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request for advice-Picky eater with Sensory Issues
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<blockquote data-quote="Marguerite" data-source="post: 230459" data-attributes="member: 1991"><p>Jessica's book is called "Deceptively Delicious". I actually ordered a copy, but then chickened out. WHile I waited for the book I searched online for the occasional released recipe and did some sums, to find out that a lot of the sneaky vegetables were in her recipes in too low a quantity to actually have much nuutritional benefit, but where they DO have merit is in being able to tell your child, AFTER they've eaten it, "Those chocolate brownies you just said you enjoyed? They had zucchini in them. So maybe you'll try zucchini in other things too?"</p><p></p><p>Also, I realised that by the time I got the book, I had little need of it because easy child 2/difficult child 2 was moving out, leaving me with only ONE problem child. Besides, I was fairly sure that Jessica's method would be a disaster with my kids. What? Sneak food in? Maybe with Jessica & Jerry's easy child kids, but you don't do that to a difficult child whose trust you're trying to gain.</p><p></p><p>One suggestion from Jessica which I thought was really good - she would cook and puree a lot of vegetable at a time, then freeze the pureed vegetable in one cup bags. For various recipes she would thaw a bag and mix it in. For example, making meat balls, she would thaw a bag of pureed pumpkin or broccoli, and mix it in with the meat. The puree often helped bind it as well, it also kept it moist.</p><p></p><p>I really did think about it, but chose not to because a lot of the vegetables that most kids refuse, are not the problem for us. Our problem is different, it's not just kids refusing to try things, it's also kids with EXTREME sensitivity to certain textures and flavours. husband, for example, is very sensitive to bitter tastes. When we were both at uni (different campuses) there was an experiement in genetics where we had to taste a range of dilutions of a certain bitter substance, but this particular substance (I can't remember what it's called now) can only be tasted if you have a particular gene. For those who can taste it, it needs to be quite dilute. For those who can't, you could just about drink it neat and not taste anything bitter. But husband not only has the gene (so he could taste it while dilute) but they found he could taste the lowest dilution, which NOBODY is supposed to be able to taste. So they broke it down further, and further, until they got a point where he couldn't taste it at all. It turned out that he could taste the stuff at a point a hundred times weaker than the lowest dilution presented to the class, which was about a thousandth more dilute than anyoone else.</p><p></p><p>What this has taught me (after more than 30 years of marriage) is that husband is VERY sensitive to bitter tastes. difficult child 3 seems similar (I think easy child 2/difficult child 2 is too). I think he inheritied his father's extreme sensitivty to bitter tastes. Yesterday at lunch in the restaurant, we were served fish and chips (no way were these mere fries, they were big, fat anf fluffy on the inside, each chip twice as thick as your thumb) with the sort of salad on the side that says, "I'm here to look at, to stop you from feeling guilty at not having a balanced meal, but we know that nobody is really going to take this salad seriously enough to eat it." Of course, difficult child 3 & I tried to eat our salad. It was made with shoestring carrot, shoestring beetroot, mung bean sprouts and finely shredded red mignonette lettuce. A mix of colours, designed to look good. difficult child 3 of course analysed the components and declared that the mung bean sprouts were very bitter. sister in law ate his salad for him but commented that the sprouts were fine, it was the red mignonette lettuce.</p><p></p><p>My point - you can try disguising food for a easy child, but generally this is a bad idea for difficult children. In my experience, they need to be able to analyse a food down to its components, in order to feel secure.</p><p></p><p>I grew up with a mother who would disguise food in a recipe. I always found it and as a result, I grew to really hate her casseroles and stews, because I knew that somewhere in there was food I hated and which I knew I risked finding with each mouthful. I understand now, that steak and kidney pie NEEDS to have kidney in it somewhere to give it a rich flavour, but I still refuse to eat it if there is even the slightest chance my teeth will bite down on a piece of kidney. I have never made stak & kidney pie even though I beleive husband loves it. I will, however, make him steak and mushroom pie instead, substituting mushroom for the kidney. I'm told it tastes almost the same.</p><p></p><p>easy child 2/difficult child 2 is a devil for analysing a dish to pieces, literally. She HAS to know exactly what she is eating. difficult child 3 also. But I got them both to eat stir-fried vegetables by referring to broccoli and cauliflower as "little trees". You can also often melt cheese over steamed broccoli or cauliflower, but only if your child can cope with the texture of anything creamy (difficult child 3 can't).