Kids, teens, children, fussy eaters and the primal blueprint page 3

[zoebird]

mom5booklover -- you might check out the GoKaleo blog. She is basically primal/vegan. It's interesting. She does protein powder (not my fav, but you do it anyway, so. ) and you can continue with eggs as well. It might help you get a sense of what she does, see if it might work for you.

same for you fastjane -- see if some of those ideas would work for your daughter (though protein powder makes me gag. LOL so who knows if she'll be ok with tasting it).

[magicmerl]

Is there a way you can help her transition from bread to broccoli and carrots?

Given that she is a super taster you want to go for milder foods.

Maybe primal smoothies?

[cillakat]

Don't feed her. Don't let her get a snack. Let her get nice and hungry. If she complains, her only option is to eat the fatty foods. Hunger will force her to give in eventually, and food would never taste so good as that moment.

Works on adults, and on kids. It will for sure work on a stubborn teenager. Remember, she is your "property" until she moves out. Take advantage of it and force your property to eat better.

I'd be wary of taking the hard line in a case like this. There are real feeding issues that can be present and this is one.

She barely eats anyway. It'd be interesting to see if the OP could find an occupational therapist to work with her daughter on this issue.

Remember, some kids (and adults) *really* will not eat if push comes to shove. It's not common but it does happen. I saw it happen in a toddler once. Oh. My. Maude. It was really terrifying.

Also, don't underestimate the power of nutrient repletion. She's no doubt quite zinc deficient, always has been and that is a likely cause of anorexia (the medical symptom anorexia in this case rather than the eating disorder anorexia nervosa).

I'd worry less about fish oil and more about zinc, copper, vitamin A, D, E, K, selenium, iodine (...)

[cillakat]

She literally gags when she eats anything fatty, and cannot stand the idea of meat in her mouth. Her father has similar feelings about meat. He would chose to eat a mass produced sausage over a good steak at a family bbq because he didnt like the feel of the steak..

I'd enlist the help of an OT or maybe even a speech therapist (odd, I know) or someone specialized in feeding issues. Here in the states, feeding teams for babies are comprised of OTs, PTs and STs...but as they get older, if it's not a physical issue (which its not for your daughter) but rather a textural one, an OT is typically the way to go.

Good maude, don't encourage her to cut carbs! White rice, potato, yam...all are good options for her (and indeed for most of us in moderation) but it would be nice if she could add, say, 2 oz of fish per day and 4 oz beef per day - even if it all had to be ground into a puree and mixed with mashed potato or cooked completely in liquid then diced superfine.

She sounds like an intelligent, aware, reasonable individual. Rather than take a tyrannical heavy handed approach involving threats and control, I'd appeal to reason. Talk about selenium, iodine, copper, vitamin A etc....how to get these nutrients, why they're important.

Consider the possibility of cutting up some of the less preferred foods very very small and swallowing them like vitamins (which is how I take liver...cut up teensy and swallowed whole).

Best,
Katherine

[Buffdv]

It definitely gets easier. My kids are 11 and 12 and went primal 7 months ago when we did. They complained some, we just tole them what we hqd available and they had to pick from that or make their own reasonable suggestion and write it on the grocert list. They eat 90% primal at home because that is all there is to eat. They are a little heavier on the fruit and raw milk than we are. They can cook their own eggs and we always have cooked burger patties, hard boiled eggs, grass fed beef sausage, brisket, pork butt, ribs or something in the fridge. They grabwhatever they want and microwave it. They usually eat after school before we get home from work, sometimes they will eat whatever we cook. They make their own breakfast lunch and dinner most days. They know they can eat anything in the house anytime they want. It took me a while to stop making them eat when I thought they should. As long as they feel good, I'm happy and they obviously aren't starving. After 7 months of being primal they are better at sports, faster and clearly leaner and healthier.

[lil_earthmomma]

Don't feed her. Don't let her get a snack. Let her get nice and hungry. If she complains, her only option is to eat the fatty foods. Hunger will force her to give in eventually, and food would never taste so good as that moment.

Works on adults, and on kids. It will for sure work on a stubborn teenager. Remember, she is your "property" until she moves out. Take advantage of it and force your property to eat better.

This is the creepiest thing I have ever read on this forum.

[fuzzylogic]

Don't get in a food fight with a teenager. She will eat what she eats....offer better alternatives, but if it is sensory, then it is what it is. I can't swallow a lot of things.....

Trust me, you can't starve a teenaged kid into submission. They can get out and get their own food.

[billp]

Don't feed her. Don't let her get a snack. Let her get nice and hungry. If she complains, her only option is to eat the fatty foods. Hunger will force her to give in eventually, and food would never taste so good as that moment.

Works on adults, and on kids. It will for sure work on a stubborn teenager. Remember, she is your "property" until she moves out. Take advantage of it and force your property to eat better.

I strongly disagree with the purposeless cruelty implicit in this suggestion. And it probably won't work, you will just make a battleground where she finds self-expression in defying her mother. Battles of will are no way to proceed.

[macha10]

I am definitely a super-taster....we do exist. And I hate most meat, except chicken, bacon (who doesn't love bacon) and oddly enough beef hotdogs (which, yeah, not the best for you). So I try to eat Primal, but I have to do my own modified version. With chicken, dairy products, lots of eggs, and some protein powder. Not ideal, especially to you "real" Primal folks, but I do the best I can. So maybe you can encourage her along these lines.

I went back and see that she doesn't like chicken or eggs, but hopefully she can work her way into these. And I'll admit, I am picky about the way the chicken is prepared.

[fastjane]

Thanks everyone,

I would never remove all the "bad food" from our cupboards. I would never "not feed" my daughter. As Mark says, when you clean out your pantry of "bad food" donate it to the poor and needy. Because even carbs are better than nothing.

Also my daughter is 15 not 5. She is not in my presence for at least 6 hours a day. She also works, and has enough money to buy food at school. We don't have lunch programs in Australia, and so she takes a packed lunch to school every day or can buy food from a tuck shop, as we call them.

I have done some research and I believe she has some kind of sensory disorder. She is a little thin, and a bit fixated on weight.
I have sought out counselling for her, and hopefully that will help.

I only hope that my year long fixation on my own weight and health hasnt negatively affected her in any way. I wanted and needed to lose 25kg and I did. I do tell her often that eating fat won't make her fat, as long as she's not eating all those awful carbs. She knows that I have no desire to "fatten her up" and I want her to eat food and make better choices because of her health.

She has agreed to eat new foods, and try them without the eye rolling and complaining. We shall see....

Thanks again everyone xo