July 16, 2010

Is My Kid the Only One Who Doesn't Eat Kale?


I receive plenty of pitches to write about how to cook for babies and toddlers -- and the genre has become a burgeoning niche ever since Jessica Seinfeld released her cookbook entitled Deceptively Delicious, which teaches parents how to puree and sneak healthy foods (beets, cauliflower, etc) into their kids' meals unbeknownst to them. In my opinion, Seinfeld's is one of the only realistic cooking for toddlers books I have come across, if your child happens to be a picky, stubborn eater who uses food as a power struggle (or any combo of the aforementioned).

Let me start by saying that my husband and I are total foodies. We spend hours at the local farmer's market, in the organic produce section of local grocery stores, and perusing labels in aisles. We take Olivia to farms to see where milk comes from, we take her berry picking to see produce growing at its source, and we prepare her meals with love and intention. So, you can imagine our frustration when we serve her up pricey, healthy, homemade nutritious food, only t get adamant rejection that often ends in tears. And I'm not even saying we are trying to make her eat broccoli and brussel sprouts. We make her completely kid-friendly foods with wholesome ingredients and she still turns her nose up.

I recently received a cookbook on cooking delicious organic meals for your baby and toddler, and found it quite blase' and clearly written by a mother whose kids are open to trying new foods, and who are experimental and curious. We've found that our daughter's palate has actually diminished in scope since she was a baby - a stage during which she was eager to try new things no matter what color they were or what they smelled like.

I read this cookbook and was baffled at how the author explained that they way to get your kids to eat healthy foods is to prepare them with love and present them with enthusiasm. (Hogwash) We could do a jig while placing Olivia's plate on the table and it would still be a no-go if she wasn't interested. The cookbook goes on to provide many recipes, all exotic and designed to expand your child's palate. The recipes included really delicious, savory ingredients that I'm certain many adults would love, but what kid is going to eat fava beans and chutney and dill dips... I mean, I am sure they are out there, but it makes me ask the question that titles this post:

Is my kid the only one who doesn't eat kale?

So, I wanted to share with you the letter I wrote to the author after reading her cookbook:

"I had the opportunity to read through your cookbook and it is beautifully done, however I was wondering if you'd be open to answering a few questions so I may share them with my readers in interview form. One of my main questions is that my toddler, and every toddler I know is so finicky and picky that beyond the purees and into the "expanding the palate" section, I think the recipes, although mouth-watering and enticing to me, would be a near impossible sell for my child and most of her peers. I have only fed my daughter healthy, organic foods since birth, but instead of her palate widening as she gets older, she is refusing to try new and exciting foods, seasonings, combinations... and as a matter of fact has turned her back on some of the healthy superfoods she used to devour as a baby.

I think an answer from you with regard to HOW to get kids to eat this beautiful food would be very empowering for parents. Most of our "try this new food" experiences, which we do at least once a day, end in a huge battle of wills... in your book you say bribes shouldn't be necessary if you're offering appetizing food... we offer our daughter gorgeous, homemade meals three times a day, and are heartbroken by her refusal to eat them and her insistence on sticking to a few items in a boring rotation. I know we're not alone in this regard."

I heard back from the author a day later and she told me she'd answer my questions shortly. That was a month ago and I still haven't heard back.

So, I pose the question to YOU. If you have a picky eater, do you have any secrets on how to get them to eat new, healthy foods? I'd love to start this conversation in the comments section of this post!

8 comments:

Monica said...

The toddler eating world is the most elusive! As with babies that sleep well vs babies that don't, I think you just have to get lucky. You are doing all the right things by introducing your kiddo to beautifully prepared home-cooked, natural meals daily. My 2.5 year old is sometimes a good eater, sometimes not. 1 week she will eat salmon (and yes...kale--in the form of roasted kale chips) and the next week she will subsist solely on bread and butter.

