Winning Over Picky Eaters

My Picky Eater- at least she has style!

I admit it. I'm obsessed. I am bound and determined to win my daughter over to a more Paleo-(ish) lifestyle this year. 

This is pretty much how she looks when I get her to try something new.

My son, Arlo? Dream eater. That boy will eat ANYTHING. 

He loves it. Really.

This is his response to a Paleo Pumpkin Bread that was so horrible even I wouldn't eat it! It was as dense as a brick!

I would say my kids eat better than most. But it's just time. I went Paleo almost 2 years ago, my husband joined in a year ago. I just found out I have some major gluten issues. It's time, people.


So where do you start? That is always my biggest dilemma. One of my biggest peeves is when people (who usually don't even have kids) say things like "Just serve them what you are eating. if they are hungry they will eat it. If not, they can just starve."


That doesn't really work for me. I think my kids need to be involved in the process of meal-making and meal planning. I also believe that slow integration of things works best for my particular kids. Moving on.


I decided to approach this just like we do with new clients at the gym. We ask them to start with breakfast. Usually my kids have waffles, oatmeal, or pancakes with a protein on the side. This is what Lily has been eating the past week or so:

• An organic cheesestick wrapped in ham, honeydew, and maybe a boiled egg- we still have dairy in there, but that's the only dairy she eats during the day and we've eliminated the bread- score!

• Arlo hates cheese, so he eats ham, honeydew, and either an egg or some Kefir.

So that's where I'm starting. I got super creative last week and pulled out some of my old teacher tricks when I was trying to get her to try nuts.  I made a chart of all the nuts and all of our family members' names. Everyone had to try the various nuts and put a smiley face if they liked it, a sad face if they didn't.  You know what? She actually tried them all and there was ONE lonely smiley face- score!

On the menu tonight: Spaghetti Squash with Grassfed beef and tomato sauce, Sauteed kale