How Can I Get My Picky Eater To Enjoy A Wider Variety Of Foods
- Expose your picky eater to a variety of foods
While one study reports that merely looking at pictures of new foods had a positive effect on toddlers, kids need to taste food to change their behavior patterns .Second, you do not want to force kids to taste foods. Rather, you are trying to encourage them by describing the foods positively and eating them yourself. Third, you might want to avoid presenting your picky eater with more than one new food at a time–at least until she’s older. While this experience made 10- to 12-year-olds more interested in trying other new foods.
- . Serve fresh fruit instead of juice, cookies, candy€¦but avoid stringent anti-junk food rules Too many sugary, starchy €œjunk€ foods can spoil the appetite for more healthful foods and put kids at risk for obesity. So it makes sense to save the sugary drinks and snacks for the occasional treat. But it’s probably better to take a positive approach€”offering fresh fruit substitutes–rather than act like a food cop. Switching your child’s attention to fruit will help her get more fiber and vitamins in her diet. It might also prevent your picky eater .highly preferred foods. Next, the researchers restricted access to one of the two cookie types. Kids were randomly assigned to receive either apple cookies only or peach cookies only for 5 weeks.
- Avoid new foods when your child isn’t feeling well. It makes sense to avoid serving new foods when your child is likely to feel sick or nauseated€”e.g., before a car trip or plane ride, or when your child is fighting off a virus.
- Get kids involved in the cooking food
Encourage your kid to prepare their own food or observe how the food is being made. It gives them a sense of freedom to pick their own ingredients and they have a better liking towards their food. So bring your kids into the kitchen and ask them to help out. And try gardening, too. kids eat more fruits and vegetables when the produce is home-grown.
- Provide simple alternative to fancy meals
Some kids aren’t picky eaters so much as they are purists: They’ll eat all sorts of food as long as it’s plain and simply prepared. They just don’t trust all those rich sauces, gravies, and mystery casseroles. Eg. Some kids would like to eat plain tuna fish and toast. But if you mixed the tuna with mayonnaise, they turned off.
- Respect tiny tummies
A young child’s stomach is approximately the size of his fist. Offer somal portions of food to your kid and then refill it if your kid wants more. A child’s mood swings are related to his blood sugar level, The less-is-more rule is very successful with picky eater as it minimizes their mood swings and the acceptability to food is more. As most parents know, a hungry kid is generally not a happy kid.
Let your child’s appetite set his pace for his meal times. But if you want your child to have dinner at the same time you do. Try to adjust his snack time two hours before the dinner time.
- Make it accessible
Always keep the low shelf of the refrigerator for your toddler’s favorite (nutritious) foods and drinks. Whenever she wants a snack, open the door for her and let her choose one. This trick encourages them to eat when they are hungry and also makes them learn to take their decision on what to eat and when to eat, an important step in acquiring a healthy attitude about food.
- . Use sit-still approach
One reason why kids don’t like to sit still at the family table is that their feet dangle. Try sitting on a stool while eating. You naturally begin to squirm and want to get up and move around. A child sized table with their feet touching the floor psychologically makes them less fussy about food and makes them eat longer while accepting a variety of other foods
- . Turn meals upside down
Usually children do not understand the difference between breakfast and dinner. So if your youngster insists on eating pizza in the morning or fruit and cereal in the evening, go with it €“ better than not eating at all.
While the above article guides you to eating healthier, there is no substitute for customized professional advice given by a qualified nutritionist. We urge you to speak to your personal dietician or if you need help, contact a nutritionist at Qua Nutrition.
You can contact us at 080 3232 9292 or log on to www.quanutrition.com to Book An Appointment.
