Mommy, I don't like healthy!

chocolate moose

Sun, Oct 14 2007, 4:06 pm

amother wrote:

I've known the OP since her son was 2. He was at that point a chubby toddler who ate so much. Now, he has grown into a nice healthy looking kid. He is the same height as my DS who is a year older, so even though he's in the 97th pecentile, he is by no means chubby or fat. I can see why Lub isn't worried about his weight, but rather with his eating habits. CM, have you seen him recently, like I have? You would see he looks just fine. Believe me, DH has overweight siblings so I would recognize if Lub's son was heading that way & I would tell her.

So, what are you recommending? That he be allowed to eat with impunity, or ........

Ima'la

Sun, Oct 14 2007, 10:29 pm

choc, he isn't just 97th in weight - also in height! It's ok to be one of the heaviest if you're also one of the tallest! It's proportioned!

My 6.5 dd also won't touch a lot of healthy things - ESPECIALLY not veges (except cukes) - she can recognize one no matter how it's disguised. The closest she comes is chicken soup with no veges in her bowl. (Glad she can't taste vitamins!!!)

If you cook a healthy meal for your fam and ds tastes and doesn't like it, can he make himself grilled cheese or PBJ to eat instead? That way he had something somewhat nutritious, but you don't have to cook two meals.

lubcoralsprings

Sun, Oct 14 2007, 10:39 pm

Ima'la, do you think it's good for me to give him alternatives? I am worried if I do that then he'll always think he can have a different meal. If I let him do that he would have a cheese sandwich every night! I was hoping that after a few months of little to no dinner he will force himself to eat what I make. Am I nuts?

Ima'la

Mon, Oct 15 2007, 4:05 am

I don't know - it's a hard call. I used to tell dd that this is what's for supper, so if you want to eat, this is it...but I found she would rather not eat. Sometimes she would later complain she was hungry and end up eating apples or something. But basically, she was just skipping meals she didn't like. So I became somewhat more flexible and stopped forcing the issue as much because I saw that it really wasn't convincing her to eat what I wanted her to eat.

My super-picky-eater junior high school cousin boarded with my parents and siblings - who are all great eaters and will gobble up almost anything - for a year. My aunt used to cater to my cousin, making him the few things he would eat. My mothers rules were that she was not making more than one dinner and everyone has to at least taste whatever she made. After he tasted it, if he didn't like it, my cousin could make himself a grilled cheese sandwich. He ate a lot of grilled cheese that year, but he did also learn to like some more different dishes.

Ok, that's my anecdotal evidence. What's the answer? I have no idea! Tongue Out

You'll have to draw your own conclusions! Good luck to us all! Very Happy

Oh, and P.S. This cousin who mostly grew up on 3 different dishes his whole childhood b/c that's all he would eat, is now tall, broad, and good-looking in his early twenties!

HooRYou

Mon, Oct 15 2007, 5:43 am

I don't know exactly what you should do. I do have to tell you that I was a child who avoided veggies. My mother had to strain my chicken soup otherwise if there was a dill leaf floating in it I wouldn't eat it. Now I practically live on vegetables! I changed by myself as I got older. I think what my mother did do was very smart. She never forced me to eat anything and never made me feel bad if I said I didn't like something. If everyone else was eating something I didn't like I was made an alternative. We were a small family so it wasn;t a major process but she also made us each our own small salad with whatever veggies we would eat. What really made the difference is although we did have treats we were served and ate balanced meals. Our house was not filled with junk food (soda and ice cream were only for occasional treats, for example, not always in the fridge). I think if your son is willing to eat cheese sandwiches (preferably low fat cheese on whole grain bread obviously) and meat, chicken and the like you have it a lot easier than the people whose children will only eat ice cream, chips and cookies (or as my 3-year old has started saying "but I only want junk! LOL

). I think it is enough for you do whatever you can serve him any vegetable or fruit he will eat and the healthiest options for the rest and to make sure he doesn't just eat junk. By seeing what a real bablanced meal looks like by what you are serving he will get the idea dn hopefully grow into it.

chocolate moose

Mon, Oct 15 2007, 10:15 am

[quote="Ima'la"]choc, he isn't just 97th in weight - also in height! It's ok to be one of the heaviest if you're also one of the tallest! It's proportioned!quote]

Pls tell my DH that. He keeps telling me "what a healthy weight he is for his height" yet he has love handles.

shopaholic

Mon, Oct 15 2007, 12:43 pm

Quote:

I'm worried about that too. DD won't eat meat, chicken, shnitzel, fish. I don't bother with fish, but if supper is shnitzel/chicken or something with meat, I make her eat 1 bit - 2 mini meatballs, 2 chicken nuggets, just so she gets a bit of protein in her & so she sees that she doesn't win. She doesn't hate it & I get her to eat that little bit even if it takes 1/2 hour or so.

red sea

Mon, Oct 15 2007, 12:59 pm

Here's some of my tricks - for lack of anything better to call it -

chicken salad always has some food proccessed veg in it, with all the chicken & mayo you cannot tell the veg if you process finely.

I make "green eggs"-- egg salad with avacodo, shh... don't tell, avacodo is abhorred by some (I even put in onions, but processed to a liquid).

salad consists 50% of pickles or olives and is always finely diced with 1 or 2 other veg that are somewhat tolerable.

fruit smoothies are a big hit, just don't serve fruit plain, a smoothie however is great, just blended with ice served with a straw (straws somehow add just the right kind of flavoring)

Souffles/ kugels if making a sweet recipe, always tastes better if made in muffin tins instead of a regular pan.

Soup is good if drowned in croutons.

Salsa always is a good replacement for a salad.

I hate the idea of cooking separate meals for pple, its just crazy amount of work, I try my best to know that each person will at least like (or at the very least -eat) something.

hth.

Ima'la

Mon, Oct 15 2007, 3:06 pm

red sea wrote:

Soup is good if drowned in croutons.

I have given my children chicken soup for supper - with soup nuts as the starch! LOL

One more piece of anecdotal evidence - again, no implications intended - draw your own conclusions:

My dh does not like chicken - because his mother used to force him to eat it as a child. OTOH, he does like cottage cheese, because his mother let him mix it with jelly.

Oh, one more thing - if it's something the kids don't like much, but will tolerate, I make them eat a little (I.e. no more rice until you finish your schnitzel). But I don't force them to eat foods they absolutely can't stand.

Btw, why was CM's post reported? Just for the record, I wasn't the one to report it! Maybe it was CM's DH? Wink