underweight child

Question
Hi!  My 9 year old son is very active and athletic, doing gymnastics and ballet 6-8 hours a week.  He is very thin and the pediatrician is always trying to get us to put more weight on him (he's currently 55" and 59lb). He's not neccessarily picky, but he just doesn't seem to want to bother with eating.  We have sit-down dinners 4 times a week, and he just plays with his food and claims he's not hungry.  

Sometimes we really work on getting him to eat and he gains a pound or two, but then we slack off on nagging him and a re-weigh shows he lost the weight that he gained.  Any ideas?  

Also, it seems like all the kid nutrition advice I read involves cutting calories and fat from the diet to *prevent* weight gain.  Does being underweight mean he's allowed to eat all those forbidden foods like soda, chips, butter, bacon, dark meat, etc?  

Answer
Hi Laura,
Yes, your ped. is right!   If he is underweight through his childhood, he may end up with deficiencies later in life, such as decreased bone density/mass, decreased lean tissue, small organs, weak immune system, etc.... The way to remedy this?  He needs to increase his calories through healthy, calorie and nutrient dense foods.   I would NOT recommend him eating bacon, hamburgers, etc, as this will just cause unhealthy FAT gain, as well as cause fatty streaks and plaques to line his blood vessels and heart (yes, even at his young age), as well as increase his risk of high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer.    The best way to deal with this situation is to give him frequent small mini-meals or snack throughout the day.  Foods to include would be a daily diet of nuts, natural peanut butter (No hydrogenated oils....read the label!), lean beef (shred it or cut into fun strips so he can chew it properly), flax seed oil, olive oil (you can use these as a salad dressing), protein shakes with fresh fruit ( I like Lean Body by Labrada....I would use 1/2 the package per serving due to his age), 1-2% milk, and even some cheese cubes.   Although cheese can be high in saturated fat, including a few cubes of cheese or cheese strings can help add to his daily calories (and they do have calcium, iron, etc), but limit it to 1 oz per day.    His diet should also include fresh veggies and fruit, so make mini-salads with some lean protein tossed in (cottage cheese, chicken breast or lean beef strips) and use the first cold pressed EVOO or Flax Seed oil along with vinegar as a dressing.   Stay away from commercial salad dressings (too much sodium and other fillers).    Basically, he should be eating a well-balanced, healthy diet that includes all the food groups, and if he eats mini-meals throughout the day, this will ensure that he gets all his nutrients in.    This is the best way to gain lean, healthy muscle tissue, not excess body fat.   He needs a great deal of protein and adequate healthy fats (unsaturated), in addition to fiber, veggies and fruit.  Young pre-adolescent and adolescent males have quite high protein requirements during this important stage in their life, so make sure that his diet provides this!     Kudos on the exercise....this will provide a great foundation for his body for years to come!   Don't cut down on that....just increase the food, a little at a time in multiple meals spread out throughout the day.

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