This post will look at the problem of picky eating in children and what the short and long term consequences can be for having poor eating habits. In today's society when obesity makes the headlines almost every day, this subject should be making the headlines every day as well. However, there seems to be a big disconnect between the obesity epidemic and picky eating habits. I truly believe that our society suffers from extreme denial about how their eating habits affect their overall health and well-being.
Americans and Their Food
We as Americans do not like to breach the subject of picky eating because we hold our tastes in food to be a very personal thing. We like what we like, and we do not want to have to eat what we do not like no matter how much our body may need the nutrients in that particular food. We would rather take a pill or use any other means possible to get those nutrients without having to eat a food we dislike. On top of that, we will deny to our dying breath that we have bad eating habits, and will get absolutely hostile with anyone that tries to tell us otherwise. This applies to as many adults as it does children. However, the level of the picky eating does seem to be growing exponentially with every passing generation.
Picky Eating over the Generations
When I was a child, we did not necessarily like to eat our vegetables, but it was more required than it is now. When my generation grew up and became parents, we tended to not require the vegetables as much as our parents did. We let our children grow up to be pickier than we were allowed to be. Now our children have grown up, and their children do not even know what a vegetable looks like. In the 9 years that I have been a provider, I have noticed a considerable uptick in picky eating that has gotten to the epidemic stage in the last couple of years. Not only will they not eat vegetables, many of them will not eat fruit, meat that is not breaded and/or fried, bread that is not white, and milk that is not flavored. I have even seen a good proportion of children that will not touch macaroni and cheese when they first arrive on my doorstep. People, this is getting out of hand.
Our Family Pact
Unlike my peers, I was more adamant about my children eating their vegetables than even my parents. When I first married my husband, he was the pickiest eater I had ever met. I had a great deal of nutrition training in high school thanks to a very good home economics teacher, and I knew the consequences of bad eating habits. Therefore, when we had children we made a pact to eat some of everything on the table whether we liked it or not because my husband understood what his eating habits had already done to his health. He also understood that he would have to model better eating habits or his children would end up with the same issues he already had in his 20s. It was tough for him to learn to eat better as an adult. I did not make it very easy for him either. I fixed 3 different vegetables with every meal. He learned to eat even spinach and beets without too much of a fuss as long as I only fixed those occasionally. When we married, his idea of a vegetable was mashed potatoes. He would not even eat yellow corn only white. Basically, he only ate foods that were brown and white. Does that sound familiar?
Today's Picky Eaters
Of course, now I have been exposed to children that make my husband look like the healthiest eater in the world. They will not eat mashed potatoes. They fuss if the chicken nuggets are baked instead of fried. If you hand them white milk, they just might throw it at you. The hostility over the food has also increased exponentially. Many parents have completely given up (or never even tried) on getting their children to eat much beyond chicken nuggets and french fries. I had one kid that would only eat pop tarts and drink apple juice. Many parents complicate this by fixing a separate meal for their children. Every member of the family gets to choose from a variety of frozen meals for supper. Meals are not planned. Many children in today's society are not even exposed to vegetables and sometimes fruits before they arrive on the doorstep of childcares and schools.
What's the Big Deal?
The title of this post is "What is the Big Deal?" Many people ask that very question when the subject of picky eating comes up. There was a show several years back that answered that question in a very graphic way at times. It was called "Honey We Are Killing Our Kids." In this show the producers would take a computer simulation and factor in a child's present eating habits to show the parents what the long-term effects of the vitamin and mineral deficiencies would do to their children. It also factored in the amount of exercise, but the descriptions of the long-term effects of bad eating habits stunned most parents. Of course, this show was cancelled because American people do not want to hear about the effects of their children's eating habits. However, I wish this was required for all preschool parents. People, it is a big deal. When your children go years without eating anything resembling a vegetable or a fruit, it has consequences. It affects the tone, color, and clearness of their skin. It affects the luster of their hair. One of the most shocking parts of the simulation for parents was the hair loss that ensued because of vitamin deficiencies even for girls. Of course, it affects their weight. Any nutritionist worth anything will tell you that a weight loss plan that does not include a lot of vegetables will not result in long-term weight loss. Period. The past generations had a reason for making their children eat their vegetables. They understood that a person cannot be truly healthy without them. We as a society will have to very soon come to terms with this reality or be crushed by medical expenses and other bad consequences.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
Check out Natalie's children's books at: https://www.amazon.com/author/nataliewade7457
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