What We Ate Wednesday: Starring My Sixth Grader

I haven’t featured my sixth grader in this What We Ate Wednesday series in a while for a reason. He’s been having some stomach pain that has made feeding him difficult. I want to respect his privacy and not share lots of details but suffice it to say that his appetite has been limited, as have the foods he’s been willing to eat. So please: No “this isn’t enough food for an 11 year old” or “shouldn’t that bagel be whole wheat” because we are doing the best we can. And also, read How Feeding A Tween Is Harder. (Can you tell I’m feeling a little defensive and stressed about this?) Besides, I figured that bumps in the road are a part of life that I should share too. So with that said, here’s everything he had yesterday:

He’s been liking pretty bland breakfasts, so he had a plain bagel with lots of butter and a glass of chocolate milk.

I packed his lunch, which was cheese and crackers, carrots with dip (in the silver container), yogurt, pears, and freeze-dried strawberries (I love those things and so do my kids–strawberries are the only ingredient). He ate everything here but several carrots.

I asked him to take photos of the snacks he ate while staying after school to do homework. He bought a bag of chips from the vending machine and ate a raspberry, cashew and chia KIND bar that I had packed in his bag for him.

Dinner was brown rice and beef stir fry with broccoli, peppers, and carrots (it’s the Peanutty Stir-Fry from my book with Cooking Light, Dinnertime Survival Guide, which is a big-time family favorite recipe around here) plus a wedge of cantaloupe and a glass of water. He ate most of this.

After dinner he had half of this Baby Ruth from his candy stash (a gallon-size bag in the cabinet where all candy from Easter, Halloween, birthday parties, and otherwise go into).

Before bed, he fixed himself some unsweetened applesauce with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon.