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Picky Eaters {Episode 13}
108 Plays6 years ago
You're in luck! Today the Outnumbered Moms, Bonnie & Audrey, share their best tips for dealing with picky eaters. From getting kids involved with food choices to helping them work through those times when the plate is in front of them and they just.won't.eat. you'll learn lots of tips and strategies for helping kids overcome those picky eating habits.
Show notes:
Audrey recommends: The Seven Silly Eaters book
Eat Your Way Around the World book
Bonnie recommends:
Bread and Jam for Frances book
Mrs Piggle Wiggle (the slow eater story might resonate!)
Simple Green Smoothies website
Recommended
Transcript
Introductions by Bonnie and Audrey
00:00:11
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Outnumber the Podcast. I'm Bonnie. And I'm Audrey. And we're moms to a combined total of 16 kids with two more on the way. Yes, we know that sounds insane, and it usually is. But we're here to share the tips that help us keep our sanity and to share inspiring thoughts that help us get through each crazy day. Uninterrupted conversation is foreign to us, but we'll try. And we invite you to join us on our journey as we find joy in the chaos of motherhood.
Picky Eaters: A Common Issue
00:00:46
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Outnumbered the Podcast. We're on episode 13, but lucky for you today, we're going to be talking about picky eaters. Yes, this is something so many mothers struggle with. I think that most moms have a picky eater at some point or another, and I'm excited to talk about it.
00:01:06
Speaker
Okay, but first we're going to start with this week's humor segment and this one's kind of an insane mom moment. So when my 16 year old, now 16 year old was about five or six, she was having trouble
00:01:24
Speaker
eating her food or finishing... She wasn't really being picky, I guess, but she was just not finishing her food on her plate, going through a streak where she wasn't eating. So we would make her... She would always be the last one at the table and we just, you know, tell her how many more bites she had to eat or whatever.
00:01:42
Speaker
It was like for a couple of weeks, every day I struggled to get her to finish her plate or eat the amount we were asking her to eat. And then one day she just came into the kitchen with a clean plate and she said, here mom, my food's all gone. And so I was like, wow, great. And you know, give her a lot of praise and this goes on for, oh, maybe a week. And I thought, wow, well we really, I don't know what we did, but we somehow fixed that one.
00:02:07
Speaker
And then there started to be this smell in the dining room. And we live in the country, and so mice is a thing. And so we thought, oh, well, there's a mouse crawled into the crawl space under the basement. You know, you have to go find it or whatever.
00:02:24
Speaker
And we can't locate this smell. Well, finally, we followed our noses to the heat register and opened it up and discovered that there was a whole bunch of food down there. That is so gross. So the little brat had figured out that an empty plate didn't
00:02:50
Speaker
necessarily mean that she had to eat it. She just had to empty her plate. You know, frustrating, but also resourceful, like, you know, smart kid. Yeah. So anyway, I kind of went insane and I had to figure out how to, oh, I didn't want to reach down there with my hand and clean it out like disgusting. I was rocking food. And I didn't want to vacuum it up because then I'd have to clean out the vacuum cleaner. So anyway, yeah, that was a fun one. Good times.
Strategies for Managing Picky Eating
00:03:20
Speaker
All right. So moving on to today's topic, we've split it into two parts. Number one is our best tips to prevent a picky eater before it happens. And then number two is our most successful strategies for getting them to overcome that picky eating habits.
00:03:38
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And even though we have some tips for preventing picky eaters, I don't know that it's ever really possible to completely prevent one. I think all of us will have a kid or two at one point or another have a little picky phase. So don't feel bad if that's you, but hopefully some tips we share today can help you out.
00:03:57
Speaker
Right, exactly. I was looking up some numbers on statistics on picky eaters or kid picky eaters. And I don't know how they get these numbers, but it's pretty high. But as moms of almost nine kids, we just don't have time to be Mrs. Peters from Seven Silly Eaters. Do you guys like that book too?
00:04:14
Speaker
No, I haven't even, actually I keep hearing about it, but we haven't read it yet, so I guess we must. That's a really fun book. Yeah, she has seven kids and as they come, they'll only eat one specific thing. So poor Mrs. Peters is fixing all these labor-intensive, you know, hand-squeezed lemonade and, you know, homemade fresh bread and all these things. Of course they wouldn't want, you know, something very basic like an orange.
