Thursday, November 29, 2007

Sneeking Those Fruits, Veggies and other Good Things

Feeding the boys has become a nightmare. Read the last line here and you'll see another reason why. Back when Damien was 1-2 all he would eat was applesauce, mashed potatoes, bread pudding, oatmeal. Soft foods. When he was about 12 months old his ped told me he was afraid with his preferences of soft foods that he was probably going to be behind like his brother. Who knew Ped's had psychic powers?? Lately though Damien has decided on one food as his favorite. Cottage Cheese. We go through a big container in about 3 days. He also enjoys a bunch of crunchy/chewy foods. Granola Bars, Fruit and Grain bars, cereal and crackers. One of his faves is Envirokidz Rice Bars. Give him any kind of veggie or fruit cooked or raw and he won't eat it. Dominic is the same way. I've tried everything to get both boys to try different fruits and veggies and they might nibble like they are going to but then put them back on their plates. Because they are such awful eaters I'm always trying to make sure everything else they eat is good for them. Dominic for a long while had Pediasure everyday. Now I feed them alot of organic snacks that contain vitamins.

Smoothies has always been a way we've snuck fruits into their diet. We've done the blending and adding to pasta sauce as well. Juicy Juice came out with Healthy Harvest which we've been using. They like the Good Health Natural Foods Veggie Stix too although you probably have to eat a ton for a serving of veggies. Now Nabisco has came out with Garden Harvest chips. One serving is a 1/2 serving of fruit or veggies. They are not organic but at the moments if it's fruit or a veggie and they eat it, I'll serve it to them. lol The kids love them! We've tried Banana, Apple Cinnamon, and the best one is the Veggie Medley.

I know this is just taking place of feeding them the real thing. I would love to be able to get them to just grab a kiwi or pear and go to town eating it. All the kids love bananas. What is it about bananas and kids?! Dominic loves grapes, Alex loves apples and salads. If you have any ways to sneek in veggies or fruits, I'd be happy to hear.

7 comments:

Bird's Eye View Photography said...

When Henry was younger he would sit down and eat an entire can of cooked veggies(carrots, beans, even beets!) But now he has been exposed to "better" food (tasting) and he is starting to be a little more picky. I just don't keep a whole lot of junk in the house... ans he has no choice but to eat what is there.

Anonymous said...

I too have been using the Juicy Juice. It was fine until Lorelei figured out why there was a picture of a carrot on the bottle and now she won't drink the "carrot juice." Ugg. I will have to try the chips.

Unknown said...

no ideas for you. my kid thinks broccoli is her favorite food. I do give her a liquid vitamin every day though, just in case.

Rhonda said...

My kids eat veggies ad fruit. It was never an issue for us, at least yet! We have never had much in the way of snack foods in the house though.

Jess said...

Have you seen that new cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld? That might offer some good tips on how to sneak the veggies in!

I think the trick for Ella was not introducing her to any processed or "comfort" foods until she was over 2. With older kids in the house this probably would have been impossible though. We always fed her what we ate without imposing any judgments one way or the other. Just made the point to sit down and eat with her and offer her a version of whatever we were eating.

Then again, we probably just got lucky so what I think we did and didn't do really didn't make much of a difference, lol.

Sabrina said...

Wow! You all have amazing kids! I wish mine ate like that!

Kbreints- Damien used to be just like that! He would eat nearly a whole can of french style Green beans! I wish he'd do that now!

Wendy- I'm afraid my kids might see the carrots on the packaging too so I usually try to block that part! lol

Jess- the kids always eat what we have for B/L/D but I offer them a afternoon snack and bedtime snack which is like the only time Damien will eat it seems. I know that's prbably part of the problem but I hate to make him starve! I try to give him something good for him and it always seems to be either cheese, cottage cheese, yogurt and crackers or toast, granola bars etc. He won't touch anything fruit or veggie anymore. He's all dairy and carbs it seems. I'll have to see if I can find that cookbook at our bookstore in town.

Cristen- lil Lucia is awesome! Broccoli!?!? Wow!

Rhonda- Dominic and Alex are much better with trying things now that they are older so you may be in the clear. lol

Keithclan said...

My youngest wanted to eat "bars" all the time for a while. Granola bars, nutrigrain bars, he would have been happy to be on an all bar diet. We discovered Odwala bars, pretty healthy but also pretty pricey. I love the garden harvest, the veggie and the apples and cinnamon. My sister swears by the Jessica Seinfield book, but I am pretty sure I prefer my brownies without sweet potato puree, thank you. Just know you aren't alone, I work with 1 to 2 year olds, and many eat no fruits or veggies.