Picky eating in children can be frustrating and worrying, but proper nutrition is essential for their development. Reasons for picky eating include evolutionary survival tactics, modern family diets, and fast food. Regular meal times, healthy snacks, and changing the mealtime routine can help break unhealthy cycles. Mealtime dialogue should be pleasant and meals should be a celebration. Children prefer routine and can adapt to new foods with patience and persistence.
If your child is a picky eater, it can be both frustrating and worrying. During the formative years, proper nutrition is vital to a child’s physical, mental and emotional development. Although research continues to re-evaluate minimum daily requirements for children, some basic needs and food group standards are universal.
There are a number of reasons why a child is a picky eater. For starters, kids have more taste buds than most adults. This is believed to have been an evolutionary survival tactic when our ancestors foraged for food. Children were more prone to eating poisonous and toxic plants, so the additional taste buds made them more sensitive to bitter flavors. It is believed that this is why most children even today do not like bitter vegetables.
Another reason why a child can be picky is the diet and lifestyle of the modern family. With our fast paced lives, we rarely have the opportunity to serve our children healthy, home-cooked meals where the whole family sits down together for meals. Only the psychology of family meals can inspire good eating habits, and the lack of them can make for a picky eater.
Fast food inspires even the most demanding palates. Most are high in empty calories and low in nutrients. Fast food consists mainly of salt, fat and sugar. A high fat intake creates cravings for salt. Salt creates cravings for sugar and sugar creates cravings for fat, so the cycle continues. Once the body is out of balance, it’s harder to reintroduce wholesome food to your picky eater.
If your child is a picky eater, it is imperative that they keep meal times regular, especially the most important meal of the day. Children should not eat between meals. If your child needs a snack, it should consist of sticks of fruit or vegetables rather than carbohydrates and sugar. Also, snacks shouldn’t be eaten too close to meals.
It’s best to break these unhealthy cycles by setting a new trend at mealtimes. It is beneficial to change the routine and if possible the environment of the meal. Setting the table in the back yard at a picnic table or in the formal dining room will break the cycle of kids expecting and preferring the same foods. If this is not possible, just add a candle or flowers to the table to change the atmosphere. This will help create new binding preferences. Make good food interesting and fun.
Mealtime dialogue is just as important if your child is the picky eater. Pleasant conversation allows children to associate mealtimes with happy and life-supporting experiences. Anger or criticism shouldn’t be brought to the table. Meals should be a celebration and family gathering. Start with a prayer of thanks or a few moments of silence. Mealtimes should not be rushed, and a focus on healthy and delicious foods will inspire your child’s attitude towards nutrition.
Children prefer routine and are very adaptable given the opportunity. In the late 1960s, several research studies were conducted in which children were offered buffet meals at regular breakfast, lunch, and dinner. He was offered a wide variety of foods with no restrictions. Within two weeks, most of the children were choosing a well-balanced meal for the appropriate time of day. With patience and persistence, your picky eater will grow into a healthy eater.
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