00:04:41
Speaker
They're going to need something super intensive. Yeah. Right. So then that book has a happy ending. That's a really fun one. You guys should read it. Okay. We'll need to pick that one up. The one, a picky eating book that I really like is one of the Francis books. I don't know if you guys have read those. I think she's a little, I can't even think of, she a little bear or a little sort of animal. Anyway. Yeah. Badger or something. Yeah. Yeah. And she, um, there's a book where she will only eat bread and jam. And so her mom finally gives it and gives her nothing but bread and jam for like three days. And finally Francis is like, I'm going to throw up.
00:05:10
Speaker
I'm so tired of pressure jam and I'm going, hmm, that's one way to do it, I guess.
00:05:16
Speaker
Oh, so have you had any picky eaters in your family? Oh, yeah, for sure. Some haven't given me much trouble in this arena at all, but other kids have gone through multiple phases. And picky eating isn't necessarily like a one size fits all label. Sometimes one kid will only eat one particular food for a while. One will never, ever try anything that's orange. There's as many different varieties of picky eaters as there are children, basically.
00:05:45
Speaker
But yeah, we have definitely gone through those struggles and continue to at the present day. Yeah, we've had two sort of picky eaters. Our seventh child, he wouldn't eat anything.
00:06:01
Speaker
of his own volition. He had to be fed. Like anything you put on a fork and put in his mouth, he would eat it. He would chew it up, but he would never pick up the fork and feed himself. Like at three years old. I assigned one of his teenage sisters to him. I didn't have time for that.
00:06:21
Speaker
Like, hey, you can find some meaning in life by keeping this kid alive. Just feed him. Because your mother had practiced. And then after that, number eight, she was exactly the opposite. She would eat anything if she put it in her mouth herself, but she would not eat anything you tried to put on a fork in her mouth. So that was exactly the opposite. That one seems a little bit easier. Eventually, as long as they can pick up a fork, they're okay, right? Yeah.
00:06:48
Speaker
I think the picky eating that's especially hard is when it involves the method, right? You're going, oh great, it doesn't matter what I put on your plate, I have to actually spoon feed you or whatever. But picky eating for some reason is one of my pet peeves. Maybe it's just because I have a
00:07:03
Speaker
big family and don't have the time or the patience to cater to it, but it really kind of irritates me. And so, so I try extra hard to not cater to kids that have specific whims because it just, it's just a pet peeve of mine. Right. Exactly. Yeah.
Breastfeeding and Food Introduction Impact
00:07:20
Speaker
So here's one of our
00:07:22
Speaker
best tips to prevent a picky eater. What we do is we're going to have a whole episode coming up on breastfeeding, but I think that has prevented a lot of picky eaters in our family is we do extended breastfeeding and then introduce food a lot later.
00:07:38
Speaker
So, we don't do, you know, rice cereal and mushed bananas when they're three months old or whatever the recommendation is. We just skip all that and continue with the breastfeeding and introduce foods a lot later. And I think, I don't know, maybe I read some studies about them.
00:07:54
Speaker
It actually gives their taste buds time to develop because you eat a bunch of different foods while you're breastfeeding and then they get the taste of that through that. Anyway, I don't remember the scientific part, but it's something that I feel like has worked well for us.
00:08:11
Speaker
Yeah, that's awesome. I have never done much studying in regards to introducing foods later, but we just did that naturally because I got lazier. My first kid can not even hold up his head and he's three months old and I got him in a high chair like, oh, don't do it, it's all right too. And now I'm like, no, no, no.
00:08:35
Speaker
So now, just out of laziness, I don't feed my kids any solid for a long, long time. And it does seem to help things. Their adjustment to mouthing food and swallowing, it seems to be so much easier. I really don't think they miss out at all on not being introduced solid foods really early on.
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah, I've even seen some studies that show things like certain kinds of foods, say, nuts, shouldn't be fed to any kids before, say, one years old because of the potential of food allergies or even, I don't know, I think maybe there's a connection between developing food allergies and feeding some of these foods early.
00:09:11
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say laziness for the win. Amen, sister. So my next tip in preventing the picky eaters is to watch out for your own reactions to certain foods. So I specifically remember on one of those first couple of kids that I was feeding baby food to really early on, I had picked up peas, mashed peas in the baby food aisle and I cannot stand mashed peas.
00:09:36
Speaker
I like pink spine, but in general, like the baby food aspect really grosses me out. And I noticed that when I was trying to feed it to my kid, I would make these faces and I wasn't trying to, it was just kind of my own reaction to, oh, this smells awful. And then I started reading, oh, you're actually conditioning your kid to hate something.
