Winning over your picky eater is no easy task, but (in most cases) it can be done! Following is a list of tactics to hopefully convince your child that “real food” is good stuff. Also, don’t forget that it can take time for one’s palette to adjust to new tastes so if you experience some failed attempts at first don’t be discouraged!
Whole-Wheat Banana Pancakes
1. Start by switching out the refined and processed ingredients in meals they love for healthier ones. Some recipes to consider: Whole-Wheat Macaroni and Cheese, Homemade Chicken Nuggets, Whole-Wheat Pizza and Whole-Wheat Banana Pancakes (pictured).
2. Give your child a good first impression of the real food you want them to try even if it means deep frying sweet potatoes to make French fries, making sweet zucchini bread, or coating fish in almonds and topping it with a butter sauce. Once your child thinks they like “fish” you’ll have a better chance of getting them to eat it next time (even if you cook it differently).
3. If you like to hide veggies in your kid’s food please tell them about it while they are eating it (if you’re brave enough) or at least tell them afterward. They need to know the hidden ingredient isn’t so horrifying after all. Plus if when they turn 18 they still think they’ve never eaten broccoli, because it’s always been hidden it in their food, where is that going to get you?
4. Bribe them to eat real food with other real food. Most parents already know how to bribe on occasion, but remember it does not always have to be about sweets and junk food. For example, my 4-year-old daughter absolutely loves cheese sticks and will do just about anything for one…including eating a bite of her veggies!
5. Let them pick out their own fruits and vegetables at the store or farmers’ market. Better yet, let them help you grow some produce in a few pots or in a small garden in your very own backyard. Now is the perfect time to start planting for fall, and it would be very little effort and a lot of reward to plant some carrot seeds together in a little pot on your deck.
6. Get them involved in picking out dinner or breakfast recipes and helping you cook the meal. Even kids as young as one or two are great at stirring. I’ve started letting my 6-year-old flip pancakes on the griddle (with close supervision) and she feels like she is the “queen of the castle” when she’s cooking for the whole family! Most kids will at least have a taste if they helped to make the meal.
7. Make a strict “one-bite rule” that they have to at least try a food and remind them that it won’t hurt them if it tastes bad. This goes for each meal. Also allow them to wash it down with their drink as opposed to spitting it out. You may only win them over 1 out of 10 times, but that one time makes it so worth it!
8. Do not pressure or upset your kids too much over trying a new food. There is a sweet spot somewhere between not giving up easily and not pushing them too hard. This is why I like our “one bite rule” because it is no surprise when I ask my kids to try at least one bite of something new. You don’t want them to have any negative feelings toward food or mealtime. You should know pretty quickly when you’ve started taking things too far.
9. If your child is especially resistant only put one new food on their plate at a time along with other real food that you already know they like.
10. For older children talk to them about why it is important to make these changes and consider inviting them to watch the documentary Food, Inc. with you. You can also sit down and discuss our list of 10 reasons to cut out processed food. Most kids want to do the right thing and be healthy, and I promise you the transition will be so much easier if they’re on board with making changes.
11. Make sure you have the right expectations. Converting your child or your entire family over to real food is not supposed to be an easy or quick task. Buying, prepping and cooking wholesome meals is obviously going to be more work than ordering a highly processed pizza, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Just remember that the changes you will see in the health of your family will be more than worth it in the long run!
12. It really does take a dozen or more times for a child to realize they might like a new food. It took a lot of patience, but I think I even offered my youngest daughter green bell peppers two or three dozen times before she one day decided she liked it (much to my surprise!). So remember…persistence is key so don’t give up!
If you have any additional suggestions you’d like to share please leave them in the comments below. Also, be sure to check out our family real food meal plans if you are looking for ideas on what to specifically feed your kids.
I have 3 children ages 13, 8 and 4. We eat fairly healthy, with fruits and vegetables and limited sugar and processed foods. I am trying to make the move to eliminate ALL white sugar and processed items. I am having the hardest time with the teenager, she has a very delicate pallate, she doesn’t like the whole grains or earthier breads, cereals and crackers, she doesn’t like oats. We discuss often the reasoning for the move. We talk about what these fake foods do to our bodies etc. I bake often and have been using white flour for the most part, I usually remove about half a cup of the flour and add ground flax or oat bran. What I need help with is what can I do, if I want to do most of my own baking to make muffins, cookies, pancakes, breads is whole wheat not enough? I thought we were eating quite healthy, no sugary cereals, I don’t buy store bought cookies, or muffins, they don’t get junk like fruit roll ups or pop tarts etc. We don’t even drink juice, no pop. No candy except the occasional things on Halloween and such. I don’t have a problem with their fruit and veggie intake, its more like the grain heatlhy choices, like making the switch to quinoa, or couscous things like that. They like their pasta although I don’t make it often, we tried brown rice pasta and it went over ok, except the 13 year old. To make a big salad with all of the stuff mixed up doesn’t work either, it has to be separate. Also, we are a very busy family, and 3-4 nights a week, our dinner needs to be quick to prepare because I like us to be sitting down together and I don’t want us scarfing it down. So if you had any dinner ideas, and on the go snacks I would appreciate the help. Also, what do you consider okay for sweetner, I have used applesauce, honey and agave syrup before, are these acceptable choices?
