Picky Eating in Children

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Do you remember as a child sitting at the dinner table with your family and feeling disappointed as soon as the plate was placed in front of you? Our parents worked hard to feed us (I hope), working, making sure we ate at all. But growing up as a fussy eater and regularly being served the things I couldn't bear was the thing that most baffled me. Kraft dinner was one of those dishes for me.

Eating mac and cheese

My parents did all they could because I was one of the unfortunate children in a low-income household. Seeing food go to waste was an awful outcome, but your parents made it the food knowing you didn't enjoy it.

It was a recurring theme. To the point where I didn't eat anything that night. I couldn't bear the stench, the noise of that squishy gross sound the noodles made with just a little movement, and the taste made me want to vomit. However, they continued to cook it. And it would be discarded the following day. Fortunately, my parents eventually stopped buying KD. There was no reason to when all the kids who liked it had moved out and the one kid who disliked it was too little to move out.

But that didn't stop my parents from cooking dishes they enjoyed but I didn’t like. I was a picky eater, and I couldn't eat things I despised. It wasn't the serotonin surge; it made me physically nauseous to eat anything my taste buds didn't approve of.

Now that I'm older, I wonder what the point is of forcing your child to eat foods they don't like. Obviously, there are some things you need in your body to keep healthy, but boiling broccoli the same way every day won't change how it tastes to someone.

Try a different recipe—and no, vegetables do not belong in brownies or smoothies—stop hiding veggies from your kid (This may erode your child’s trust). Experiment with other recipes for the item they dislike. It could be the way you cook it rather than the food itself.

Family putting away groceries

However, if your child is anything like me, any variant of Kraft dinner makes me want to cry. Talk to your kids about the foods they enjoy eating—of course, they can't have ice cream every day. However, communicating and preparing food that everyone appreciates reduces the likelihood of waste.

When children grow up, they will not buy broccoli and boil it as you did. They will purchase foods they enjoy eating and explore new meals they have not tried before. So, why are you teaching your child to force themselves to eat foods they dislike?

Why not teach them diverse ways to cook things, and explore other options? It is selfish to prepare dishes that we enjoy but that others dislike. We would never do that to a guest, so why would we do it to your own family?

Here is a recipe I loved as a kid even though I had a small palette. Remember, if you do not like anything in the ingredients list, swap it out for something you do. Nothing must be exact.

Spinach Strawberry Walnut Salad 

Ingredients

  • Baby spinach

  • Strawberries

  • Walnuts (or any type of nut)

  • Strawberry salad dressing

No need to worry about measurements, add portions you feel are right.

Directions

  • Add spinach to a large salad bowl and drizzle with the amount of salad dressing you desire.

  • Gently toss to coat.

  • Sprinkle dressed spinach evenly with strawberries, and walnuts.

Cat .M — I've grown so accustomed to my nickname that if you addressed me by my full name, I wouldn't respond. But just for the record, my full name is Catherine. M I'll mostly talk about the world's problems, but I'll only do the bare minimum to fix them. Maybe it's a lack of motivation, but when all you hear is how bad the world is, you grow up not caring. I hope you find a little bit of positivity in my posts!

Ode to the Gluten-free Diet Fad

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When I was younger, I had no idea what gluten was. I’m sure many people still don’t. If that’s the case, great! I’m glad there’s no reason for you to know about it. But if you’re like me, you either have celiac disease, a gluten sensitivity, or know someone who does.

In recent years, diets like veganism, keto, and gluten-free have become trendy among people looking to boost their health. And I have to admit, I cringed at those hopping on the bandwagon.

But then I was diagnosed with celiac disease.

A basket of bread and wheat beside salt and pepper shakers

It was hard to adjust. I was never someone who watched what I ate. I liked eating whatever I wanted. I liked not eating what I didn’t want simply because I didn’t like it— not because I couldn’t have it.

Before I go on, I should tell you what gluten is. It’s a protein found in foods that consist of wheat, rye, barley, and most oats. When I explain it to people, I just tell them I can’t have ‘bready’ things. I can’t have gluten because it makes my body literally attack itself. If I do, my small intestine can’t digest the vitamins and nutrients I need to, you know, survive.

So it’s safe to say my world was rocked when my food options became so limited.

As someone with zero sense of discipline, I allow myself to ‘cheat’ now and then. But this doesn’t come without consequences. Short term, my stomach gets super bloated and cramped. Long term, I’m looking at a “2x greater risk of developing coronary artery disease, and a 4x greater risk of developing small bowel cancers,” according to the Celiac Disease Foundation.

You’d think I’d take it more seriously. I don’t say this to discredit the severity of celiac but to prove how hard it is to live with a dietary restriction.

A group of people in motion around a dinner table.

As a Latino, food is a massive part of my culture and identity. Trying to explain this change to my family was hard. Did you know there isn’t even a Spanish word for ‘gluten’?

Transforming your lifestyle doesn’t come without struggle.

And I struggled.

If it weren’t for the rise of fad diets, I don’t think I would have as many options as I do today.

I’ll qualify here— there’s definitely an element to these diets that can be unhealthy, especially the ones based on losing weight fast. Diets like this are a scam and utterly detrimental to our well-being. There’s no diet out there that’s going to cure cancer, I’m sorry. Please seek professional help.

But when eating gluten-free suddenly became all the rage, I witnessed an increase in things I could buy at grocery stores and, to my immense relief, restaurants.

I know it’s mostly a trend based on nothing other than marketing ploys and a lack of scientific basis. I know people who hail their gluten-free diets as the pinnacle of health are mistaken. And I know that eventually, the fad will phase out, and people will go back to their normal, non-restrictive diets.

But damn it, don’t I deserve to have my bread basket at the restaurant too?

Gluten-free foods have gone from an obscure diet to a lifestyle trend. According to the CCA, “The Canadian gluten-free food market is the fastest growing food intolerance category estimated to be $811.5 million and forecasted to grow 10%.”

This trend has been a lifesaver for me. With more demand comes more supply. Now, I get to enjoy foods that most other people get without question. Cereal, pizza, pancakes. I have options that I wouldn’t have had ten years ago.

So I say keep the trend going. While gluten-free diets don’t make you biologically superior, you can still indulge in gluten-friendly foods every now and then. Many foods naturally don’t have gluten anyway.

Do as restaurant servers do when I ask for a gluten-free substitute and embrace the “allergy or preference” mentality.

The worst that can happen is that we raise more awareness and maybe, hopefully, more research for celiac and gluten allergies.

The best that can happen is that people who struggle with these dietary restrictions get to enjoy more of the foods we miss out on.

Amanda Monterroso ⁠— is a 2nd-year Professional Writing Student who will try (mostly) any food at least once, has a bookshelf full of unread books, loves writing poetry, and hates writing bios. Follow her on Instagram: @quietsonginthenight