00:09:56
Speaker
you know, by making this face or, or by having any sort of reaction to
Parents' Influence on Children's Tastes
00:10:00
Speaker
it. Um, so I thought, okay, well from now on, even if I would never touch that with a 10 foot pole, I'm going to be a good example and try not to. Allegedly, there's some sort of story in my family from when I was a kid and I would, my way of being picky, I think, I guess, if I'm remembering the story correctly was just to hold the food in my mouth and not swallow it.
00:10:24
Speaker
So, um, apparently one night my mom put me to bed in my crib and I still had peas in my mouth. And she said, when you, you know, you can get out of bed when you, when you have those down. And I woke up in the morning still with peas. Oh, gross. That does not sound safe. Oh, and peas, peas. I, I still can't eat peas to this day. Yeah. You know, I had some, some traumatic food experiences as a child too. And I thought, okay,
00:10:52
Speaker
I think we're going to prevent that, hopefully. Yeah, that kind of leads into my next tip. So be a good example of eating foods you're not fond of, except peas. Even you have your limits. But like, for example, I'm not super fond of Brussels sprouts, but my husband loves them. So we eat Brussels sprouts a lot. And I just go ahead and eat Brussels sprouts without, you know, trying to turn up my nose or make gagging.
00:11:19
Speaker
noises or whatever. Good for you. Okay, so be open to trying new foods. So if you're not fond of trying things new or not a good example of trying something that you've never seen or heard or tasted before, then your kids are going to be, like you said, conditioned to have that same reaction to new foods too. Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree. That's funny that you hate Brussels sprouts because I also love them.
00:11:43
Speaker
I mean, the other day a couple of my kids turned up their noses and I'm like, pass it over, I'll finish yours. Isn't that funny? And I like to tell my kids stories of things that I disliked as a child that I enjoy now. Because that's quite a few things. We had, you know, your typical table rules when I was a kid, you have to eat what you're served, you have to clear your plate, that sort of thing. And so there are a few experiences I distinctly remember of trying to swallow squash.
00:12:10
Speaker
And I have a really strong gag reflex. I just do. And so I'd be sitting at the table, gagging and feeling so awful. Like I will never touch this food again. And so there have been quite a few foods that I felt like I had a hard time with for a long time. But as an adult, I've learned to prepare them in a different way or try them in a different dish and like a lot of them. And so I'll tell my kids that all the time. Oh, you know what? You really hate broccoli. Guess what? I could not stand sweet potatoes as a kid.
00:12:37
Speaker
I thought they were so gross and now aren't they so yummy with, you know, and talk about however we prepare them. And it helps them realize, oh, my tastes right now aren't going to follow me forever. I'm totally free to change them if I decide to, you
The Role of Sugar and Diverse Tastes
00:12:50
Speaker
know? Yeah, exactly. I guess I do that with my kids too. I didn't like mushrooms when I was a kid and I love them now. So I share that with my kids too.
00:12:58
Speaker
And I like to try to expose my kids to foods in different ways. So for example, I still am not a fan of squash prepared in any sort of sweet way. So like the Thanksgiving squash dish with brown sugar and marshmallows or whatever else they do. That really grosses me out. I don't know why. I just can't handle it. But I love it savory, prepared in a savory. So anyway, just different ways to explore.
00:13:24
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Another tip I have is that limiting sugar and simple carbs will actually help develop their taste buds. So if kids eat a lot of sugar, that's what their taste buds are going to be most used to. Does that make sense? And it can actually, I don't know, I've read books and studies, it can actually sort of
00:13:47
Speaker
I don't know, like chemically the sugar takes over and starts telling their brain that other foods that don't have sugar in them are not good. So anyway, we found that pretty successful limiting sugar and carbs so that they are more open to other kinds of foods.
00:14:03
Speaker
Yeah, I can totally see that. In fact, an example in my own life is this last holiday season, I just kind of went crazy and ate way too much junk. And so come January, I said, all right, totally cutting out a large portion of sugar. And what I found was that not only was I eating fewer
00:14:23
Speaker
treats, but my other foods started tasting better. Or I was slowing down a little bit to enjoy them more because I knew there wasn't going to be a cookie waiting for me at the end of the meal. And I thought, wow, look at me enjoying real food. Instead of just defaulting to some junk at the end. Right. Yeah. Right. When I was a kid, I think my dad was kind of a picky eater. There was certain foods that he definitely didn't like. And then maybe my mom didn't
00:14:52
Speaker
And just knew that and so cooked for his taste or maybe she didn't have a very wide repertoire. But there was a whole bunch of fruits and vegetables that I had never tried in my life before I got married. And it was kind of fun to experiment and play around, you know, try artichokes for the first time, for example, or asparagus and just kind of get to get to taste them and try and see.
