I've been doing the "natural thing" for a couple months now. My husband thinks I'm just on another kick, but I really feel like I'm seeing more clearly than I ever have. My son is 18 mo., loves all the food I give him, loves the cloth diapers and is pretty easy to convince to do anything. My 3.5 year old on the other hand is not as easy.She has always been picky and unfortunately I've made some bad choices in the past so she is junk food addicted. I've tried switching some of her favorites to the natural/organic version but she doesn't like vegetables, legumes or even meat. She still wants to get snacks everytime we go to the store and wants fast food daily. (We're down to about once a week) So how do I get a toddler to convert (in the gentlest way possible) ? Any suggestions would be oh so appreciated, just knowing you guys are here makes this whole transition so much easier.:help:

I can sympathize. One thing I have done with my very picky 5yo is to simply clear the house of most of the junk. I have made it a treat, not a daily thing. Where there was a natural replacement available, I bought it, even if he said he didn't like it. For example, his pickiest time of the day is breakfast. He was hooked on those breakfast bars. So I started buying the organic ones. The first few he opened he refused to eat. But when he realized that they were the only option in the house, he started eating them.

He still isn't much on veggies, as a matter of fact, I can't think of one off the top of my head that he will eat. But I do keep plenty of fresh fruits on hand, and we serve veggies at every meal. He doesn't have to eat them, but they are there in front of him.

I think that the key is gentle persistance, and for me, not changing everything at once. Slow and steady. I keep some of the favorite junk, but I am slowly replacing it with healthy, or healthier, alternatives.

And sometimes, for an extra special treat, we go ahead and have the junk (We had Dunkin Donuts for lunch today, LOL)

Good luck.

my daughter - 3 in april - is addicted to chocolate and doesnt like veggies very much, so i am looking forward to learning from this thread as well. i have noticed, though, that when i am snacking on healthy things like carrots, she is more apt to eat some with me than if i ask her to/expect her to eat them and i am not eating them myself/etc. :) hang in there!

Maybe you could try letting her pick out the snacks. I try to give my children healthy options to choose from. It seems to work great. When I bought them or picked them out they never wanted to eat them but as soon as they got to choose they were very happy and now they love the healthier snacks they get to eat. I also try to prepare more than one veggie for dinner and ask them which one they would like to eat tonight.

She's still so little, and it's a good age to just say no (most of the time) :hippy: She will eventually forget the fast food taste. Have her help you cook; she can spinkle small amount of salt, or paint oilive oil on potatoes slices that you bake into french fries. Kids will often try food that they help prepare. Subsitute what you can w/ healthy alternatives. Sparkling water for soda, whole grain or homemade cookies for sweets etc. I still let my children have the free cookie at the market, fi, but we don't buy any.

I bring food along with us (easy food that I keep in a basket. Newman's pretzles, a jar of almond or peanut butter w/a butter knife, apples, cheese sticks, water bottles, carrots, banans etc). so we don't have to stop for food. It's amazing how hungry children will eat whatever it is you have in your bag. :happy:

I've been doing the "natural thing" for a couple months now. My husband thinks I'm just on another kick, but I really feel like I'm seeing more clearly than I ever have. My son is 18 mo., loves all the food I give him, loves the cloth diapers and is pretty easy to convince to do anything. My 3.5 year old on the other hand is not as easy.She has always been picky and unfortunately I've made some bad choices in the past so she is junk food addicted. I've tried switching some of her favorites to the natural/organic version but she doesn't like vegetables, legumes or even meat. She still wants to get snacks everytime we go to the store and wants fast food daily. (We're down to about once a week) So how do I get a toddler to convert (in the gentlest way possible) ? Any suggestions would be oh so appreciated, just knowing you guys are here makes this whole transition so much easier.:help:

Don't have it available in the home and never eat fast food again. Sounds simplistic and I know it is not. (been there myself)

For shopping, this is a pain but go to the store when you can w/out children. (maybe plan meals and only go once a week)

When a child is hungry, they will eat what is available. :)

Michelle

She's still so little, and it's a good age to just say no (most of the time) :hippy: She will eventually forget the fast food taste. Have her help you cook; she can spinkle small amount of salt, or paint oilive oil on potatoes slices that you bake into french fries. Kids will often try food that they help prepare. Subsitute what you can w/ healthy alternatives. Sparkling water for soda, whole grain or homemade cookies for sweets etc. I still let my children have the free cookie at the market, fi, but we don't buy any.

I bring food along with us (easy food that I keep in a basket. Newman's pretzles, a jar of almond or peanut butter w/a butter knife, apples, cheese sticks, water bottles, carrots, banans etc). so we don't have to stop for food. It's amazing how hungry children will eat whatever it is you have in your bag. :happy:

Wise words, Laurie! I agree! Just say no.

