Tips To Overcome Picky Eating Habits 

By: Michelle Hessberger, ND, Dipl Ac, LAc, MS Cellular and Molecular Biology 

As a parent, it can be very frustrating catering to the whims of a child who is a picky eater. It often leads to battles at the dinner table, with whining, crying, or pleading from both the parents and the child. In order to help your child overcome the hurdle of picky eating, you as a parent must resist the urge to argue over food. Your child does not know what foods are actually healthy for him or her despite their preferences for certain colors, textures or flavors. Children may also push your buttons, refuse to eat anything, and even throw temper tantrums till they get their way. But, if you as a parent give in to their whiny demanding behaviors, you are actually encouraging this behavior to continue!

To help your child overcome these bad habits, it's time to become a positive roll model with persistence and patience as your weapons of choice. Start by introducing one new food at a time with other foods they do enjoy. Don't bribe them to eat their vegetables by rewarding them with dessert. Instead, allow them to push the new food around on their plate, feel it, smell, and get accustomed to it. It often takes children at least 15 times of seeing a new food for them to become familiar with it and try eating it. So repetition is key to new food introduction. It also helps if you eat those foods too! (Especially without making faces like you're being tortured!) Children will often try to mimic your behaviors. Use this to your advantage.

Have them help you with grocery shopping by picking out the fruits and vegetables they want to try. Let them help prepare the food, try it, smell it and add different spices or sauces so they can see how it changes when it is cooked or when certain flavors are added. Getting children involved in the cooking process gives them an opportunity to play with their food and get accustomed to it. My daughter was helping Grandma in the kitchen and discovered she loves carrots sautéed with a little honey on them, one of grandma's "secret" recipes! You can make cooking in the kitchen fun and explorative as well as family time!

Also, find a cookbook or online site with recipes your children may enjoy. My son actually likes eating celery now because he saw a picture of "ants on a log" and thought it looked fun! It's a healthy and simple snack with celery, peanut butter, and raisins on top. There are plenty of recipes like this online and cookbooks featuring popular children's characters or recipes geared towards children, like the "Star Wars Cookbook", "Kids' Fun & Healthy Cookbook", or the "Princess and the Frog: Tiana's Cookbook: Recipes for Kids."

For more information on solutions to picky eating, check out "The No-Cry Picky Eater Solution: Gentle Ways to Encourage Your Child to Eat: and Eat Healthy", "Whining and Dining: Mealtime Survival for Picky Eaters and the Families Who Love Them" or "Take the Fight Out of Food: How to Prevent and Solve Your Child's Eating Problems." If your child likes the Arthur series of books, you may also want to read "D.W. Picky Eater" by Marc Brown to learn what makes D.W. reconsider her picky eating habits!
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