00:15:17
Speaker
My next tip is to not regularly offer your children, quote, unquote, kid foods. So I think we all know what I'm talking about. Chicken nuggets and mac and cheese and french fries, you know, all the stuff that's on a kid menu at some restaurant. And I'm not saying that, you know, you can't ever feed your kids this stuff, but
00:15:35
Speaker
I have found that if we have anything that is that kind of really simple, typical kid fair, my kid will not touch anything else with a 10 foot pole because duh, there's French fries at the table. And so I'm really not a fan of this. I just think it teaches kids, especially at a big gathering, this is the adult food and this is the kid food. Well, how's a kid ever going to learn to eat the adult food if he never gets a chance?
00:15:58
Speaker
Yeah. And my next tip is don't define your kid as a picky eater to others. Um, like, Oh, little Johnny, he just cannot stand anything with cheese on it. So we never, you know, and you have some guests over and like, okay, what are we going to feed little Johnny? Yeah, exactly.
00:16:16
Speaker
But if you define them as a picky eater, you know, not liking a certain thing, that sort of reinforces it in their mind that mom's okay with this and I can, you know, that's part of who I am is I'm not a cheese eater or whatever it is. And that's, I don't know, I think that's kind of setting your kid up to fail. Yeah, I agree. Yeah. And heaven forbid they try something new or else they might lose their place in the family as the special picky eater, right?
00:16:40
Speaker
Right, right. And you might have fixed it a different way than mom fixed it, and they might've liked it. And the kid would have had an opportunity to try it, like you said, a different, fixed a different way, except that they've already been defined as not liking that food, so they can't try it. Giving them permission to change, exactly. And now that being said, I actually am a terrible example of this lately. I'm pretty good at it with my young kids because I know their palates haven't really developed, but my nine, almost 10 year old right now is particularly picky.
00:17:07
Speaker
And I just have a bad attitude about it. And so every time she says, what are you making for dinner? I pretty much always say something you won't like.
The Importance of Repeated Exposure to Foods
00:17:20
Speaker
Okay, so the next tip I have is to remember that studies show that kids need to try something new 10 to 15 times before liking it. And that is kind of mind boggling and overwhelming. But it's just an important thing to remember, okay, my kids tried this five times, you might think it's time to give up, but not yet.
00:17:41
Speaker
I promise they'll get there. And one of the frustrating things about this to me is that I hate wasting food. And so in order for my kid to try it, I put some on his plate and then something's going to get thrown away. But we'll talk a little bit later about tips for avoiding the wasting of food that kids won't eat.
00:17:58
Speaker
Right. That reminds me of a funny story. I fixed wild rice for my kids. Oh, I don't know. This is years and years ago, maybe 10 years ago. And I fixed so much of it that we had wild rice and they didn't really like it. But then it was like we had it incorporated into the next six meals because there was so much left over. So maybe not 10 to 15 times in a row.
00:18:25
Speaker
Oh yeah, actually, now that you say that, that was another study I read that if a kid has trouble eating something, or even if they like it to just mix things up in serving things in a row. So if your go-to side for a kid is carrots, try to do carrots Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and broccoli Tuesday, Thursday. So it gives their little mouths a chance to try something else and then go back and realize, oh, this is the texture I tried before. I just thought that was an interesting tip.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And then get them involved in grocery shopping is my next step or in meal planning or meal prep.
Engaging Kids in Food Preparation
00:19:04
Speaker
Just get them involved with food and maybe because they've put the effort in, they'll be more open to trying it. Like for example, we're at the grocery store the other day and my little boy saw pomegranates and he's like, what's that mom? And I'm like,
00:19:20
Speaker
I don't know, I've never tried it before. Let's get it and try it. And my husband's really good at that, bringing home some strange looking dragon fruit or something that you've never tried and looking up on YouTube how to cut it open and how to prepare it. And then we all try it and everybody's like, oh yeah, okay, I like this or I don't like this or whatever. Yeah, that's a great tip. I still remember grocery shopping for the first couple of times as an adult and realizing how many different foods were out there. And I think we ate a fairly good variety when I was a kid.
