Anyone ever used the tricks in 'The Sneaky Chef' for picky eaters?

[rainplace]

My youngest was my picky eater... or rather IS my picky eater. I thought he would die from malnutrition when he was younger but he didn't. I did to him what my parents did to me, "eat this, or don't eat." the kid didn't eat for almost a month... I broke down because he got so rail thin and pale.

I've always made smoothies in the morning with protein powder and fruit. Well I started putting cooked vegies in it and he never noticed. I make fresh noki with spinach and stuff like that. I didn't think the pickiness would ever end. But it has, sorta. Now a days he'll try anything once. He'll eat salad, and tofu and chicken (I hate tofu btw) and eggs now.

We talk about nutrition. I told him how much protein and vitamins he needed each day and showed him how much of these things were in the common foods we ate. I talked to him about sugar and how starches are sugar (I was afraid of all the pasta and bread and white foods he ate) He's still picky, but he didn't die, he's not unhealthy and he's begun to explore new foods.

Don't worry. He'll come around I bet as long as you don't make a huge deal about it. I always wondered if it was a control thing. If you have to sneak the good things in and you don't mind doing it, then by all means do it.

I know it's frustrating, I wish you the best with it.

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Cristian was like that, if I said eat this or don't eat, he wouldn't eat. He lost 15 pounds in 11 months between ages 3&4 (he was not that big to start with), so I worry about him. I (then) finally started getting him pediasure, and at least he maintained his weight then.

 

[newchickenfamily]

I've tried both books. Sneaky Chef and Jessica Seinfeld's book. I don't see anything wrong with adding additional healthy ingredients. They don't ask and I don't tell. Here's what I've tried and has worked for me:

Butternut squash added to orange mac & cheese. They like it just fine!
Califlower (sp??) added to mashed potatoes and mac & cheese. Again, no complaints.
Spinach added to brownies. My kids know all about this one and have not turned one down yet!

There might be a couple others that are escaping my mind right now! Good luck!!

 

[shelleyd2008]

The cauliflower and mashed potatoes one might work, he is weird and doesn't like cheese (unless he can sprinkle it on spaghetti

) I don't have the book yet, but I think I might get it. It can give me ideas of how to get him to eat right.

 

[rainplace]

Quote:
Cristian was like that, if I said eat this or don't eat, he wouldn't eat. He lost 15 pounds in 11 months between ages 3&4 (he was not that big to start with), so I worry about him. I (then) finally started getting him pediasure, and at least he maintained his weight then.

I did the pediasure too for a while.

The son I'm talking about is now 11. Nowadays if he doesn't like what I'm making, he has to make his own dinner. It has to have so many grams of protien, contain a certain amount of vitamins and minerals, and can't be starch heavy. When he started being old enough to get food for himself, I refused to make two separate meals. Haha, for a while he lived off of peanut butter and banana sandwhiches with a vegie drink.

I'd like to emphasize not to make food a control issue. I always tried not to make it seem like a big deal even when it was for me. I have no idea if it was a control issue for my son, but having known people with eating disorders, I always feared the worse.

My goodness, the things kids make us go through.

 

[Sunny Side Up]

I don't know if the Sneaky Chef suggests this, but perhaps you could prepare & store veg purees the way I used to prepare home-made baby foods. I'd take cooked vegetables (steamed fresh for my firstborn, thawed frozen vegs for the second baby) and puree them in the blender, then freeze in ice cube trays to make individual portions. After they're frozen in cubes, I'd pop them into freezer bags for storage. You could easily make these in advance & drop the amount you needed in any dish.

I see that the Sneaky Chef has another cookbook titled How to Cheat on Your Man with advice on making your DH/SO's meals more healthy without them knowing about it.

And I agree with Rainplace, it's best not to make a big hairy deal about food & eating with your kids, they just need to learn to make good food choices for all the right reasons. They won't be at your table forever.

 

[tdkmom]

I make zucchini muffins and chocolate zucchini cake. My daughter won't eat vegetables often but she will eat the muffins (she doesn't like cake). At first she didn't ask what was in them. By the time she thought to ask & I told her it was well past the deciding time. She eats them all the time.

 

[newchickenfamily]

Oh, I forgot about the veggie breads! I make lots of stuff with pumpkin in the fall/winter months. YUM!

 

[dlhunicorn]

Using canned pumpkin (or the type of fresh meat pumpkin that turns really creamy when cooked) works great in mac and cheese (in fact I like it BETTER with the pumpkin in it!)
grated carrot and turnip in the spaghetti saus works a treat and also in hashbrowns ...
blitzing a variety of veggies in a broccoli cream soup is the main one I use... just cook the brooccoli heads along with what ever other veggies in just enuf water to cover... blitz everything up to a smooth cream and add a packaging of dried cream of mushroom soup to that with milk and you have a wonderful creamy soup .