I wanted to share one last “lessons learned” posting now that the superfood challenge has been conquered. The experience certainly has made Wyatt a bit more adventurous and much more accepting of little green flecks in his food. Maya has realized that fruit is not the enemy. This does not imply that I have cured my children of all pickiness, but they are much more aware of what they are putting into their growing bodies. The superfood challenge has also taught me a lot about how to maximize the nutrients my children are getting every day. In brief, here are the tactics I’ve come to adopt.
- Sneak it in – a little bit at a time. If I toss in a ½ cup of broccoli into pizza sauce, someone will notice. However, if I slowly add foods in increasingly small quantities to certain favorites over time, tastes start to adjust ever so slowly. I’ve done this with favorites such as rice dishes, pizza, chili and even banana bread!
- Mix in more nuts. Nuts are packed with great nutrients and since there are so many ways to add them to dishes, I now keep a variety in the pantry. Pureed nuts or butters can be easily added to soups, smoothies and dips. Nuts are now a required topping if the kids are having ice cream.
- Slip in more leafy greens. Whole Foods sells a frozen bag of organic mixed leafy greens that I use somewhat sparingly in dishes, but often. I need to puree the greens in the food processor to reduce their “flake size,” but once I have done so, I can add them to virtually any dish in good quantities without anyone noticing. In our house, we just call these green flakes “garnish,” and that seems to satisfy the curiosity of the littlest one.
- Blend in more pureed vegetables. Mashed potatoes will never be the same again. I throw in cooked, pureed foods such as turnips or carrots or peas each and every time we serve the dish. Store-bought creamy soups (or macaroni and cheese) can easily accommodate pureed vegetables mixed with a touch of cream. Spaghetti sauce will never be served straight out of the jar.
- Offer bread in moderation. Bread can be very filling, and having it with dinner often means the kids have no reason to eat or taste the other foods on the plate. Occasionally, I heat up whole wheat rolls (available in the freezer section), but only when I feel the whole wheat balances out the other foods in the meal well.
- Commit to whole wheat pasta (and rice). We made the switch and stuck with it. Now the white stuff tastes chalky and dissatisfying.
- Present healthy appetizers. In the past when hungry whiners were ready to eat before everyone else, I used to make them wait in agony. Patience is a virtue, after all. That often led to a grumpy kid who was no happier during dinner and sometimes irritable at bedtime. Now I try (if time permits) to put out healthy appetizers which typically consist of a nutrient-packed dip with carrot sticks and whole wheat crackers. This does mean that the kids will eat less at dinner, but they do end up with a good variety of healthy foods in their bellies by the end of the evening.
- Create good marketing. Giving the dish a fun name may help entice at least a curious taste. While in the end, the picky eaters may not actually consume a full serving of, say, asparagus soup, they may at least venture to taste something called green alien goulash.
- Put every meal item on the plate. No matter how much little noses might turn up at the horror, all foods go on all plates at mealtime (although not in the same portion sizes). When the family is enveloped in conversation at the table, those little hands sometimes reach down and inadvertently pick up a food they hadn’t planned on eating. Yes, you may waste a lot of food with this approach, but the success is worth it in the end.
- Give small portions. Two florets of broccoli is a lot less intimidating than one-half cup. Tell your kids this is the compromise: mommy gets six pieces of broccoli on her plate, and you only have to have two. What a deal.
- Obey the tasting rule. Our kids do not have to eat everything on their plates, but if they do not at least taste everything (microscopic sampling is allowed), then they cannot move on to the “next course.” While by this I typically mean “dessert,” I try not to actually use that word to somehow psychologically dissuade them from associating dessert with reward (I know, good luck with that one.) About 50% of the time while sitting at the table, they end up eating some portion of what is on their plate anyways.
- Visit nice restaurants. The experience at high quality restaurants is distinctively unlike a visit to McDonalds (a dirty word in our household). The entire event should be framed as a special luxury, reserved only for people who are well-mannered and willing to eat foods unlike what they get at home. In fact, I have told the kids that these restaurants typically do not allow children, but that I have called ahead to explain that my children are very well-behaved and adventurous eaters, and therefore the restaurant is willing to make an exception. (One has to be willing to lie to one’s children for this to be effective.) Wide-eyed and a bit nervous, the kids typically accept the challenge gracefully. With Shirley Temples in hand and napkins in their laps, they try foods that accompany their meals that they certainly would not have eaten otherwise.
- Don’t pester. Perfection is not the goal. I am certain that my kids do not get their “recommended daily allowance” often. The goal really is to find ways to enhance their consumption of nutrient-dense foods without too much pestering. Tears at the dinner table are certainly no way to encourage healthy eating!