I happen to believe that somewhere around 80% of picky kids are *created* and the rest have genuine aversions. We've had a ton of proclaimed picky children to our house, including my Autistic nephew with serious food aversions. And, even though we do not have junk food, no one went home hungry.

For our family, I like to offer a wide variety of good foods for snacking. I like to slice the apples and fruit and arrange them on a plate, make yummy dips, cut veggie pita sandwiches into fun shapes. My girls are not only involved in picking out our produce, they often like to help prepare the food as well. We bake lots of whole wheat, wholesome baked goods for treats.

I think that kids are really adaptable and your daughter will survive if you cut out the junk and offer fun, healthy alternatives.

Did you see the recent post about the Mama who has a blog with her healthy lunches? She is a big source of inspiration to me to make really good food choices for our family and make it interesting.

Does someone have that link?

www.veganlunchbox.com

well i have a truly picky eater. and he has consistently been given helathy food since birth-- nursed almost exclusively until about 20 month-- no interest in any foods.

he is 4 now...and with two older brothers 6 and 15 who will choose a salad, veggies and dips, fruit, fish, chicken and grains over most anything.......right now our picky little guy has about 8 foods he is interested in eating: yogurt, bananas, scrammbled eggs, quesadillas, almond butter, honey, homemade muffins and rice milk.

we offer him whatever we are having and sometimes he will try it and other times he'd rather go without food........so we keep offering and once in a while he finds something new he likes and adds that to his repetoir....but usually that means he discards something else on his list.

once he went about 10 days where he would only eat garlic rice, rice milk, rice crackers, and plain tortilla.........

i have been known to bribe him into trying things. for 2 or 3 carob chips he take a spoon of cod liver oil and he likes his liquid childlife vitamins.

i bake a lot of muffins with honey or apple sauce to sweeten made with quinoa, kamut, and other hearty grains and nuts for added protein.......we usually take a basket of these and fruit in the car when we are headed out.

Luna

one day at a time mama
and I've found that mine will eat almost anything if it's wrapped in a burrito.

Mine will eat anything basically, but even their dislikes will be consumed hidden in food. You can hide spinach in brownies, carrots in cookies and meatloaf, beans in anything. You have to get creative.

My four year old is picky but eats many things that aren't typical. One thing I have noticed, he will eat anything if he picks it himself. Maybe you could do a garden this year. Even a container garden. Or go to a pick it yourself place.
Make it fun. Let her drink sparkling water or juice out of a small wine glass. This is so far different than a sippy cup, add a berry and she will feel like a queen.

Lovely ideas! I actually got her to swallow carrots today! She always loves to eat them and hold them whole like a rabbit but she always spits them out!
She seems to be a lot more interested in vegetables, now that I'm eating them all the time, she actually loves cucumbers! We started a mini tomato plant and we've learned about food and digestion.. "so it goes in your mouth and down in your tummy rolls up in a ball and comes out in the potty like poop?" she says with such enthusiasm. So this will lead, hopefully into talking about nutrition. She seems to like the idea that some foods make you strong and some foods make you tired. However, she's not convinced that chocolate is not good for her. Any ideas about teaching a 3 year old about nutrition, or should I just wait? I was thinking of making a little chart for her to see the food groups. Maybe she would see why we can't just eat carbs all day. Baby Steps. right.

Yes, children will follow your lead if you start eating a healthier diet. I would make sure she's involved in the shopping and spend a lot of time in the produce section looking at all of the variety. Try something new each week, if you can!

We've always told the girls that foods that come from nature are the best at making their bodies move and grow and heal. We drink mainly water because that is what other living things drink, it is what nature has provided. Eating good, natural food will help them be as graceful as a deer, as smart as a fox, and grow strong like a tree.

Maybe you could look up some preschool books about nutrition next time you go to the library.

You're doing a great job, teaching by example! Make snacks fun, like dipping carrots in natural peanut butter and then into raisins. The raisins stick to the PB and it's pretty yummy! :)

My kids are much more open to foods they choose, prepare or grow. Sprouting's fun and easy. She'll probably loooove the tomatoes she grows herself. Patrick never was a tomato fan till he started picking them off the vine and eating them with me last summer.

You can also check out a couple of kids' cookbooks from the library (Moosewood has a nice one), and let her pick a few things she wants to make. Patrick has made pretty much everything in the Moosewood kids cookbook (It's called Pretend Soup, btw). He ended up eating all kinds of stuff that might have been a little worrisome if he hadn't chosen to make it. Like cooked carrots. And zucchini. Things that they might or might not reject if I made them, they wolf down if it's their own creation.