For parents and grandparents, often the biggest challenge is knowing what foods you should provide for your children, particularly if you have a picky eater. I am a father, so I know firsthand how fussy children can be, even more so at the end of the day when they are feeling shattered.
Many parents see mealtimes as an opportunity to fill ’em up and get ’em out, which teaches your child that food is all about being ‘fast’ and unintentionally promotes a set of food-related behaviours that research tells us leads to negative health outcomes. I realise that with the endless demands of modern life, mealtimes can feel like yet another repetitive chore to get through, but I’m going give it to you straight: you wouldn’t light up a cigarette in your child’s mouth, and you wouldn’t let your child drink a can of beer, because you know the damage that this does to them. Over time, processed Western food can be just as detrimental to a person’s health as a cigarette or beer. Saving time or placating children by giving them processed food will simply lead to a new generation that struggles with obesity, diabetes, heart disease and other underlying health concerns. Breaking out of these lifelong food habits and ways of thinking is hard to do, which is why so many people don’t.
Dealing with fussy eating is one of the most significant – and stressful – challenges many parents face, leaving them frustrated and worried about their child’s nutrition, development and health.
But fussy eating is normal – in fact, all parents should expect their child to go through a fussy eating phase.
The science of why children are fussy eaters
The reason why children predominantly go through a period of fussy eating is basic biology – the roots of this behaviour can be traced back to our hunter-gatherer ancestors and their development of a range of physiological responses for survival.
This included developing ‘food fussiness’ – a natural aversion to unfamiliar foods and bitter flavours – like vegetables – to avoid ingesting potential toxins.
Additionally, as our hunter-gatherer ancestors often experienced extended periods of food scarcity, they learned to seek out and store high-energy, palatable foods found in nature that were also high in natural sugars, fat and protein, such as fruits, honey, meat and nuts, to avoid starvation.
As well as offering the best ‘bang for buck’ calorie-wise, these foods also provided a natural high and sense of satisfaction, triggering the release of feel-good chemicals called endorphins and learning chemicals called dopamine, which enabled our ancestors to remember the pleasure associated with eating that food and trigger a response the next time they saw it.
So, when your child pushes back on the vegetables, there’s an evolutionary reason why!
Seven things you can do to overcome fussy eating
Fortunately, there are some simple – but effective – things you can do to support introducing healthy foods to your child or grandchild and overcome fussy eating:
1. Never bribe or force them to eat everything on the plate. You may have been brought up to do this, but it is wrong advice. Forcing them to eat is only disrupting their appetite regulation; let them dictate how much they eat.
2. Involve your child in meal preparation and cooking. Getting your child’s assistance with food shopping and preparation tasks is guaranteed to make them curious about the meal they’ve helped create and more willing to taste it.
3. Eliminate mealtime distractions. Turning off the television and putting the devices away will make sure your child can focus on the important task of tasting and fully experiencing new foods.
4. Wind back the clock and gather everyone around the dinner table. We all know that kids closely observe and mimic their parents so the best way to overcome fussy eating is by showing enthusiasm for trying new foods and a positive attitude toward healthy eating.
5. Offer small portions. Serving new foods in smaller servings will ensure you don’t overwhelm your child with new tastes and allow them to let you know if they’d like more of what they’ve tasted.
6. Resist the urge to make another meal. While it’s tempting to offer an alternative when your child refuses a meal, it creates more problems than it solves, teaching fussy eaters they can get the foods they like by refusing to eat what’s been served.
7. Don’t use food as a reward or punishment. Every parent has been there – trading the promise of a yummy dessert for two more bites of beans – but this practice only creates unhealthy associations with healthy foods.
Your children will learn from what you do and eat; this goes for all facets of life, but none more so than what is placed in front of them at the dining table. You hold the keys to your child’s food future.
Healthy Parents, Healthy Kids is published by Penguin Books.
Dr. Nick Fuller is an internationally recognised health expert and the author of Healthy Parents, Healthy Kids. He is responsible for the clinical research program within the Boden Initiative, located within the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney. He is also the director of clinical trials within the Department of Endocrinology at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
