Before Max was diagnosed, we ate pretty well. As a super-busy family, like everyone, with a tight budget and two working parents, we ate as organic as we thought possible/necessary. We thought we offered variety. We thought we didn’t eat much sugar. Max’s diagnosis prompted us to concentrate on our food choices. As promised, I will write more about that in an upcoming post. Today I wanted to share a little encouragement. This picture is of Max’s sister enjoying broccoli before we had the opportunity to serve it at dinner last night. She hopped up to the kitchen counter, grabbed the entire head, and chowed down. Even a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have believed it. What happened?
After Max was diagnosed we focused on the way we eat with fierce intentionality. We researched, discussed, and forged a plan. Ours is moderate — it fits our needs and addresses our concerns with our son’s medical condition. One component of the plan is to include significantly higher ratios of fresh and raw veggies with each snack/meal. The other day at infusion Max was chowing on cukes and peppers for his snack and his doctors were blown away. Does he really eat veggies for his snacks? He does now.
We used to give up. We didn’t want to put food on their plates that would be wasted. We didn’t want to promote stress at the dinner table. We always provided veggies, but not necessarily in multiples, for example. When the kids hated broccoli we saw their distaste as insurmountable. They’ll just be typical kids who only eat a handful of veggies…oh well. Post-diagnosis we started to provide the veggies and select fruits with every meal. I read somewhere that it takes young kids anywhere from 10 to 60 bites before they enjoy a new food. Previously I would have given in by 10, but we persisted. We kept providing the green stuff especially.
Seven months later neither child enjoys visible kale, they will however try swiss chard in soup. Squash, sweet potatoes, and avocados are all awesome. They’ll eat veggies like seaweed, cukes, green beans, broccoli, and edamame solo. We’re on the road and now we’re trying with spinach. We keep offering it and now have the confidence that one day the light bulb will flash and spinach will be requested!
I’m writing this today to offer a ray of hope to all of you who struggle to get those kiddos to eat their veggies. I am not exclaiming that my kids are such advanced mini-foodies that they just love veggies. No, no! For us, it never worked like that. The real deal is that it’s hard, really hard, and there are plenty of opportunities to give up. It’s just been in the last few weeks with experiences like the broccoli-stealing last night that have brought my chin up and now I see the diligence is paying off. My kids do love veggies, now.
Quick tip offer veggies at dinner before anything else, when they’re really hungry! 
– Audra
What a fantastic post!!!! Eating veggies is a major point of contention at our dinner table. I really appreciate your strategies and message about giving up. I keep trying different ways of cooking… But maybe it is not so much about the recipe as it is about us creating a culture. Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi Alesha,
I had read so much about dressing up veggies, hiding them, or kids who just miraculously love ‘em. I had not however heard much about just providing the option consistently If I did read it, I didn’t hear or understand the tip anyway. Now that I’ve experienced it, I get it! And I’m so hopeful these days. The kids used to only eat edamame with soy sauce, and now they like it plain. We offer most veggies just with a tad of salt, maybe some EVO. I used to try to prepare them more attractively but it seems that they like the green veggies just blanched, or raw, with a little salt or none at all. It’s been a surprising adventure, for sure and we’re still learning every day. So much of this depends on the child/family/cultural heritage, too. We’d love to hear more tips or findings from other families! Thanks for writing!
Your quick tip about offering veggies first is spot on. The kids are nearly always under foot in the kitchen while I’m cooking, and I should always have some veg out for them to snack on. I remember Heidi telling me that after H started eating solid foods, but I don’t do it as often as I should. My tip: H doesn’t like green stuff–he will spend a half hour picking it out of pasta or soup before he gets down to eating–but he will eat nearly anything if it is dipped in hummus.
Hi Sage! You know how they circle the island right before dinner — “I hungy, I hungy!” is what we hear from M-M! So it’s a great time to munch on some seaweed or green veggies. I also personally believe in the vehicle — be it hummus, soy sauce, or (for us) sugar-free ketchup, it gets the goodies in, right? So, I’m not adverse to hiding or condiment-loading. We make a super chocolate milk for Max that’s filled with powdered greens, green tea extract, probiotic, and is made with coconut milk mixed with cows milk. Depending on the kid’s situation and your personal family’s eating style, there alway a way to load the food. I’m just relieved that it doesn’t always have to be that way and, even if it starts that way, our kids anyway learn to like the goodies with less and less “sauce” to deliver. Thanks for reading and writing in! xxoo Audra
Oh! I forgot to add for both Alesha and Sage, something that both Justin and I will discuss in coming posts — something really important to this — which is the role of the narrative we developed with Max surrounding super-foods and superpowers. Max knows, on some level, that he’s in a really tough situation. He may be young and it’s hard to process and articulate, but he really took to the empowering narratives we developed with him. This is why we started this blog, actually. So, above all else, what I should have included in the actual post, is that creating a story with your child about the power of super-foods may really help.
Reblogged this on Max's Love Project.
In my house, no veggies, no dessert. Period. Additionally, my son is into Super Heroes and various “strong” characters like Ninjas. He knows that what gives them their strength are foods that are colorful – blue, green , orange, red, yellow. He knows that “white” colored foods are good to eat but don’t make him strong enough to get a black belt in karate.