I couldn't believe it, reading this article. Everyone says super picky kids outgrow it by adulthood. I guess not :(
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40357712...ion/?gt1=43001
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I couldn't believe it, reading this article. Everyone says super picky kids outgrow it by adulthood. I guess not :(
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40357712...ion/?gt1=43001
interesting article.
THat "super-taster" thing though makes total sense to me. I am usually not a picky eater, but when i'm pregnant, it's a TOTALLY different story. When I am preggo I always feel like i have the appetite of when i was a little kid..i only want to eat mac & cheese, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, white bread... and the smell of ANY sort of vegetable makes me want to retch. These days I often find myself literally gagging after tasting certain things that just a couple years ago I KNOW used to love. So I imagine a lot of it does have to do with sensitivity to smell & taste. My DH who loves food and will eat ANYTHING is not sensitive at all..he is the type of person who needs to douse his pizza with half the jar of hot peppers before he can taste the spiciness.
though i think it's pretty common for most kids to be picky eaters so i wouldn't worry just yet...most of the people i know who were super-picky eaters as kids outgrew it eventually. as a toddler my DH lived on peanut butter and refused to eat most anything..now i have to work hard to get my DH to stop eating everything in sight. :) my brother was also a picky eater as a kid...i remember he literally would vomit whenever he had to eat any sort of vegetable. It was so annoying going anywhere to eat with him because he only wanted American fast-food. Nowadays it's such a different story...my brother loves practically everything..sushi, seafood, you name it.
I've noticed that I have become a super picky eater since having kids. I cannot stand chicken in any form or veggies. I also hate fish. I can prepare these foods but cannot eat them at all. The only holdover from when I was a child is that I dislike watery sauces (watery spagetti sauce for example).
My mom is like that. It is actually pretty debilitating for an adult... Not ( just) from a health perspective, but socially.
I don't worry about it for my own very picky kid. Toddler limited diets are common but the vast majority obviously outgrow it.
This is me. I have a slightly wider diet but its still incredibly limited. It is completely debilitating and only got worse when I was pregnant and had terrible acid reflux that caused me to throw up nearly every meal for 6 months straight. I'm now slowly working on it and have added two new foods in the month. For me trying two new foods is a huge accomplishment. I would not say I'm a 'super taster' for me, its more a fear of the new foods in general. I can read a menu and find something that sounds amazingly good but by the time it arrives I've worried so much over if I'll like it I can't eat it IF I even manage to order it, most times I chicken out before the waitress arrives.
I think my mother lead me into it. My brother and I both have it. If we said we disliked a food she would never ever served it again and made three seperate meals nearly every night. I don't recall ever being offered a new food after about age 7, even so much as a new spice. Brands had to be the same too. ETA My parents also made food a HUGE hill to die on. I can vividly recall them forcing me to sit in a high chair at about 6 and told I couldn't get out until I ate X. Every meal they made rules about how much we had to eat and we'd sit there for hours picking. My mother thinks I'm nuts because I want DD to start working on table foods at 12 months. She fed us jarred purees until we were at least 3.
My dream is to order something besides a hamburger and fries in a restaurant and eat it. without gagging.
Interesting. My older DD is most defintiely a super taster. I swear she can taste a fleck of oregano in a huge plate of pasta with sauce. She can also tell the difference between various brands, even without seeing the label. She just knows.
But FWIW, a lot of her food avoidances were also anxiety related. When she started therapy for the anxiety, one of the things we specifically worked on was her anxiety about trying new foods. As a result, we have gotten her to try and like many new foods over the last year, vastly expanding her repertoire of foods that she will eat. She actually ate and liked turkey this year at Thanksgiving, which was a FIRST for her! A big part of this was giving her an "exit strategy" for the new food. A large component of her fear was what to do if she didn't like the new food. We've worked to give her acceptable options: how to get rid of a bite of food she doesn't like in a socially acceptable way, in a restaurant you can actually get something different if you don't like what you ordered, etc. Knowing that she had options was a HUGE deal for her.
But I know a LOT of adult picky eaters, which is why I am irritated at the idea that children are somehow not "allowed" to be picky eaters and that it is a parental fault if they are.
I totally relate to this- I am terribly picky and DS2 is following in my footsteps. I do not want to have the food battles with him like my parents had with me. Besides the clean plate club they would also use some foods as disapline- for example if I talked back I had to eat mustard or pickles or olives. To this day I dislike all of those foods.Quote:
Originally Posted by AshleyAnn
Agree with PP- it is socially debilating. I always feel awkward at gatherings that involve food and often go hungry by faking a stomach ache or saying I just ate.
My parents used mustard for discipline in place of soap. Yuck. I won't use any condiments on my food to this day. Except salt.Quote:
Originally Posted by kristac
I often use the excuse "I'm on a new diet. I keep gaining weight" when in reality I weight under 120lbs and struggle to keep weight on. My average daily calorie intake is around 1000. I know most people think I'm anorexic but I prefer that to the truth that I'm just wierd with food. I'm blessed to have a husband who has accepted it and gently encourages me to try new foods without being pushy. He knows about my food anxiety and is careful to do his best to keep me out of situations that are going to draw attention to it whenever possible. :heartbeat:
Wow. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective and your story with me. That really helps. I would love to hear anything else you want to share; you can send me a private message if you would like.
I know my son does have anxiety over food "What if I don't like it?!" he says with fear and panic in his voice. I have told him it's okay, I won't make him eat another bite, and he can spit it out in his napkin or the trash can. But that isn't enough for him. It still worries him so much he won't let a bite near his mouth.
And he is most definitely a super taster. He will only eat certain brands of food, and they have to be cooked exactly a certain way, or he will gag on them. I can't try a bait and switch with a different brand, no way.
I'm still cooking 2 separate meals here at home, and I am just so exhausted with it. But I don't think there's much I can do about it.
This is totally my DH. I've always joked that he eats like a 5 year old. He eats the exact same sandwich every day during the week; 4 slices of reduced fat genoa salami and one slice of kraft deli deluxe american cheese on white bread, with butter and mustard. Dinner consists of one of about 5 choices. Vegetables are never on his menu.
it drives me nuts and I pray that DS does not end up like him.