Ask An Expert: How To Give Your Picky Eater More Healthy Foods
Dr. Judith Mabel, a nutritionist and dietician with diverse training in various food-related disciplines, has agreed to answer a few questions for parents with fussy eaters. She spends her days running Nutrition Boston, which helps individuals develop diets that are healthy and customized to their specific food sensitivities. Her clients learn which foods are best for them, whether they are dieting or not, and what foods will keep their digestive systems on track.
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Nutrition Boston
Dr. Judith Mabel RD, PhD
55 Pond Ave. E103
Brookline, MA 02445
(617) 232.3073
www.nutritionboston.com
"One of the most useful techniques is to keep offering your child the foods you are eating over and over. Often they try it after 20 or so no's. Another is to have them take part in making the food - more on that later.
A third way that is often overlooked is to have kids plant their own seeds. For one thing, it is good exercise, and for another, they will delight in eating foods they have grown themselves. They will learn the important fact that food does not come from trays in a supermarket!"
"Keep chips, sodas, pastries and other sweet foods they eat out of the house. Give them as treats when going out and let them buy them on the way home from school. Don't forbid them; just make them available less often. Have healthy snacks around such as whole fruit, peanut butter or almond butter on celery sticks. Controlling their sweet tooth is the most important thing a parent can do for a lifetime of healthy eating."
"I often turn to 'The Mom's Guide to Mealtime Makeovers' by Newell-Bissex and Weiss. The recipes are all kid-tested and most can have the kids involved with the process. One example is shredding, cutting and then putting tacos together. For snacks: popcorn, pita chips, not-sugary drinks, nuts, granola bars, peanut and raisin mix."
"Check the mealtime makeover book - they are great recipes."
"Don't make the dining table a battleground during mealtimes. The kids can grow up remembering their childhood at home as one big food squabble. I often tell parents - let me be the bad guy; you just be the loving parent."
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Shelly Barclay is a professional freelance writer and amateur author. She writes on a variety of topics from food to mysteries. She loves to share the culture and rich history of her birthplace and home, Boston, with the rest of the world. Her work can be found at Examiner.com.
