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Expert Q&A

	By Leanne Ely Leanne Ely, C.N.C., Certified Nutrition Consultant

My toddler is a very picky eater and tends to eat a lot of convenience foods. Can you suggest any kid-friendly, healthy alternatives?

Well, since you asked me, you're going to get my answer and you might not like it. Picky eaters are raised, they aren't born. Right now by allowing her to eat convenience foods, you're ruining her palate for good, healthy food. It is my opinion that you can train a child's palate to be less picky and more accepting if you give them the real thing. Just like bank tellers are only allowed to handle real money, when they encounter counterfeit money, they can tell instantly it's not real. That's what happens when kids are raised on good, real whole foods -- they reject the junk food as fake, they can tell instantly it's not real. Some "cases" are harder than others, but honestly, I have seen it work time and time again.

Serve her the same healthy snacks you have been giving her. If you're giving her junk food because she'll eat that and not the healthy food you've been giving her, stop. Do not allow your 28-month-old daughter to dictate what she will and will not eat. Some experts disagree and say she may outgrow it. The operative word there is "may." Do you want to take that chance? I firmly believe children can be taught to eat right -- especially if you do it when they are young.

Here's what you do: first, only give her good, healthy nutritious food. Don't react if she does and firmly tell her in a calm voice, "That's lunch, sweetie" or whatever you say. If she won't eat it, take it away and try again later.

The other thing I have noticed about children who are picky is that they drink too much juice. No matter how you slice it, even if it's fresh, just squeezed juice, it's 100 percent pure simple carbohydrate and it will keep a child's blood sugar levels up so they have a false sense of being full. It's a big mistake a lot of parents make -- allowing their child to drink juice perpetually throughout the day.

Only allow water to drink between meals and if you do offer juice at all, it should be with a meal and diluted with water. You could even tell your daughter she can have her juice after she eats her dinner.

The snacks you are offering are good alternatives to the regular snack foods out there today. I would suggest trying some good muffins with a little cream cheese on them for extra protein, homemade baked tortilla chips with dip, veggies and dip (good stuff -- not yucky ranch dressing that's pure fat), fruit cut up, raisins and cream cheese on celery, etc.

I invite you to subscribe to my free, weekly ezine called "Healthy Foods." I am doing a series of articles called Passing the Torch: training your children to have healthy habits. I think you would find the information very helpful. To subscribe, mailto:join-healthy-foods@ds.xc.org.

I am passionate about training children young. My own children are excellent eaters because I persevered and wouldn't cave to the easy way out and give them easy, convenience foods. When my son was 3, we took a Mommy and Me class. The mothers would all huddle around to watch my son eat at lunch time. They couldn't believe that he would happily eat lentil soup with lots of vegetables in it or chow down on whole grain, honey sweetened muffins. But he did and he still does today at 9 years old. My 11-year-old daughter is no different -- she eats like a champ, too.

We all want to eat junk, but it isn't healthy. It's like putting inferior gas into a brand new car. And with the sharp increase in childhood obesity and disorders, now is the time to do something. I hope you read this as an encouragement to take action. Remember, you're the parent!

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