My Kids Won't Eat Anything !

Once upon a time I had an infant that slept 14 hours a day. So I had time to watch Oprah. This was during the Oprah loves Dr. Oz phase. He was talking about something in the brain that remembers flavors and recalls them causing cravings. In my head it works like this.

1. Your having a totally fun memorable day and you need a little bit of salt and you were at the fair and ended up with a super yummy thing of curly fries.

2. Whatever part of your body uses salt says "Hey, I need salt down here" to that thing in your brain.

3. The thing in your brain says "YOU NEED CURLY FRIES"

Really what you need is like a sprinkle of salt but the thing in your head doesn't really get portion control.

Okay so know you know what I think I know. I could have heard it wrong I am in no way a dietician but using that information helped me get my daughter to eat different foods. I wanted that thing in her brain to recognize and have good thoughts regarding all kinds of different healthy foods. So I started with something it already recognized, banana bread. Well, she already likes bananas but zucchini would be nice to see her eat, so I made  zucchini bread with just a little zucchini puree. Then I made it again with the typical shredded zucchini. Then I made it again with extra shredded zucchini. Then I made it again with chunks of zucchini. Then I served a piece of bread besides some grilled zucchini and she ate it, ALL.

I started doing this with all kinds of different foods. I used macaroni and cheese and added broccoli. I snuck carrots in cupcakes. Beans went into Quesadillas. Now 80% of the time we sit down to eat she just eats what is on her plate, if she is hungry. When we go to his parents house for dinner there is nothing special that needs to be made or brought. I'll let you know when I figure out how to say no to snacks before dinner.