Here are some things that have helped us:
--let her dip anything she eating in whatever she wants to dip in...Ketchup (we get organic ketchup from Trader Joe's), maple syrup, tartar sauce, ranch dressing (also aim for organic). She may be getting a bit more sugar/sodium than we would like, but if there is broccoli used to get the ranch into her...so be it :)
--Have her help cook, even if it makes a huge mess. Have her set the table, and serve herself from the bowl to her plate, if appropriate.
--Always have something on the plate that she likes. Even if it's not a veggie/fruit that she likes--something substantial. Bread and butter. Shredded cheese. plain yogurt (hey, she likes the plain over fruited--I know I'm lucky!) that way I don't have to battle her to eat SOMEthing on the plate so she doesn't starve but I also don't have to do the short-order cook thing.
--Don't battle. If I find myself doing the "just take one bite thing" or "you can have more cheese if you eat some broccoli" I know that eating is going downhill. The minute I pull back and let her at it on her own, the next week she's a great eater.
--limit snacks. This is HARD because she's such a natural snacker--and who wouldn't like to subsist on crunchy carbs? But if it's after 5pm (we eat dinner at 6) and she asks for a snack, she can have raw veggies and that's it (with salad dressing, which she loves). If she's not hungry enough for that, she's not hungry. Otherwise, she'll have a handful of crackers and then it's all over.

Hope this helps!

Monica
www.yourintuitivehealth.com

Petite Planet said...

Thanks so much for taking the time to share all of these great tips, Monica!

Julianna said...

I know you know my daughter is a pretty good eater, however, on the nights that she is super hungry and I haven't given her a small snack she does not eat. If I give her some yogurt or a little cheese or some part of what I'm cooking before dinner she will eat, sometimes more than I can believe. I cut out the pretzel and carby/crunchy snacks around 2 and if she's hungry I offer her something that could, if needed, be considered dinner (like half an apple, carrots or the above mentioned). That way if she doesn't eat at least I know her last snack was a healthy alternative.

Petite Planet said...

Thanks, Julianna. That's a great idea. Both you and Monica mentioned the snack issue, which bears much consideration. I totally agree, and lately started giving her only really healthy afternoon snacks that could sub for dinner if by that hour she won't eat. Thanks for weighing in!

Suzanne said...

Here's a technique that worked wonders with my then picky eater of a son. It's called "First Course" and it was taught to me by Noel Janis-Norton, a learning and hehavioral specialist.

1. Put five to six microscopic bits of food that you want them to try on a plate. Think tips of little fingernails small. The total amount of food should only be about a quarter of a teaspoon. This is “first course.” The reason you want the food to be so tiny is that a) it doesn’t look like the food and b) it doesn’t taste like anything because it is so small.
2. Everyone get first course. As you sit down, you say “This is your first course. You don’t have to eat it. We won’t force you. But you do have to eat first course before you can have second course.” (And second course should be all food that they already like/have tasted and can deal with.)
3. The key is not to urge them to eat but also not to give in and let them have second course without eating first course. Give them lots of descriptive praise for anything positive they might be doing. “I see that you are trying the first piece. I like how you are tasting a new food.”
4. Your child may test you to see how serious you are about this. They will believe that you will bargain. “I will only eat two pieces and then I get my first course.” Stand your ground.
5. Continue to have first course for every meal every day and gradually increase the amount of first course food.

When we first sat down with the first course, we held our breath while Tom looked at his plate. To our utter amazement, he ate the new food (tiny pieces of blueberry - we only put 1 - 2 pieces on) without a problem. The tiny pieces really helped with his fear.

Tom is now 8 and his favorite food is sushi and also salad. He has tried loads of new food and it made traveling with him much easier.

My second son, on the other hand, was the classic "introduce the food 15 - 16 times and they will eventually like it" guy. We just had to keep giving it to him to try and each time he gets to a stage where he announces that he likes it.

tf said...

A long time ago I read about the 7x rule, that you have to introduce a new food an average of 7 times before a kid acquires a taste for it. Not always what we want, but it helped me reframe my expectations for what would and was supposed to happen. I also read that children actually have more taste buds than adults, so things really do taste different to them, more nuanced and stronger; so I started to believe them when they said blueberries were "sour" or sometimes a carrot was "bitter".

For a long time we've done Veggies First, so the kids know to expect it now, and especially when they're older it's an easier sell if you have that routine--plus, anything you can do to steer the situation to win/win instead of win/lose will save your sanity. So we wind up negotiating over corn vs green beans, or apple vs carrot, rather than do-i-really-have-to or how-much-must-i. To that end, and I do think my kid is unusually rational this way, I've always offeredvarying arrays of choices--just only including things I'd be happy to live with. 'Sure you can have a snack, would you rather apple, orange, or celery? Or, there's applesauce. Or, dried pear chips. Sooo many options!' I do get a bit of an evil kick out of it, I admit, knowing I'm pulling one over by making him feel like I've opened the field when I really haven't, but hey I'm the Mom and Mom always wins. Har! (This kid, by the way, is now at 8 in a coffee-mustard-raw seafood-super hot salsa phase, so you never know where you're headed.)