00:19:47
Speaker
But there were still things that my mom just never prepared. And like Brussels sprouts, maybe that's why I like them because we never had them as a kid. And so to look at them and go, huh, interesting, to just be a little bit more adventurous is going to be real helpful to our kids. Oh, yeah. And what's really cool is if you go into like an ethnic grocery store and look at all the different foods that are in there that you've never seen or never tried or never heard of before, you can't even pronounce. That's really awesome to think about all the different foods that
00:20:18
Speaker
we don't even have as part of our culture. Yeah, and it can help you get out of a rut if you think that you're eating the same stuff over and over.
00:20:25
Speaker
Yeah, we have one book we use as part of our homeschool education. It's called Eat Your Way Around the World. And it has recipes for different countries around the world. So we tried a couple weeks ago, we tried sweet potatoes, but you fixed them the way the South Africans do. And it was incredible. It tasted totally different than we've ever had sweet potatoes before. Like we've had them both sweet and savory, but this was a completely
00:20:53
Speaker
different way of fixing them, maybe just different spices combined or whatever. And that book has been really fun. And then after we do whatever country we're studying, then I have this little paper that the kids fill out afterwards that the younger kids that are studying it. And it says like,
00:21:12
Speaker
how did you, you know, the name of the food and how you prepared it and what you, what you liked about it and what you didn't like about it. And if you would like to try it again. So just kind of like putting it all down on paper and analyzing it. Well, that's a really good idea. I like the idea of that book. Maybe I'll find that.
00:21:29
Speaker
Yeah, there's also a spot where we always take a picture of the food or them with the food and then put that on the paper too. So it's kind of a fun, unique way of trying different foods. Yeah, and I'm all about a chapter study that involves food. Bring it on.
00:21:46
Speaker
Okay. And so our last tip in avoiding picky eaters is to be aware that an aversion might actually mean that a kid has a true food allergy or sensitivity. So this is something that we hear a lot about today. Lots of people have allergies and sensitivities, but sometimes we don't realize that a kid will actually be communicating this to you in his own picky way. And we might just brush it off as a picky eater.
00:22:09
Speaker
Um, an example, an example of this is one of my oldest, I think I talked about this in a previous episode when my oldest had some really serious stomach issues for years and years. He was hands down my pickiest eater ever, ever, ever. And we were eating really healthy and lots of vegetables and fruits. And he would only eat a meal if it was simple carbs and a dairy product. So like a cheese quesadilla or a bowl of refined cereal or I'm going, kid, you're killing me. And then come to find out after we went through lots of tests,
00:22:39
Speaker
that he was actually harboring a specific bacteria that liked to feed on these kinds of foods. And when we were able to heal him, all of a sudden the kid was like, oh, this is good. I like this and trying all the things. I'm going, that is bizarre. Who would have known that his gut was telling him to eat this stuff because that's what was feeding this harmful bacteria in his body and making him sick. So something to think about.
00:23:06
Speaker
Right, right. Be aware that there might actually be a problem. Right.
00:23:11
Speaker
Okay, so now we'll share our most successful strategies for when that plate is in front of them and they do not want to eat what's on it. Yeah, that's right. So I'm sure that everyone has heard of the one to five bite rule or whatever, you know, where you're insisting that your kid at least try the food. For us, we usually do that the child has to try the same number of bites as their age, right? So my four-year-old has to try four bites. My five-year-old has to try five.
00:23:37
Speaker
And then after that, they can be done. I don't require that they finish it simply because of what we talked about. I don't really want to make it traumatic for them. I don't want them to throw up. I don't want them to hold it in their mouth for 12 hours. But I do feel like it's important for them to try it every single time because like we're saying, every bite counts towards that 10 to 15 tries, right?
00:23:59
Speaker
And then if my kids are still hungry after dinner, mostly because they haven't eaten what I've prepared, then we have one or two options and they're not fun
Encouraging Children to Try Disliked Foods
00:24:08
Speaker
options. It's either a plain piece of bread and we have wheat bread. It's not like it's fun white bread to eat or a basic piece of fruit, an apple or banana. No treats or snacks or anything fun to eat, just something that will fill their belly and allow them to sleep.
