of juice. The fiber is still in the smoothie. (If it wasn’t where could it possibly have gone?)

It is, however, much easier to consume a much high sugar content QUICKLY, which is one of the primary drawbacks to smoothies.

You've got a point. Regardless, like someone else said, a smoothie is a meal, not a drink, and has a potential to have way too much sugar and too many calories. It's not a solution for lemonade replacement if your goal is health is what I'm trying to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

I feel like you've posted about this before. No, blending a whole fruit in your blender and then drinking it does not remove any vitamins, fiber, or anything else from it. Think of the blender like it's chewing the food for you. Do you think those strawberries give you more vitamins if you swallow them whole vs chewing them 50 times before swallowing?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

I feel like you've posted about this before. No, blending a whole fruit in your blender and then drinking it does not remove any vitamins, fiber, or anything else from it. Think of the blender like it's chewing the food for you. Do you think those strawberries give you more vitamins if you swallow them whole vs chewing them 50 times before swallowing?

If you read above, you will see the full discussion. We have already reached a consensus. The consensus also includes the fact that real fruit and berries are much better, and smoothies are a great way to overconsume calories and fructose that would have been much harder to do if you ate fruits whole. If you love smoothies, by all means, drink away. It's just not healthy when consumed regularly.

[Anonymous]

For my underweight DS the pediatrician recommended physical therapy. (He binges on sugar, so we do not keep it in the house, but then he is underweight)..The PT exercises would cause an increase appetite for healthy foods. We are two months into weekly appointments and it is working! Maybe that is a path for you to develop a routine around weekly 1-hr appointments and daily exercise homework and make sure the food choices are also routine. A big sugar spike with Gatorade at a soccer game and post-game fast food may not be serving the family well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

Fact check. Blending does not remove fruit fiber. The whole healthy fruit filled with vitamins is still there.

It breaks it apart, so that your digestive system doesn't need to work hard to break it apart. The whole point of fiber is that it slows down digestion and thus the absorption of glucose. Whole fruit > smoothie

NP.

No one has said a smoothie is BETTER than just eating whole fruit. But you (or a different PP) claimed that blending fruit “takes out” the fiber, which is simply untrue. Nor does blending the fruit “destroy” the fiber. That is a commonly held belief but it has been largely debunked.

I think people misunderstand what fiber is. They think it's literally the fibrous texture of a food item. So like they think when you eat a pear or a leaf of spinach, the literal pieces of food that you swallow are the "fiber" that cleans out your system. This isn't accurate because obviously you chew your food. You also swallow it and it goes to your stomach where it is broken down by acids and enzymes. By the time it hits your intestines, it's a heck of a lot more "broken down" than it in a smoothie. But the fiber, which just refers to the part of the plant matter that your body is not capable of digesting, is still there and will travel through your intestines. The fiber doesn't need to come in the form raw chunks of food, it can be blended or cooked first, and the fiber will remain. Blending is actually preferable to cooking, which actually can remove nutrients from fruits and vegetables, whereas blending doesn't remove anything at all.

So for instance, if you put a serving of spinach in a fruit smoothie, you will still get all of the benefits of the spinach (including the fiber) that you would if you ate that same serving as a salad. But if you cooked that spinach into a lasagna, you might get somewhat fewer nutrients (but you will still get the fiber!).

I find it so bizarre that one or more people on this board has been on a mission to convince people that smoothies are junk food for a while. Smoothies are exactly as healthy as the ingredients you put in them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

This is beyond the paygrade of this sub. You need to potentially go back to feeding therapies and see a nutritionist.

Agree, this is complicated enough to need a professional, it’s not just your standard eat less processed food and exercise more situation.

+1 This seems like a troll post though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

Fact check. Blending does not remove fruit fiber. The whole healthy fruit filled with vitamins is still there.

It breaks it apart, so that your digestive system doesn't need to work hard to break it apart. The whole point of fiber is that it slows down digestion and thus the absorption of glucose. Whole fruit > smoothie

NP.

No one has said a smoothie is BETTER than just eating whole fruit. But you (or a different PP) claimed that blending fruit “takes out” the fiber, which is simply untrue. Nor does blending the fruit “destroy” the fiber. That is a commonly held belief but it has been largely debunked.

I think people misunderstand what fiber is. They think it's literally the fibrous texture of a food item. So like they think when you eat a pear or a leaf of spinach, the literal pieces of food that you swallow are the "fiber" that cleans out your system. This isn't accurate because obviously you chew your food. You also swallow it and it goes to your stomach where it is broken down by acids and enzymes. By the time it hits your intestines, it's a heck of a lot more "broken down" than it in a smoothie. But the fiber, which just refers to the part of the plant matter that your body is not capable of digesting, is still there and will travel through your intestines. The fiber doesn't need to come in the form raw chunks of food, it can be blended or cooked first, and the fiber will remain. Blending is actually preferable to cooking, which actually can remove nutrients from fruits and vegetables, whereas blending doesn't remove anything at all.

