Have a picky eater?

Of course you do! Join the club! Now you’re expecting some perfectly GENIUS way to get your children (and hubbies) to eat their veggies right?! As a Dietitian, I MUST have mastered this concept (have you seen my kids – yeah, they don’t miss meals buddy). Wrong. I can show you about a million and one ways to hide pureed spinach into baked goods, but that’s not the point right now.

I had a woman in one of my talks recently state that she went through a phase when her son was 2 to about 5 years old (ummm that’s a long “phase” BTW) where all he would “stomach” was McDonald’s chicken nuggets and fries. And she was absolutely serious. HA! Wow. This is pretty extreme, but I get it all the time and its never, “he only ‘tolerates’ asparagus and legumes;” its typically some fast food, boxed item, frozen pizza product, fried “kid food,” animal by-product, or of the Pop-tart genre.

Or how bout’ the 10 year old who very seriously looked at me and stated, “I am allergic to milk, but I’ve built up a tolerance to Ice Cream, Easy Mac, and Cheese Whiz for my dairy group.” Hmm, yes. Funny thing this, “building up of tolerances.” What was most staggering, is that mom was going along with it! While trying to gather what role mom played in her daughter’s food choices, she stated, “at least she isn’t going hungry, whatever she chooses.” Mistake number 1 “…whatever she chooses.” Mistake number 2, “not going hungry” is not the goal. And, might I add, lack of said “eating” is not what got the young lady an appointment with me. Every snack, meal and grocery trip is an opportunity to teach good, healthy habits so they can make better food-decisions when they are OLD ENOUGH and ready to. Oh, sometime around the time they start paying the grocery bill! You’re not simply providing food they’ll eat, the challenge I give you, is to expose them to the most variety and tastes that you can. Even if out of every 20 new foods you only have 1 taker. Just because they don’t eat mango at 2, doesn’t mean they won’t love it at 5, or 12, or 18. Find ways to add a new vegetable or fruit to your day or even week, and don’t call attention to the eating of it (or lack there of). Get creative. Dust off your blender. Add more fresh peppers to your frozen (thin crust, whole grain ;) ) pizza, even if they pick every last one off.

Children will very rarely, and I mean very – rarely - starve themselves. In fact, juuuust about never will a child not eat until they perish. I think we can all agree American children are not necessarily under-fed. Sometimes they may be getting too many snacks, or drinking too much between or with meals, making pickiness worse, this is something you should look at. But, stop making meal time a war! And for cryin’ out LOUD stop feeling guilty about it. One day, they will, or they won’t. They will not starve, hate you or become hoodlums because you didn’t hog-tie them and force down okra! Don’t fry it or bathe it in processed “cheese”. They will live. Oh, and from now on, potato, corn and peas are starches… not veggies. Just trust me on this one.

I confess *pat pat* I did everything “right” when it comes to introducing new and varied food groups to my two year old and making vegetables a priority in our household. NEWS FLASH – HE’S TWO… some days he likes carrots, and some days its right up there with eating kitty litter, in-fact, some days, you may have better luck with the latter.

Remember, DON’T back down. This is what’s for dinner. This is all there is for dinner. You do not have to finish your plate, you must try every new food and you may not have seconds until you eat what’s already on your plate. Done. No substitutions. Breakfast is not that far away. All children are different and human. Refusal and impromptu gagging typically has more to do with their fallen nature than with the actual food. Most of the time, they’re trying to get a rise out of you, and they’re succeeding. Stop with the guilt trip, and no more blame game. May the force be with you. #theywilleatwhatyougivethem