Question

Maria, 48, and her son Jose, 12, eat all of their meals together, except for lunch, when Jose, is at school.  Maria, is 5’4’’ and 104 lbs.  She believes she is ~16 lbs underweight.  Her son is also 5’4’’ and is 140 lbs.  It is believed that he is ~20 lbs overweight.  Jose is lactose intolerant and has both asthma and strong allergies.  Maria does not generally eat breakfast.  It sometimes makes her nauseas.  Both are sitting with you, as their Nutritionist, looking for guidance and say they are willing to do what you recommend, in order to improve their lives

Answer 1

In this scenario the mother wants to increase weight by 16 pounds and the child wants to loose weight by 20 pounds

Nutrition advice for Mother:

The biggest problem with Maria is not having breakfast .Having the first meal of the day makes lot of difference as it kick-starts your metabolism.If you have a healthy breakfast you are sure that you are meeting the daily requirement of fruits and vegetables.Maria complains of nausea it can be caused by varied factors like acid reflux,anxiety,lack of sleep,hunger all these causes are avoidable.To prevent nausea Maria can start using any dry crackers toast pertezets which will reduce bloating and acid reflux .Maria should consume more frequent meals every 2-3 hourly with equal portion of carbs,proteins and fat.she should incclude healthy fats like nuts,avacados

Nutrition advice for Jose:The child's recommended weight iaibetween 47-56kg to maintain an ideal weight so he need to loose approximately 6-9 KGS .For weight loss the idea is to have a balance between the consumed calories and burned calories .You should be caloric deficient by 500kcal to loose 0.5kg a week .A low carbs and high protein diet will help Jose loose weight .He can have low glycemic index carbohydrates like brocoli,cabbage,cauliflower,quinoa,oats,sweet potato which will breakdown inro glucose slowly and thus helps in insulin sensitivity thus reducing weight.He should have proteins from lean meats,beans,pulses,poultry since jose is lactose intolerant he will have choose diary products carefully .no need to avoid complete diary instead he can have cheese , yoghurt wich has low lactose .diary products are a good source of calcium and vitamin D which is needed for bone growth .Lactose intolerance can be reduced by taking lactase tablets before consuming diary products .or by reducing the amount of diary by spreading it over the day .He should snack on healthy nuts and avoid junk food and sugary juices .He will also have to take a calcium and vitamin D tablets to maintain the levels .

All these measures will help Maria and Jose to maintain ideal weight