So for instance, if you put a serving of spinach in a fruit smoothie, you will still get all of the benefits of the spinach (including the fiber) that you would if you ate that same serving as a salad. But if you cooked that spinach into a lasagna, you might get somewhat fewer nutrients (but you will still get the fiber!).

I find it so bizarre that one or more people on this board has been on a mission to convince people that smoothies are junk food for a while. Smoothies are exactly as healthy as the ingredients you put in them.

No shit Sherlock

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

Fact check. Blending does not remove fruit fiber. The whole healthy fruit filled with vitamins is still there.

It breaks it apart, so that your digestive system doesn't need to work hard to break it apart. The whole point of fiber is that it slows down digestion and thus the absorption of glucose. Whole fruit > smoothie

NP.

No one has said a smoothie is BETTER than just eating whole fruit. But you (or a different PP) claimed that blending fruit “takes out” the fiber, which is simply untrue. Nor does blending the fruit “destroy” the fiber. That is a commonly held belief but it has been largely debunked.

I think people misunderstand what fiber is. They think it's literally the fibrous texture of a food item. So like they think when you eat a pear or a leaf of spinach, the literal pieces of food that you swallow are the "fiber" that cleans out your system. This isn't accurate because obviously you chew your food. You also swallow it and it goes to your stomach where it is broken down by acids and enzymes. By the time it hits your intestines, it's a heck of a lot more "broken down" than it in a smoothie. But the fiber, which just refers to the part of the plant matter that your body is not capable of digesting, is still there and will travel through your intestines. The fiber doesn't need to come in the form raw chunks of food, it can be blended or cooked first, and the fiber will remain. Blending is actually preferable to cooking, which actually can remove nutrients from fruits and vegetables, whereas blending doesn't remove anything at all.

So for instance, if you put a serving of spinach in a fruit smoothie, you will still get all of the benefits of the spinach (including the fiber) that you would if you ate that same serving as a salad. But if you cooked that spinach into a lasagna, you might get somewhat fewer nutrients (but you will still get the fiber!).

I find it so bizarre that one or more people on this board has been on a mission to convince people that smoothies are junk food for a while. Smoothies are exactly as healthy as the ingredients you put in them.

I’m the “anti-smoothie” person and I think the reason for this discussion got lost in the discussion. We are talking about smoothies because someone suggested to swap lemonade for them for a child who drinks lemonade multiple times a day. My main argument was that smoothies are not much better than lemonade when used as a regular drink. If the child sat down and tried to eat several bananas, a bunch of strawberries and what not 3 times a day ON TOP of eating the junk food that they are currently eating, they probably simply wouldn’t be able to because of the volume of those foods, but they can easily drink a glass with every meal and their parent wouldn’t think twice about the amount of fructose they’d be getting with it. Fruits are great but quantity matters. Drinking 3 smoothies a day is not healthy, and I’ll die on that hill (but probably later than a person who drinks multiple smoothies and think they are just fruits and are great for them).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry but if your ped told you increasing calcium will make him taller, then you need a new ped. This would only be the case if your son had had a severely restricted diet for a few years and then moved to a normal diet.

\

Also thought this was weird and sounds like old wives' tales.

Op here. DS was in weekly feeding therapies for a few years because he has low weight between age 2 to age 5. He still has a restricted diet that he does not eat vegetables, limited textures, a lot of junk food and carb, a little bit milk, some meat and some fruit. He does not have a balanced diet, and I have to give him multi vitamin gummies that he does not even take daily. If I force him to eat some food or texture, he will gag and vomit. That is why pediatrican wants him to cut sugar and take more calcium.

Will he drink smoothies? Add ice, milk banana and a frozen fruit of his choice and throw it in the Vitamix and you've got a smoothie. You can freeze these as well and make pops.

If he likes chocolate use milk ice chocolate milk mix banana maybe peanut butter That one is high in protein.

Smoothies are only slightly better than lemonade. Whenever you process fruits and berries, you take out the main healthy ingredients in them (fiber) and leave fructose which causes a high insulin spike. Smoothie should be an occasional treat, not an everyday drink. He needs to get used to drinking water.

Fact check. Blending does not remove fruit fiber. The whole healthy fruit filled with vitamins is still there.

It breaks it apart, so that your digestive system doesn't need to work hard to break it apart. The whole point of fiber is that it slows down digestion and thus the absorption of glucose. Whole fruit > smoothie

Digestion is not like weightlifting.

It does not matter whether the fruit is pureed, the same way it would not matter if someone chewed it particularly well before swallowing.

[Anonymous]

Eating more dairy is only going to accelerate his weight gain. Don’t restrict him on food but offer more fruits/veg and lean meats or protein at meals along with unprocessed carbs (sweet potatoes, brown rice etc). Experiment and find what he likes and will eat that’s healthy. Do not keep sugary drinks or desserts at home but stock up on things like no fruit-only (no sugar added) popsicles, watermelon, etc). Summer is great for this. That way he still gets treats and doesn’t feel deprived or restricted. Does he do any sports or movement currently? If not, have him pick something he enjoys and commit to it daily- can be a formal activity (summer swim team, martial arts class, tennis lessons, whatever), or informal like riding his bike, running, or shooting hoops in the driveway.