00:24:25
Speaker
Right, exactly. Yeah. So we require our kids, after they've declared that they don't like this thing, whatever it is, to take three more bites. Because like you said, it's better than just one bite. And then it's getting them like, sometimes I taste something and I don't like it on the first bite. But if you take a couple more, you know, maybe your palate has adjusted a little bit or something in
00:24:48
Speaker
And it's not as bad as you thought it was. Yeah, I agree. Some things that kids might not like about the food, which are important to think about are both the taste, the texture and also the smell. So all three of those things are really intrinsically connected in how we
00:25:04
Speaker
how we process the food basically. So to try it in a different form is really helpful. Like for example, I am not a huge fan of raw spinach. If it's in a salad, I can kind of tolerate it if there's other lettuce too, but I love it cooked and with eggs, I love it blended up in a green smoothie. So to just give your kid an option to try it in a different way and say, see, the taste isn't so bad. Maybe it's the texture that you didn't like, or maybe it's the smell.
00:25:30
Speaker
Yeah, beets is a good one because a lot of kids will say they don't like beets, but there are so many different ways to prepare beets that they could try them roasted or pickled or boiled or stir fried or all these different ways you could try beets. Yeah, it's funny that you bring that up actually because I was a beet and a cabbage hater before I went and lived in Russia for a year and a half.
00:25:51
Speaker
That was kind of a problem at first. I'm going, all these people eat is beets, cabbage, and potatoes. Like, how am I going to survive? But the way they prepared it in almost every instance was delicious. And it had been something that was totally foreign to me, you know, all their different methods of preparation. And I came home really enjoying it. Now, there's still ways that those two things can be prepared that I dislike, but it was a really eye-opening experience to go, oh, these different flavors. Hmm, I've never tried it like this.
00:26:17
Speaker
And then that leads me to, my other thing about that is to expose your kids to different ethnicities of foods, right? Like I like to take my kids on one-on-one dates, you know, when they need some extra attention to go to an ethnic restaurant. Let's go eat Chinese. Let's go eat Indian or Thai is a great way to get them to be exposed to new foods, new flavors, new textures and smells, and just be a lot more well-rounded in their palate.
00:26:40
Speaker
Right. Exactly. My kids absolutely adore sushi and I never had sushi until, like I said, I was married and I was like, kids, where are you getting this from? But they love sushi. Yeah. My kids the same way. I never had it until I was probably 25 and my kids ask for it every week and I'm like, uh, I have eight children. I can't afford sushi every week.
00:26:59
Speaker
I know. We've actually learned how to make sushi ourselves. And we'll do that once every three months or something just for a special treat. And we'll have an only sushi meal. And those brats can eat as much sushi as I can roll. Yes. That sounds delicious. Does this tell me a lot of work?
00:27:15
Speaker
Oh, you get them involved, you know, one kid put one kid on chopping up, you know, the cucumber and one kid on, you know, doing whatever and it all, it's just fun. So, one thing to think about, and I'm sure, you know, as a mom, everybody knows this, but complete nutrition needs for children
00:27:34
Speaker
are very important. So don't allow them just to eat macaroni and cheese. Don't buy it. If the only thing they'll eat is macaroni and cheese, quit buying it. You're in charge of that. So if they only eat macaroni and cheese and you don't buy macaroni and cheese, then they're going to have to eat something else. Yeah, exactly. This goes back to what I was saying about offering kid foods. So I remember reading somewhere that says,
00:27:58
Speaker
Everybody in the family has a role in the nutrition of the family, right? The parents are in charge of providing the healthy foods. You buy it, you cook it, you give it to them, right? That's your job. Don't let them tell you what to buy and what to make. But the child is in charge of what and how much he will eat. And we really can't force them to do that, right? You know, sort of crying their jaws open, which doesn't work so well. We can't take away their agency and that's okay.
00:28:25
Speaker
But the more that we expose them to these good wholesome foods over and over and over, they'll learn to pick it up and try it. But we have to take our own job seriously of providing the good stuff over and over, right?
00:28:39
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So if you know you're going to be fixing something for a meal that they might not like or something that is new to them, one thing you can do, a good tip is to limit snacks that afternoon before you're serving them, you know, squash for the first time at supper. If their tummy is already full of snacks they've been eating all afternoon, they're less likely to be open to trying that. Oh yeah, for sure. I know that. I know that's true. When I'm, when I'm extra hungry, I will eat anything.
