How to...TF for picky eaters?

[Cutie Patootie]

I'm not sure where we got off track, but my kids dd(4 in May) and ds(6 in July) seem to be stuck in a food rut. Ds has super bad teeth and I would love to get some good foods into him, and dd already has one bad cavity and is a super picky eater. Any advice on how to get the good stuff in. There's only so much you can cram...read "hide"...into a smoothie.

[Mere]

My ds1 eats between 15-20 foods, total, and has pretty much always been that way. I try not to fight food battles with him, but only have TF foods around so that's all he has to choose from. I always serve him small portions of what we're having for dinner, but he rarely eats anything at actual dinnertime; most of the time he snacks before or after on fruits, veggies or nuts (because that's all we have). He does generally get a good, TF-foods packed smoothie once a day too. He seems very healthy and never ever ever gets sick, so I guess his extremely monotonous diet must be working for him. I try not to get stressed out about it and assume that eventually, he will crave some variety ...

[IsaFrench]

Mere, what do you put exactly in your TF-foods packed smoothie ?

[Magelet]

what do they like to eat? I would start with fats, because I doubt that you would have problems getting them to eat food with extra butter in them. Subbing crappy string cheese for real cheese string cheese, processed cheese slices for real cheese slices, processed white bread for white bread that only contains flour, water, yeast, salt, and honey or sugar (sure its not ideal, but it makes tasty bread, and its better than preservatives).

I would personally get rid of all refined sugar in the house, it might mean the kids complain for a while, but completely eliminating refined sugar, I've found, is the only way to stop craving it. If you only eat little bits, you will still crave it. Also, once you stop eating it, things like fresh raw carrots and peas taste sweet! http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-cure-a-sugar-fiend/

Definitely having healthy foods availible for snacks, and a variety of them: nuts, fruits, veggies, cheese. Ants on a long (peanut butter, celery sticks and raisons) are delicious.

I don't mean to offend you, perhaps your children have never tasted such processed foods in their life. I'm just making suggestions.

It really depends on what your kids like to eat. I'd try to make them healthier. that doesn't necessarily mean hiding veggies though. gl

[TzippityDoulah]

put eggs in the smoothie to add extra calories, fat and EFAs. I know fruits are "healthy" but they are still fruits - sugary carby things. great for antioxidants and quick burning energy but not for growing brain and muscle etc. so I woudl try to put in fats where I could.

have you tried things like bananas or apples cooked in butter or lard? or even coconut oil? again good meat fats but including foods he likes.

my kids love PB&J and so I started spreading coconut oil on the bread first beforee the PB&J. they never noticed until I told them. i use nutiva b/c I find it spreads easily, never tastes gritty or chunky and is very smooth.

is it possibly your sun has sensory issues? it might be textures of certain foods and not just flavors. my daughter has been workign through this since she started eating. she still has foods she just CANNOT handle period - like carrots, squashanything with tomato in it. also once I started giving her enzymes ot aid digestion her diet increased. I think she wasn't able to digest certain foods so it hurt her stomach.

[rosewater]

dd is a picky eater too.
i focus on getting good fat into her mostly. i also try for protein, but she usually refuses.

i try to make my own bread, with ww flour, a few eggs, butter, yogurt, sea salt, maple syrup and a pinch of yeast and then let it rise for about 12 hours (i don' thave the mental capacity now to keep up with a starter).
that way she is eating bread with more protein and fat in it. when i don't make it, i do my best to have plain ww sourdough on hand, so dh doesn't bring home the white bread, which she'll eat half a loaf.

she loves pb sandwhiches, i should try adding coconut oil to it. great idea!

she used to love eggs and now won't have it. so i make raw ice cream when i can, with a lot of egg yolks in it.

i tried making her raw egg nog everyday and she wouldn't always drink it, but sometimes will.

i make popsicles with frozen blueberries and coconut milk, about equal parts, and sometimes a little honey. i've tried also doing more coconut milk than blueberries and she isn't thrilled, but will eat them.

she'll eat pb on a spoon, maybe i should make pb & CO balls or something for being out.

i have make pb cookies, just pb, sucanat, egg and vanilla. she'll eat them sometimes.

she used to love butter on everything and by itself, but now wants bread plain and refuses to eat any vegetable. she'll sometimes eat cheese and sometimes drink raw cow's milk. we're still nursing, a lot too.

i make crispy cashews, really really salty (i double the sea salt from the TF recipe). she'll eat those, sometimes, when we're out and it's all i got.

when i make some extra money, i stock up on nuts. walnuts, cashews and almonds. i want these nuts organic and really raw, so it's expensive. then i'll make cookies (yeah i know, they are cooked, but i want to cook them myself). i put equal parts walnuts and almonds (but it could be any combo or one kind of nut) in a food processor and grind until almost nut butter. I add an egg an a little sucanat that i powdered in a spice grinder, maybe a dash a vanilla. maybe salt too. i roll them out and freeze for about 15 minutes then cut out cookies and bake them. anyway, they are a high fat, good protein cookie that has less sugar than others. but they are expensive, so not for everyday.

i've tried to make coconut flour muffins with pumpkin in it, but she won't eat it. i'm all for hiding food, because i have to believe eventually she will love it on her own.

good luck!

[Pinky Tuscadero]

I try to keep it pretty simple for my kids. They love hamburgers/meatballs made with grassfed ground beef, shredded veggies, ketchup and honey. It's the best recipe ever!
They will happily eat roast turkey/chicken in a cheese sauce (milk, butter, cheese, corn starch). They often eat sausage, eggs, oatmeal with lots of cinnamon and fried apples. For snacks we have mini pizzas on soaked corn tortillas or sprouted bagels, homemade granola bars (lots of coconut oil and butter in these), raw ice cream, etc. Simple is the key!
Also, I don't worry about variety too much. If there are a few really good foods your kids will eat, let 'em! Don't stress about needing all these different foods. It's really not necessary.
Good luck!

[Magelet]

I also spread fat on bread before making sandwich, usually butter. Whether pb, cheese, chicken, or anything else, I spread butter on the bread, before anything else (mustard, salad dressing, mayo, etc).

I make yummy crackery things to put all sorts of things on (I love goat cheese and caramelized onions, or tuna tartar, but less fancy things would be good too), where I slice bread thinly, then spread butter or olive oil REALLY liberally on it, add lots of salt and pepper, and bake them til golden.

[RufusBeans]

my daughter is hard. I make Irish oatmeal for her with lots of Irish butter and honey and she still won't eat it.
In the past she's liked chicken, but now she won't even eat that. She used to like Peanut butter sandwiches-with CO,but now she is complaining about the texture of the bread.
She lives on whatever crap they give her a school, and until last week when I stopped buying it, cereal.

She won't touch any meat except chicken or turkey (which is sad because she used to eat bacon and shrimp) she doesn't like catsup or any other kind of sauce, so I can't just pour it over any old food and have her like it, like it seems other people do.

we are working on it.

[Mere]

Originally Posted by IsaFrench

Mere, what do you put exactly in your TF-foods packed smoothie ?

Raw pastured eggs, plain raw milk yogurt, a scoop of coconut oil, spinach if I have some, frozen fruit, and a few drops of vanilla stevia . They are good!

Also, I second whoever recommended keeping refined sugars and flours out of the house. Ds1 is obsessed with that stuff; I cannot have it in the house at all unless I want to be on food patrol (which I try to avoid at all costs).