Food Wars

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Up until this point we have somehow avoided meal-time frustration with our kiddos. From the get-go Landon has liked everything (except mushrooms and olives which we don't make him eat). Even as a tiny dude he ate his veggies - as long as there was some kind of dip-sauce. 

Suddenly the tables have turned. L is obsessed with snacks and sweets. P doesn't care for greens and has terrible highchair manners. The line in the sand has been drawn; and I can tell you these parents don't plan on backing down.

Yesterday we scored major victory in the battle against sugar/carbs/salt/cheese (aka snack foods). A certain 3-year old was refusing to eat his (delicious) tamale for lunch. So we pulled the oldest food trick in the book and wrapped that thing up and saved it for his after-nap snack. There was some fussying and whining but eventually he got hungry enough and it was eaten. 

I think we got our point across because he ate all his dinner.

Parent: 1
Kids: 0

The little one is loving his newfound independence and seriously enjoys feeding himself...as long as what's he's served doesn't start with a "veg" and end in an "etable".

If he finds one of those grossly insulting items on his tray he shakes his head no and swipes his pudgy palms across back-and-forth sending food everywhere. Or better yet, he picks up pieces and hurls them to the floor with gusto. 

I've discovered you can't force a 9 month old to eat what he doesn't like (despite much trying!). So the strategy with him has been more stealth; I'm taking the sneaky hide-the-greens approach. 

He's been eating kale, spinach and chia seeds in smoothies, broccoli in applesauce, and squash mixed with soup. Today was another major victory in the parents camp. Thanks to an awesome Pinterest tip I put an avocado and some kale leaves in the food processor and created a creamy paste. Then I spread the paste on toast and fed pieces of it to the baby. 

Look at that boy eat his leafy greens! 

hahaha! Mom wins!
(Also, if you add salt & pepper to the avo/kale mixture it's awesome for adults and bigger kids too. All the rest of us have had it spread in grilled-cheese the past two days and it's incredibly yummy. Would taste great on fish, eggs and other sandwiches too.)

How do you get your kids to eat healthy?

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