I've been thinking a lot about food lately. It's not due to any diet plans or anything
fun like planning for a party. I’m finding
that I'm becoming obsessed with food choices, calorie counts, nutritional
values and meal plans because I live with a "picky eater."
Meal planning for a family can be challenging in any
household when taking into account everyone's likes and dislikes. Try planning when you have child who rejects
most vegetables, fruits and proteins. My
son wasn't always this picky. When he
was a baby, he ate the cereals and pureed vegetables, fruits and yogurts. As a toddler, he liked fruits more than
vegetables but started to turn up his nose at beef and pork and well, forget
fish, that wasn't happening. A real
change came when he went to school and friends at the lunch table provided
feedback on lunches to alert each other on what to eat and not to eat. Now, not every child cares or is influenced
by others as much as mine but when they do listen to their peers, suddenly
those good old standby meals that you used to count on start to go cold and
untouched.
Packing snacks, lunches and providing a nutritious dinner
(that gets eaten) became a real challenge.
We reached a stage where my son was only eating carbohydrates and select
proteins and hardly any vegetables or fruits.
A battle ensued and my young son realized that this was a way in which
he could exert control. I needed some
resources to help me through so I searched our library catalog and found some
interesting books that deal with picky eaters of all ages. I wasn't feeling so isolated any longer and
began to see that this can be a common problem in many families.
Once I started to find books, I went a little crazy and
checked out about twelve titles. "Food
Chaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems,
and Expand Your Child's Diet" by Cheri Fraker was one of the first titles
I read. I liked the concept of starting with a food that the child eats, like
chicken nuggets, and then providing a close relative to it first, like battered
chicken, and then go to similar proteins prepared in the same way. They address texture issues as well as taste
and even provide advice for children with sensory issues. "Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family:
How to Eat, How to Raise Good Eaters, How to Cook" by Ellyn Satter helps
families bring the joy back to eating and having family meals. She has written
quite a few books on the topic and was recommended to me by one of our great
children's librarians. Another title I
liked was "Raising a Healthy, Happy Eater: A Parent's Handbook - Stage-by-Stage
Guide to Setting Your Child on the Path to Adventurous Eating" by Nimali
Fernando. This book truly gives advice
from babyhood to school age children. I
got a lot out of the chapter on school lunches and packing them so that it's
not a fussy experience but one where containers are easy to open and foods are
visible so that kids can easily see and access everything.
I also found books with recipes that incorporated vegetables
into the foods that my son ate regularly so that they're in the meal but not always
just lying there on the plate. In "The
Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals",
Missy Chase Lapine provides recipes of various purees and juices that she adds
to foods like French toast, macaroni and cheese, pasta sauce, meatballs and
soups. She even adds the hidden vegetables to brownies, puddings and
cookies. Jessica Seinfeld is another
author who incorporates vegetables and fruits into recipes in her books: "Deceptively
Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food" and "Double
Delicious! Good, Simple Food for Busy, Complicated Lives."
In addition to the books I was reading, I reached out to my
son's pediatrician who referred us to a nutritionist. The great part about
meeting with her was that she mostly addressed my son so that he was an active
participant rather than just having me convey the message and tell him what to
do. She came prepared with diagrams,
colorful cards with various food choices and conversed at his level about
eating and food choices. We took away
some handouts with suggested meals and snacks.
One great tip she gave us was to try one new food a week and to try it
more than once since it takes seven to fifteen times before a new food may be
accepted.
Since all this research and nutritionist meetings started,
it's been a few months and I have to say, my son is slowly becoming more
interested in trying new things, sometimes even suggesting something
himself. He helps shop, prepare meals
and pack his lunches far more than he used to.
Rather than being put off by what others are eating at the lunch table
at school, he'll come home asking if he can take hummus or tomato soup next
time.
Although we're off to a good start, we have a long way to go
before the "picky eater" status is lifted. Realistically speaking, it may never get
lifted and that's okay. My goal is to
make small improvements where there's more variety and less anxiety for everyone.
If you'd like assistance in finding resources for an issue
you're wrestling with or perhaps you're just curious about something, we can
help you find what you're looking for in our collection, in the Minuteman
Library Network or through Interlibrary Loan.