One of our favorite meals is to have a salad bar with lots of toppings. The kids enjoy helping get all the things they like and put everything in little bowls on a turntable with a big bowl of plain greens in the middle. Maybe your 13 year old would like this since everything is separate. I find that the kids end up eating a little of everything because it’s fun to take some out of all the little bowls. It’s a lot of dishes to wash, but it’s worth it to see them enjoying so many kinds of veggies. And it’s a pretty quick meal to prepare, that the kids can help with or even make themselves! Some toppings we like: peppers, carrots, sprouts, craisins, tomatoes, olives, nuts, cheese, celery, sunflower seeds. The kids like italian dressing (I need to come up with a good homemade version) and I love my homemade ranch made with raw milk.
Hi Trish. Congratulations on all you are doing to make the switch. My first thought is have you tried using the 100% white whole wheat flour that we often use. I can tell you firsthand that my kids didn’t flinch when I started using it. It a great way to bridge the gap. For the pasta switch, I used more sauce in my pasta recipes and it made the change less noticeable. We also had to experiment until we found those we like the best. Trader Joe’s has been our brand of choice as well as 365 from Whole Foods.
As for agave, here is a post that may be of interest: http://www.foodrenegade.com/agave-nectar-good-or-bad/. And here is a link with snack ideas: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2012/07/31/85-snacks-for-kids-and-adults/. Also, have you subscribed to the blog and “liked” us on Facebook in order to download the meal plans: http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/our-free-meal-plans/. Hope this helps. ~Amy
We have started cooking more as a family (one of my new year goals). I have twins that are almost 3. My daughter eats ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! I feel blessed by that. My son eats like what I assume a normal little guy eats like. He is wary of foods mixed together and new things. He might not eat anything when it is on the plate, but if he “samples” the ingredients as he is cooking, he gets on board! We made a broccoli quiche, which he normally wouldn’t have touched, but since he put the cheese, beat the eggs, and tossed in the broccoli, he gave it a go!
Any suggestions for the 46 year old picky eater in my house who LOVES George Carlin’s response to picky eating and why he doesn’t like a food if he hasn’t even tried it…”I know I don’t like it and if I tried it, I would like it even less.” HELP!
Hello RT. Yeah, those adults are hard! Just keep trying and keep educating! Sometimes just changing the way a dish is prepared and presented is enough to inspire a taste. With my adult slightly picky one, all I need to do is add cheese.
~Amy
Amy…I wish it was so easy. In a nutshell…no casseroles, no sauces/gravies (except BBQ/ketchup), no seafood, and his acceptable fruit and veggie list is limited to the occaissional apple, corn (only on the cob), and potatoes (not mashed, and preferreably not sweet potatoes). So far my 9yr old and 2yr old are only moody eaters, not quite picky eaters! Best wishes to all the other cooks trying to deal with this issue!
Hello again RT. Sorry that it is such a challenge. Keep at it and your kids will stay on the right track.
All the best! ~Amy
I tried the whole wheat banana pancakes with my 16 month old “very selective eater.” It took a few bites and him seeing me eat them before he quit spitting them out and finally ate them. Now he gets excited when he sees me pull some out of the freezer!! He loves them and so do I. I did the same thing with the Annie’s whole wheat mac and cheese. It took a few tries, but he’ll eat that now. I still haven’t been able to get him to eat vegetables, unless they’re pureed in the pouches.
Do you have any tips for introducing new foods to younger toddlers?
These are some great suggestions! I especially like how you incorporated the real food aspect into this. Recently on my own blog we discussed it but more from a toddler’s standpoint. Ironically my 5 year old is the picky eater, so some of you suggestions will definitely be beneficial to him.
We have an “eat one” rule. One bean, one asparagus spear, etc. It can followed with a swig of milk if appropriate. As long as there is no gagging, I’m comfortable with this requirement. We eat new foods over time in various ways or with different sauces/dips. The green beans took a while but eventually my son liked them. If he eats one and doesn’t care for more, I always suggest that he just keep trying them in the meals to come, and he may find that his taste buds “have grown up” and he’ll like them. It works!
We have a one bite rule here. My 6 year old is hesitant at first, but most things he likes after the first taste. My 3 year old is an entirely different story. If he likes it, he will tell me it is good but he still won’t eat it. If he doesn’t like it – oh boy – he screams and cries that it tastes like “good stuff” and he is allergic to it. Two days ago he even ran to the bathroom crying and tried to throw-up!!! He absolutely cannot handle the idea of eating healthy, for now. We keep trying.
I’ve been trying to master homemade chicken nuggets that my children will eat (sorry Lisa I tried your recipe and my picky kids didn’t like it, my husband and I did though) they are obsessed with nuggets and I really hate the ready made stuff because in my opinion it’s complete crap. I found a new recipe last night and tried it out and my kids loved it. We have been trying to eat clean for a few months now and are doing pretty well, there was a post on here earlier that said just to give them choices between healthy items rather than junk food and I find that most of the time that works, we’ve cut out much of the processed stuff and sugar but my kids are often resistant to change so we’re trying to do things a little more gradually with them. Anyway, if my kids admitted to liking these nuggets that is huge so there is hope! (PS my 5 year old LOVES the pumpkin muffins, they are really good and I don’t feel bad about her eating them since there’s no sugar!)
What is the recipe for nuggets you found?? I’ve tried a few and still haven’t found one they like yet.
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