</p><p></p><p>And they don't always grow out of it. Last night at dinner at mother in law's, she had jelly and ice cream for dessert. daughter in law & eldest niece were serving up, mainly to ensure that they were able to eat their jelly first, in the kitchen, before then serving themselves their ice cream. They said they didn't like jelly and ice cream in the same bowl. Not allowed to "touch".</p><p></p><p>Another REALLY useful trick to get kids to eat vegetables - teach them to grow them. Make it clear that he doesn't have to eat what he grows, but it might be nice to have a taste before blithely handing his produce over for some other lucky person to eat. At least have a single taste, to make sure he's not going to lis out on something delicious.</p><p></p><p>it doens't matter if you do the bulk of the gardening, just involve him at some stage. Teach him how to recognise when a carrot is ready to be pulled, when beans are ready to be picked, when other vegetables are ready. I grew snow peas and would send difficult child 3 out to pick all the pods. Often there weren't enough to cook and I would instead share them with him, or tell him he could eat as many as he liked while they were really fresh because that is when they're at their most delicious.</p><p></p><p>So difficult child 3 will eat fresh raw vegetables. He will often eat more than he should - if I buy pod peas (he often asks me too although they're expensive) difficult child 3 will shell the peas, eat the peas, then eat the pods. All raw, of course.</p><p></p><p>He won't eat spinach. Again, it's the bitter taste. mother in law taught me to drain cooked spinach well then add a squeeze of lemon juice and grated cheddar, letting the heat of the cooked spinach melt the cheese. it looks awful but tastes wonderful. All my kids love it, husband loves it, but difficult child 3 won't even eat it that way, he is too aware of the bitter spinach taste.</p><p></p><p>Analyse your son's likes and dislikes. Try to involve him in ths quest as well, and encourage him to explain what he likes about something and what he doesn't like. In this way you hopefully will find a pattern that can guide you to other foods he has a higher chance of liking.</p><p></p><p>You know, I just had a funny though. He likes things that are really savoury, really salty... you might have a closet Aussie there. Has he tried Vegemite? (If ever you try Vegemite, it should be spread really, really thin, barely a molecule thick. NEVER apply it like butter or jam.)</p><p></p><p>Marg</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Marguerite, post: 230459, member: 1991"] Jessica's book is called "Deceptively Delicious". I actually ordered a copy, but then chickened out. WHile I waited for the book I searched online for the occasional released recipe and did some sums, to find out that a lot of the sneaky vegetables were in her recipes in too low a quantity to actually have much nuutritional benefit, but where they DO have merit is in being able to tell your child, AFTER they've eaten it, "Those chocolate brownies you just said you enjoyed? They had zucchini in them. So maybe you'll try zucchini in other things too?" Also, I realised that by the time I got the book, I had little need of it because easy child 2/difficult child 2 was moving out, leaving me with only ONE problem child. Besides, I was fairly sure that Jessica's method would be a disaster with my kids. What? Sneak food in? Maybe with Jessica & Jerry's easy child kids, but you don't do that to a difficult child whose trust you're trying to gain. One suggestion from Jessica which I thought was really good - she would cook and puree a lot of vegetable at a time, then freeze the pureed vegetable in one cup bags. For various recipes she would thaw a bag and mix it in. For example, making meat balls, she would thaw a bag of pureed pumpkin or broccoli, and mix it in with the meat. The puree often helped bind it as well, it also kept it moist. I really did think about it, but chose not to because a lot of the vegetables that most kids refuse, are not the problem for us. Our problem is different, it's not just kids refusing to try things, it's also kids with EXTREME sensitivity to certain textures and flavours. husband, for example, is very sensitive to bitter tastes. When we were both at uni (different campuses) there was an experiement in genetics where we had to taste a range of dilutions of a certain bitter substance, but this particular substance (I can't remember what it's called now) can only be tasted if you have a particular gene. For those who can taste it, it needs to be quite dilute. For those who can't, you could just about drink it neat and not taste anything bitter. But husband not only has the gene (so he could taste it while dilute) but they found he could taste the lowest dilution, which NOBODY is supposed to be able to taste. So they broke it down further, and further, until they got a point