Another picky eater thread...

[Lisoula]

My oldest DS (8) is the worlds pickiest eater. Anything he likes is junk (pizza, the gross chicken nuggets, Kraft mac N cheese, hot dogs, artificially colored and flavored "kids" yogurt, plain pieces of pepperoni...). He will occasionally eat maybe one or two florets of broccoli and raw carrots and cucumbers. Fruit is usually not a problem, and he'll eat PB sandwiches on plain no-flavor store-bought bread. He'll also eat buttered pasta with nothing else on it.

No eggs, no smoothies, no real meat....it makes me insane. I've tried "sneaking" foods into things he likes.

I'm open for any suggestions!!!!!!!!!!

[Alyantavid]

I make my own hot pockets with pizza sauce (homemade) and pepperoni (and cheese if you're not dairy free). My kids love them. And you can mix anything into the sauce. Could you make some of his favorites and slowly start turning them healthier?

[lilsparrow]

Originally Posted by Alyantavid

I make my own hot pockets with pizza sauce (homemade) and pepperoni (and cheese if you're not dairy free). My kids love them. And you can mix anything into the sauce. Could you make some of his favorites and slowly start turning them healthier?

PLEASE tell me how you make these! They sound yummy!!

[Alyantavid]

I'll have to come back to this, my pizza crust recipe is at home. But I'm sure any recipe would work.

Sauce:
tomato sauce
lots of garlic
italian seasoning
basil
parsley
whatever else sounds good, I usually put something green in it too, spinach, zucchini, whatever.

Just cut the uncooked, rolled out dough into triangles. Spread sauce and whatever else you want on half, then fold and pinch the edges together. Then just bake however your pizza crust recipe says too.

You can obviously skip the pizza sauce and do ham and cheese or steak and cheese or whatever at all you want. They freeze really well too, just flash freeze on a baking sheet and store in the freezer.

[noobmom]

Originally Posted by Lisoula

My oldest DS (8) is the worlds pickiest eater. Anything he likes is junk (pizza, the gross chicken nuggets, Kraft mac N cheese, hot dogs, artificially colored and flavored "kids" yogurt, plain pieces of pepperoni...). He will occasionally eat maybe one or two florets of broccoli and raw carrots and cucumbers. Fruit is usually not a problem, and he'll eat PB sandwiches on plain no-flavor store-bought bread. He'll also eat buttered pasta with nothing else on it.

No eggs, no smoothies, no real meat....it makes me insane. I've tried "sneaking" foods into things he likes.

I'm open for any suggestions!!!!!!!!!!

Have you tried just NOT buying the bad versions of the foods he likes and offering homemade instead? Like no boxed mac and cheese, but make some yourself? Chicken fingers aren't too hard to make either and it's pretty quick if you use chicken tenderloins. Maybe for yogurt you could try plain yogurt with a spoonful of jam or honey. I haven't dealt with a picky eater, so I may be way off base, but it seems like not having the junk food in the house would solve some of the problem. My DS does like some of the same foods also, I just try to buy the better versions (Annie's mac and cheese, stonyfield yogurt), but he eats a wide variety of things so I don't worry about the occasional processed food.

[Lisoula]

Originally Posted by noobmom

Have you tried just NOT buying the bad versions of the foods he likes and offering homemade instead? Like no boxed mac and cheese, but make some yourself? Chicken fingers aren't too hard to make either and it's pretty quick if you use chicken tenderloins. Maybe for yogurt you could try plain yogurt with a spoonful of jam or honey. I haven't dealt with a picky eater, so I may be way off base, but it seems like not having the junk food in the house would solve some of the problem. My DS does like some of the same foods also, I just try to buy the better versions (Annie's mac and cheese, stonyfield yogurt), but he eats a wide variety of things so I don't worry about the occasional processed food.

Oh yeah, I've tried. He simply won't eat. It's insane. I've never seen anyone survive on so few calories a day.

[noobmom]

I should have guessed you would have already tried that. I know the advice is often to just "offer the kids healthy food, they won't starve themselves", but it's hard when you see your own kid not eating. Personally, I'm against sneaking veggies into food because if the kid finds out, it may make them more reluctant to try new foods in the future. Sorry I can't be more help, maybe you'll get some BTDT advice.

[lil_earthmomma]

I was a very "picky" eater, so I know from both sides of the equation that it sucks for everyone involved!

If I were you, I would sit your ds down and tell him that the food he like isn't the best food for growing and it's not food the rest of the family loves to eat. Once a week would be his choice for meals. Involve him in planning meals for the rest of the week too, and try to involve him in shopping and cooking the meals.

As for yogurt, find one of the kids yogurts that isn't too bad, maybe at the health food store?

For bread, would he be interested in baking bread? Maybe skip bread for a while and eat tortillas or pita?

Pizza can be extremely healthy!!! You can make the pizza sauce with lots of healthy veggies and not change the flavor at all.

If he will occasionally eat raw veggies, what about making veggies and dip an everyday thing?