Welcome to our newest contributor, Lindsay Hill. We went to college together and I am super excited to collaborate with her. She wonderful mother and is also a nutrition counselor and board-certified health coach. I have been following her blog and it has a ton of great recipes - be sure to check it out (http://inhabithealth.blogspot.com)!
Your Kid Might Not Eat This, But He Just Might Eat That
I am pretty sure that the powers that be punished me with a child who throws vegetables on the floor just to remind me that I can’t control the universe’s eating habits no matter how educated I become about nutrition. While I am not a total health nut, I do eat things like kale and quinoa, and I have just been certified as a holistic health-coach so you can imagine my horror when my son throws his peas to the dogs every time. Admittedly, perhaps having a son who savors the non-flavor of refined carbohydrates is a healthy thing for my brain, even if it’s not actually healthy for his body because it has forced me to a) relax a little and b) be more creative (a trait that can suffer under the duress of repeated episodes of Thomas The Train).
The best thing you can do is start with the healthiest version of a food when you introduce it. For example, do not assume that your child won’t eat multi-grain bread or seed crackers and offer him the Sunbeam and Saltines from a young age. And don’t introduce an Oreo as a cookie (just don’t introduce an Oreo period!) when for all you know the kind from the famers market made with molasses and arrowroot might make her just as happy (or she may associate cookies with something mediocre and not develop a taste for them). Remember, your child has not tasted Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia so he or she might think low fat, organic frozen yogurt topped with berries is heaven in a cup.
It is also important that you not inflict your own tastes and preferences onto a child. Just because you deem homemade oatmeal raisin cookies to pale in comparison to the double chocolate chunk variety, does not mean that your child will feel the same way. Just because you think whole-grain flaxseed pancakes are for hippies, doesn’t mean your child might not prefer the heartier, nuttier taste. So, put your child’s needs before your own tastes or assumptions. Start with the healthiest version of a food (even if it’s something you do not like) and work backwards if necessary.
So while my son still eschews most forms of protein and won’t even look at a vegetable, by following the two rules above, I have gotten him to eat some surprisingly healthy things. He will eat Lara bars (made only of nuts and dates), gluten-free seed crackers (Mary’s Gone Crackers is our favorite brand), and ginger snaps I found at Whole Foods made from spelt, olive oil and just a touch of raw honey. He will also eat Ezekiel bread (made from a variety of grains and beans and really high in protein) as long as it has a touch of nice butter and jam on it. To him, these are just bars, bread, crackers and cookies – he doesn’t know they are loaded with healthy ingredients, and he also doesn’t know that unhealthy versions of these foods lurk around every corner. I may not be able to control what he gets his hands on in the future, but I can at least help him develop good taste buds so that hopefully he will one day find Wonderbread as appetizing as cardboard (which is also its nutritional equivalent).
As far as getting the vegetables in, you may have to go the route of deception. Most of you are probably familiar with Jerry Seinfeld’s wife’s book about making purees to sneak into her homemade breads and pastas so that her kids get vegetables in their daily diet. Well, those of us not married to Jerry Seinfeld might need a timesaving alternative. With young kids, try sneaking organic pre-made baby food into some of their favorites. It always helps if the color is similar. The frozen purees you can find in most health food stores (Yummy Spoonfuls and Happy Baby are both popular brands) are preferable to the kind in jars, but a jar will do in a pinch. I am certainly not discouraging you from making your own purees if you have the time, but using prepared organic baby food is a quick and easy alternative. I sneak pureed butternut squash or sweet potato into his macaroni and cheese. I also puree or mash avocado and mix that in banana yogurt (trust me, it tastes kind of good). My son is a fruit lover but if your child is not, almost any fruit puree, purchased or homemade, disguises nicely into yogurt or oatmeal.
Feel free to post some of your own ideas for getting kids to eat healthy foods. As mom, we can always use the friendly advice!
To find out more about private health coaching, visit www.inhabithealth.com or to learn more about Lindsay’s personal nutrition philosophy, visit her blog http://inhabithealth.blogspot.com.