00:29:09
Speaker
I don't care if I like it or not. And also on that note, I've noticed that if we have a side that I know my kids will just go crazy for, like garlic bread, they're obsessed with garlic bread, then I will put that on the table just a few minutes after they've already started eating the main dish. So I'll give them the main dish and I'll say, oh no, I almost forgot the bread. And then I bring it up. Cause otherwise my kids will eat three pieces of bread and then they're done, you know? So yeah, that's kind of like, here's your little treat. You can have your garlic bread now cause you've already eaten a few bites of real food.
00:29:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah.
The Impact of Food Variety on Children
00:29:40
Speaker
My next tip is to offer a wide variety of food. So your plate, you don't have to offer every color of the rainbow every meal, but if everything on your plate is one color, that might, that should be a good clue that you're not offering a big enough variety of food. So if you've got, you know, white mashed potatoes and white rice and white chicken and, you know,
00:30:01
Speaker
something else, a white roll, then maybe you're not offering a variety in there. So that was one trick my mother-in-law taught me was that the food, like at a restaurant, you go to a restaurant and they put those meals together, they say, okay, you're going to have a steak and you're going to have whatever asides with it. And they've planned those partly because of presentation and the way it looks and the colors that are on your plate.
00:30:22
Speaker
That's something to keep in mind on offering your kids food. Offer them a wide variety and think of different colors and textures and flavors when you're cooking the meal too because those are all things that they might be more open to trying or at least get a little nutrition through one of the things you're offering.
00:30:41
Speaker
Yeah, I love that. When you think of the rainbow of foods, I noticed there are definitely certain things that we eat a lot more of. We eat a lot more red and orange than purple and blue. There's actually blue fruits and vegetables, you know, so it's interesting to expose yourself to new things like that. And that actually reminds me of one thing I wanted to mention is that don't be too hard on yourself when your kids seem to be stuck in a rut for several days at a time. I remember a doctor telling me to just be
00:31:07
Speaker
a little more cognizant of what they're eating over like a week or two instead of a day. So one day my toddler may only eat bread. Like that's just all she wants and she refuses to eat anything else. You know, I'm not going to freak out about that day. If it goes onto day two, three, four, then maybe I'm going to say, okay, no, we're not having any bread anymore, you know, but just to realize that sometimes their complete nutrition looks like more like a three, four day.
00:31:31
Speaker
cycle instead of like we want to have a balanced meal at every single every single meal but for a toddler that might not be as realistic.
00:31:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good note. Also, one of my tips for helping picky eaters make sure they get that full nutrition is green smoothies. I know these are really hip and trendy right now, but it's for good reason. They're really good. It's easy to put just about anything in there and get your kid to try it. So we first tried them when my oldest was going through his stomach issues and he was really little. And I remember I paid him a quarter to just try a sip.
00:32:03
Speaker
because he refused to touch it because it was green. And I paid him the quarter, and he took a sip, and he was like, oh, actually, I kind of like this. And then, you know, it was love from then on in our family. So I love trying just any new thing. And if they say later on, oh, I don't like beets, well, actually, remember that red smoothie we had? It was red because there were beets in it, you know? And I have heard controversial things about, like, not telling your children what you're sneaking in their food, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.
00:32:31
Speaker
Exactly. If you really need to get some nutrition on them. And we're totally about sneaky milkshakes around here too. Like, especially when they're really too young to understand nutrition and getting the right kinds and enough. Like, yeah, I agree with an older kid, you know, maybe they're
00:32:48
Speaker
10 or 12 and you're sneaking stuff into their milkshakes, that's kind of a disciplinary problem there. But when they're two and they don't really understand and they've thrown all their food on the floor, but they'll drink a milkshake with the same stuff in it, go for it. Yeah, exactly. Do what you gotta do. Yeah. And then another thing I like to do a lot is put vegetables in muffins for breakfast.
00:33:09
Speaker
Um, breakfast is kind of a hard time to get vegetables in, but it is another time when they're eating. So you can put some vegetables in. So for example, you can do pumpkin muffins, or you can do zucchini muffins, or you can do, um, there's a good morning muffin mix and it's got like carrots and raisins and walnuts and apples and pineapple. Um,
00:33:33
Speaker
I think that one might even have zucchini in it too. Anyway, there's all sorts of vegetables that you can grate up and put in a muffin for breakfast. And because the muffin has a little bit of sugar in it and the kids, it's presented in the muffin shape, the kids are like, oh, muffin cake for breakfast. Nevermind the green spec. Yeah. And the nice thing about adding vegetables to muffins is that it always helps the moisture level in the bread. So like I've noticed zucchini and pumpkin muffins are always a lot moister than some other varieties. So it's a win-win.
