My daughter, the NOT picky eater.
Tonight, for dinner, we watched Carmen shovel food into her face. That's not the cool part... the cool part is that it was broccoli, cauliflower, water chestnuts, lima beans, carrots, peas, and some sort of red pepper in a spicy Indian sauce over brown rice. The official name for said dish is gobi ki sabzi. This was after an appetizer of mango slices.
Right now, one of her favorite fruits is pomegranate. How sweet is that? We give her sections of it, and she carefully peels away the inside skins and then eats the fruit, seeds and all. She also loves pickles, and is perfectly content munching on scrambled eggs if I don't have the imagination to cook anything else. Taking her to a buffet is fun, since she is selective in her food choices if there are choices to be had. Sometimes her choices surprise the heck out of us, like eating the sushi and shrimp before touching the lo mein or rice at a chinese buffet.
Sometimes, she's just not hungry, and I've learned to identify these times and not try to force her to eat something by offering junk or sweets. I'll offer what we're having, and if she just doesn't seem hungry, then we'll let her slide with eating just a bit. We know that she'll make up for it in the next meal. If we're eating something that may genuinely be offensive to her (usually it has to do with texture, rather than taste, color, or food group), then I will offer something else nutritious and "safe" in her food vocabulary if she tries and turns down our food.
Her first "taste" word was "spicy." She really enjoys food with a little kick, so long as it's not the kind that brings tears to your eyes. Tonight's dinner made her sniff and snuffle as it cleared out her little sinuses. We sniffed along with her. She also loves jalapeno and cheddar Cape Cod chips and I've watched her devour habanero flavored chips with my Dad. Curries are some of her favorite foods, too, and she's even learned to balance the spice with milk or bread so that she can keep the pace up without hurting herself.
I know that someday, she may become a picky eater.... but damn am I glad that that day hasn't come yet.
Right now, one of her favorite fruits is pomegranate. How sweet is that? We give her sections of it, and she carefully peels away the inside skins and then eats the fruit, seeds and all. She also loves pickles, and is perfectly content munching on scrambled eggs if I don't have the imagination to cook anything else. Taking her to a buffet is fun, since she is selective in her food choices if there are choices to be had. Sometimes her choices surprise the heck out of us, like eating the sushi and shrimp before touching the lo mein or rice at a chinese buffet.
Sometimes, she's just not hungry, and I've learned to identify these times and not try to force her to eat something by offering junk or sweets. I'll offer what we're having, and if she just doesn't seem hungry, then we'll let her slide with eating just a bit. We know that she'll make up for it in the next meal. If we're eating something that may genuinely be offensive to her (usually it has to do with texture, rather than taste, color, or food group), then I will offer something else nutritious and "safe" in her food vocabulary if she tries and turns down our food.
Her first "taste" word was "spicy." She really enjoys food with a little kick, so long as it's not the kind that brings tears to your eyes. Tonight's dinner made her sniff and snuffle as it cleared out her little sinuses. We sniffed along with her. She also loves jalapeno and cheddar Cape Cod chips and I've watched her devour habanero flavored chips with my Dad. Curries are some of her favorite foods, too, and she's even learned to balance the spice with milk or bread so that she can keep the pace up without hurting herself.
I know that someday, she may become a picky eater.... but damn am I glad that that day hasn't come yet.