Picky eating is stressful. Here’s tip to try.

Reframe “picky eating” to “learning to eat.”

If you grew up in the “Clear your plate!” club or the “Eat 2 More Bites” battle, this mindset shift will be a challenge.

Ask Aaron about baked potatoes growing up. He “had” to eat to clear his plate because who wants to see food go to waste, but today, he still won’t eat them.

Learning to Eat

We actually need 15-20 exposures to a new food before we try it.

Examples:

1. Have the child serve the “yucky” food to you and they’re still being around the food. That’s just one exposure.
2. Set it on the table “family style” with all the dishes on the table, so they can see it and say “no thank you” when you offer, but still they see it.
3. Remind them, they don’t have to eat it. That way they have autonomy.
4. Offer a taste and if they just taste and say yuck, it’s still an exposure.
5. Let them see you eat it.
6. This is a sneakier, long game plan to give the child ownership.

Using this method, though, you lessen your stress and pressure.

Remember if you’re serving protein from animals on pasture–those animals are eating greens and the meat is rich in nutrients.

Frog Legs, Octopus, Candied Yams, Liver, Cow’s Tongue

To bring it home, these are the foods I’ve seen that made me say “yuck.” Thankfully, no one made me eat them growing up.

But on my own I’ve tried each.

I still will eat chicken liver (it’s a mild supervitamin I hide in ground beef dishes) and sweet potatoes, but the rest I haven’t tried again.

BUT—I’ve been exposed to sweet potatoes and liver much more than frog legs and octopus….If frog legs were regularly at the church potluck or at the Steakhouse…. I’d likely eat them….They’re not bad, they taste like chicken. 🙂

Let me know which food you still avoid.