00:34:03
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And you can use apple sauce in place of oil or butter or something for extra nutrition if there's ways to sneak it into a muffin a lot. One of my tricks is I love serving foods specifically like casseroles or soups that they love.
Sneaking Nutrition into Meals
00:34:20
Speaker
But putting in extra legumes or vegetables, sometimes without telling them, it's fine. If they ask, I'll tell them. And sometimes we do it in place of meat. So if I'm thinking that we've eaten a lot of meat that week and I just want to have a meatless meal, then I will make enchiladas. But instead of chicken, I'll throw in chopped up zucchini or butternut squash or something like that. And my kids, it's the same flavor that they're used to, the same sauce and cheese and things. But they're getting an extra dose of vegetables in there without any complaining. It's pretty great.
00:34:50
Speaker
Yeah. The first time we fixed eggplant Parmesan, it tastes just exactly like lasagna. And everybody's like, wow, this is awesome lasagna.
00:35:04
Speaker
Well, my last tip is to supplement with vitamins. So if you have a super picky eater and they're just not getting enough nutrients and their health is starting to suffer, you can definitely and should be supplementing with vitamins. I even have read studies that feel like even if your kid is eating a complete
00:35:24
Speaker
nutritious meal every single day, that they're still not getting everything they need because a lot of our soils are deprived of minerals and vitamins. A lot of it has been washed down to the sea or been taken out. And so some studies show that you can't actually even get enough. So supplementing with vitamins is a tip
The Role of Supplements in Children's Diets
00:35:46
Speaker
that we use. Yeah, I agree. I'm a big fan of Green Smoothie Girl. Have you ever heard of her? No.
00:35:50
Speaker
She is a real natural health food advocate and she has lots of awesome supplements. I don't know if she still carries them anymore but in the past we've had like powdered greens or powdered red vegetables that we can like mix in a smoother drink to get an added nutrient benefit and other you know immune boosters and things that you can sneak into your kids food or drink to help them
00:36:11
Speaker
just be a little bit healthy where they're lacking in nutrition. And then that brings us to some concrete recommendations we wanted to share with you guys for picky eaters. Mine is another website called Simple Green Smoothies. So like we talked about, green smoothies are everywhere. This particular website has been, they've been sharing recipes for years and years and years and they have some of the best recipes ever.
00:36:35
Speaker
Some of these can be easy. You just throw together an apple, a banana and some spinach and you're good to go. But sometimes you get tired of the same old stuff. And so I'll hop on there and make up a couple of different smoothies for my kids. And they love every single one. And then also juicing, you know, sometimes all your kid wants is some nice
00:36:56
Speaker
simple juice that doesn't have any flex and any extra to it. Sometimes we'll juice fruits and vegetables that they would normally maybe turn up their nose at, but it gets them some extra nutrients in there. You don't get the fiber, but at least you get some vitamins and minerals.
00:37:11
Speaker
Okay, and we have a favorite recommended kids' vitamin that we use, so we'll link both Bonnie's recommendations and mine in the show notes. And also, we really like to use the spiratine milkshake powder. You know, you're throwing your frozen
00:37:28
Speaker
fruit and a handful of spinach and then throw in a scoop of this milkshake powder and it adds a lot of good healthy proteins, um, without getting into some of the, oh, like you don't want to use like the bodybuilding way once that's not appropriate for kids, but this one is for kids. Um, you can get it on Amazon. Uh, I have a local health food store that carries in.
00:37:47
Speaker
Okay, that's it for today's episode on picky eaters. Good luck moms with those kids who just won't eat. Hopefully some of our tips will help you and keep on trying. That's right. Just keep at it and you'll get there, I promise.
00:38:02
Speaker
Thanks so much for listening to Outnumbered the Podcast. You can contact us at outnumberedthepodcastatgmail.com and find us on Instagram at outnumberedthepodcast. We're so grateful for our listeners and would love it if you take the time to leave us an honest review on iTunes, Stitcher, or any other podcast platform. And don't forget to share the podcast with your mom friends. Can't wait to talk next time. Bye.
00:38:33
Speaker
Oh, excuse me. Okay. So like, for example, um, where was I going with this? That's okay. I can go if you want. I know there was a thought here. Oh yeah.