I just wanted to mention too, *not* as criticism: I've had a different experience with the whole dip issue. We have one who got so conditioned on the ketchup thing that he would eat ANYTHING with ketchup on it--and almost nothing without. My problem with that is twofold: 1)he got so hooked on that sweet/salty thing that he wasn't interested in other tastes, like they seemed incomplete to him if everything wasn't sweet (obvious problem there), and 2) we could control the kind of ketchup we kept in the house (made by sainted angels in an organic cleanroom ofc), but when we went out to eat it was corn syrup or bust, bc it's all heinz on the tables.

So, at any rate, I think seeing the forest for the trees is the name of the game in toddler years. It doesn't matter how many struggles you have now, if you're still putting the right food on her plate and reasoning with her when she's 5 and 7 and 9, she'll have absorbed a lot more vegetables than you think. Today's blueberries are not today's nourishment, they're tomorrow's stage-setters. Plus, imo, 2 and 3 are like the first teenage years: all they want is your approval and all they do is reject it while copying you behind your back. We drink gallons of unsweetend tea and the kids all down it because it's part of the landscape. I know a picky eater who bolts down sushi bc mom's favorite restaurant is Ra so what else is he going to do! So, even when they're shouting in your face you have to know you're still their world, and much as they deny it, you're getting under their skin as much as the opposite is true!

tf said...

A long time ago I read about the 7x rule, that you have to introduce a new food an average of 7 times before a kid acquires a taste for it. Not always what we want, but it helped me reframe my expectations for what would and was supposed to happen. I also read that children actually have more taste buds than adults, so things really do taste different to them, more nuanced and stronger; so I started to believe them when they said blueberries were "sour" or sometimes a carrot was "bitter".

For a long time we've done Veggies First, so the kids know to expect it now, and especially when they're older it's an easier sell if you have that routine--plus, anything you can do to steer the situation to win/win instead of win/lose will save your sanity. So we wind up negotiating over corn vs green beans, or apple vs carrot, rather than do-i-really-have-to or how-much-must-i. To that end, and I do think my kid is unusually rational this way, I've always offeredvarying arrays of choices--just only including things I'd be happy to live with. 'Sure you can have a snack, would you rather apple, orange, or celery? Or, there's applesauce. Or, dried pear chips. Sooo many options!' I do get a bit of an evil kick out of it, I admit, knowing I'm pulling one over by making him feel like I've opened the field when I really haven't, but hey I'm the Mom and Mom always wins. Har! (This kid, by the way, is now at 8 in a coffee-mustard-raw seafood-super hot salsa phase, so you never know where you're headed.)

I just wanted to mention too, *not* as criticism: I've had a different experience with the whole dip issue. We have one who got so conditioned on the ketchup thing that he would eat ANYTHING with ketchup on it--and almost nothing without. My problem with that is twofold: 1)he got so hooked on that sweet/salty thing that he wasn't interested in other tastes, like they seemed incomplete to him if everything wasn't sweet (obvious problem there), and 2) we could control the kind of ketchup we kept in the house (made by sainted angels in an organic cleanroom ofc), but when we went out to eat it was corn syrup or bust, bc it's all heinz on the tables.

So, at any rate, I think seeing the forest for the trees is the name of the game in toddler years. It doesn't matter how many struggles you have now, if you're still putting the right food on her plate and reasoning with her when she's 5 and 7 and 9, she'll have absorbed a lot more vegetables than you think. Today's blueberries are not today's nourishment, they're tomorrow's stage-setters. Plus, imo, 2 and 3 are like the first teenage years: all they want is your approval and all they do is reject it while copying you behind your back. We drink gallons of unsweetend tea and the kids all down it because it's part of the landscape. I know a picky eater who bolts down sushi bc mom's favorite restaurant is Ra so what else is he going to do! So, even when they're shouting in your face you have to know you're still their world, and much as they deny it, you're getting under their skin as much as the opposite is true!

Petite Planet said...

Thanks so much for your very insightful and encouraging comment, tf. I appreciate you taking the time to weigh in on this topic!