where he couldn't taste it at all. It turned out that he could taste the stuff at a point a hundred times weaker than the lowest dilution presented to the class, which was about a thousandth more dilute than anyoone else. What this has taught me (after more than 30 years of marriage) is that husband is VERY sensitive to bitter tastes. difficult child 3 seems similar (I think easy child 2/difficult child 2 is too). I think he inheritied his father's extreme sensitivty to bitter tastes. Yesterday at lunch in the restaurant, we were served fish and chips (no way were these mere fries, they were big, fat anf fluffy on the inside, each chip twice as thick as your thumb) with the sort of salad on the side that says, "I'm here to look at, to stop you from feeling guilty at not having a balanced meal, but we know that nobody is really going to take this salad seriously enough to eat it." Of course, difficult child 3 & I tried to eat our salad. It was made with shoestring carrot, shoestring beetroot, mung bean sprouts and finely shredded red mignonette lettuce. A mix of colours, designed to look good. difficult child 3 of course analysed the components and declared that the mung bean sprouts were very bitter. sister in law ate his salad for him but commented that the sprouts were fine, it was the red mignonette lettuce. My point - you can try disguising food for a easy child, but generally this is a bad idea for difficult children. In my experience, they need to be able to analyse a food down to its components, in order to feel secure. I grew up with a mother who would disguise food in a recipe. I always found it and as a result, I grew to really hate her casseroles and stews, because I knew that somewhere in there was food I hated and which I knew I risked finding with each mouthful. I understand now, that steak and kidney pie NEEDS to have kidney in it somewhere to give it a rich flavour, but I still refuse to eat it if there is even the slightest chance my teeth will bite down on a piece of kidney. I have never made stak & kidney pie even though I beleive husband loves it. I will, however, make him steak and mushroom pie instead, substituting mushroom for the kidney. I'm told it tastes almost the same. easy child 2/difficult child 2 is a devil for analysing a dish to pieces, literally. She HAS to know exactly what she is eating. difficult child 3 also. But I got them both to eat stir-fried vegetables by referring to broccoli and cauliflower as "little trees". You can also often melt cheese over steamed broccoli or cauliflower, but only if your child can cope with the texture of anything creamy (difficult child 3 can't). And they don't always grow out of it. Last night at dinner at mother in law's, she had jelly and ice cream for dessert. daughter in law & eldest niece were serving up, mainly to ensure that they were able to eat their jelly first, in the kitchen, before then serving themselves their ice cream. They said they didn't like jelly and ice cream in the same bowl. Not allowed to "touch". Another REALLY useful trick to get kids to eat vegetables - teach them to grow them. Make it clear that he doesn't have to eat what he grows, but it might be nice to have a taste before blithely handing his produce over for some other lucky person to eat. At least have a single taste, to make sure he's not going to lis out on something delicious. it doens't matter if you do the bulk of the gardening, just involve him at some stage. Teach him how to recognise when a carrot is ready to be pulled, when beans are ready to be picked, when other vegetables are ready. I grew snow peas and would send difficult child 3 out to pick all the pods. Often there weren't enough to cook and I would instead share them with him, or tell him he could eat as many as he liked while they were really fresh because that is when they're at their most delicious. So difficult child 3 will eat fresh raw vegetables. He will often eat more than he should - if I buy pod peas (he often asks me too although they're expensive) difficult child 3 will shell the peas, eat the peas, then eat the pods. All raw, of course. He won't eat spinach. Again, it's the bitter taste. mother in law taught me to drain cooked spinach well then add a squeeze of lemon juice and grated cheddar, letting the heat of the cooked spinach melt the cheese. it looks awful but tastes wonderful. All my kids love it, husband loves it, but difficult child 3 won't even eat it that way, he is too aware of the bitter spinach taste. Analyse your son's likes and dislikes. Try to involve him in ths quest as well, and encourage him to explain what he likes about something and what he doesn't like. In this way you hopefully will find a pattern that can guide you to other foods he has a higher chance of liking. You know, I just had a funny though. He likes things that are really savoury, really salty... you might have a closet Aussie there. Has he tried Vegemite? (If ever you try Vegemite, it should be spread really, really thin, barely a molecule thick. NEVER apply it like butter or jam.) Marg [/QUOTE]
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