My kid has become obsessed with nutrition

[kijip]

Now, good nutrition is of course a good thing but my father says things to T about how bad this or that is and T takes it to heart and then starts to freak out about what is in what food. We cook well, and eat well with mostly whole grains at home for example and a wide variety of produce, meats, fish and dairy. But we are big believers in moderation and we'll stop for ice cream or buy a slurpee or bake cookies too.

A few days ago he refused to eat pasta because it was made with white flour. Today he wouldn't eat the crust of the pizza we ordered because it was made with white flour. He asks about the protein content of each food item. He thinks whole milk has too much fat in it for him (again, he got that one from my dad). He tried to get me to buy non-fat yogurt for F. And he flipped out when he realized that there was HFCS in the slurpee I bought him. Dude gets a slurpee very rarely but he really enjoyed them when he did. It's not going to kill him.

The most annoying thing WRT my dad is that he eats ANYTHING he wants and sooooo does not follow his own advice.

I don't want to tell my son to ignore his Grandpa but he can't take everything he says as scripture either. OTH, it's not like my dad talks about it all the time, it's partly that T remembers everything and revisits it a lot. T also tends to think in very black and white terms. Something is GOOD and something else is BAD.

I will keep reinforcing the idea of moderation and it's ok to like things that are not as good for you as oatmeal and carrots. T is not one to let go of stuff easily, it started a couple of months ago and has become really bad as of late. I really don't want him yapping about this when being fed at a friend's house for example. And I want to be able to add butter to my popcorn without my son wondering if that is a good idea or not. :p

Are there any simple books on nutrition you would recommend? Reading it himself is pretty much the only thing that gets through to him once he has taken Grandpa's words to heart- he thinks grandpa is the bee's knees. I have looked but unlike the last Grandpa induced hysteria (about the environment- we had to convince him that environmental destruction could be corrected and reduced) all of the books I have found would just underscore his food fears, not calm them.

[egoldber]

I hear you. Sarah is like this too. While I hvae modified our diets, I have been VERY careful not to mention things about HFCS, whole grains, etc.

And then along comes MIL and talks about this stuff. Ad nauseum. And adds in weight consciousness just for fun. Then I had 6 months of fallout dealing with HFCS, and "is my BMI too high?" Thanks for that Grandma. :thumbsup: I had to directly ask my MIL not to talk about this stuff in her hearing.

I do think that part of it that kids like Sarah and T have the capacity to understand something to a degree most adults don't expect and then don't have the emotional capacity and experience to put it in context.

If it were me, I would not find books about it. I think, as you say, it would only reinforce his fears. What has worked for us is to de-emphasize the idea. Don't shut him down, but don't give the topic any more "air time" then is minimally necessary.

[Melaine]

I was kind of like that as a child too. I remember refusing to eat fish because I was afraid to choke on the bones. I did tend to really remember comments about health issues or danger or safety issues. I usually didn't tell my parents when I had such concerns though. Even when I was young I remember thinking that I was overly concerned about stuff. I do have an anxiety disorder now and looking back I think that there were signs of it in my childhood.

[pinkmomagain]

My anxious kids can be like this too. I have found that if my ped talks to them it helps. Maybe you can have your ped explain to ds that while it is true that it's not a good idea to have some of these things everyday, it is perfectly fine to have them as a sometimes food. Maybe he can say that he enjoys these kinds of foods from time to time too. Maybe coming from the dr (figure of authority) it might have more weight with ds than coming from mom.

[JustMe]

Any chance that grandpa would be a little workable on this? Like could you talk to him directy and tell him that you want T to have good eating habits/know about nutrition and you appreciate his help with this, but given T's personality and that he loves/admires his grandpa so much, T is going a little overboard with the info he is getting from you (you, meaning grandpa...Also, I realize this is framing it in a way that is putting a lot on the child, but that might be a relatively harmless way of getting grandpa to hear it...plus, some of it is true...another child would ignore grandpa and have a great time with junk food without a 2nd thought). Can you ask for his help in getting T to understand the concept of moderation, sometimes foods, etc? Sorry if this is way off, not knowing grandpa at all.