Picky eater child grown up into picky eating adult.

by anna
(ks)

Growing up, my mantra was "I aint gonna eat that stuff". And i never, very seldom did.

Mom would make me sit at the table, sometimes all night, still being there for breakfast where I would be served the refused vegetables for breakfast. she would scramble them into my eggs. I still wouldn't eat them and would go to school hungry.

At school, I would spend most of my days in a haze. Continuous Lack of nutrition to keep my brain awake & active slowly affected my education. Back then there was no liquid replacement nutrition unless it was given through a feeding tube or such. And I wasn't so picky that I wouldn't eat other foods, just not vegetable or foods with veggies in it. And at my parents house, you ate what was put in front of you or you didn't eat at all.

With 6 kids, mom couldn't to allow her children to eat what they wanted, when they wanted. And they ate a lot of Veggies. After all, Dad had 3 gardens. It would be nothing for mom to holler for one of us kids to go dig up some cucumber, carrot, tomato, potato, or to grab a few leaves of cabbage or lettuce, chard, peppers, you name it, Dad grew it in one of his gardens. It got to be a game to us to see if we could all somehow manage to be one around supper time, to get out of working in the garden before the meal, LOL.

I got to be pretty good at it. I'd rush home from school, do my homework and head over to a friends house until mom called me home for dinner. I would dally around to make sure she wasn't going to put me to work (or she would call again, LOL) and then I'd just go home 20 min later to a piping hot meal. It usually meant I ended up dishwashing because I didn't help with meal prep but such was the price I was willing to pay. I ate Beef. Nothin else. It could be seasoned but it better not be cooked with anything else.

My food couldn't touch other food on the plate. Only 2 foods on the plate at a time. I would eat potato with white pepper gravy, cooked plain green beans & corn on the cob. Hot dogs or Hamburgers, catsup only.

As I got older I added hotdog relish, as an adult I added mustard. I liked pickles but hated cucumbers. If i had known pickles came from cucumbers I never would have ate it, ;).. I ate any kind of sweet and mom was a master at baking. I've had a sweet tooth my whole life and have always battles either being too skinny or too fat.

Right now, I'm on the fat side. 249. Have pretty much hang on to that weight because of my adult picky eating. I now use a green leafy V & F powder that i mix with water. gives me all my antioxidants. Plus a couple other nutrients which I forget. It would be better for me if i mixed it with a nut or soy milk (I do use nut milks but only with certain things), I mix it with water and then gulp it down because i hate the texture.

It's grainy feeling and just plain doesn't feel good in my mouth. I could mix it in a F & V smoothie. I'm good at those. I lived off them for years (approx 10 yrs). But I'd have to find the blender (I forget the name), gather up 3-5 fruits & 3-5 veggies, various powders, seeds, grains, ect and then I'd have to make sure the F & V are frozen first so as not to add ice cubes which water down the smoothie.

So I would first have to cut up the fruit, veggies, freeze them on a cookie sheet, transfer to storage container or plastic baggie except I'm out of baggies so I hop in the car to get some. the plastic storage containers at home would have worked fine but not to an ADHD person.

So I get home and forgot what I needed the baggies for which is a good thing because I spent $50 and came home with no baggies. So then at the end of the day, I'm exhausted because of all the other crap that happened in between freezing fruit & going to the store. Usually 'all the other crap' went about as well as trying to make a smoothy.

I also eat Peanut butter. Jiff Low Sodium Peanut Butter to be exact. And Brothers killer 21gm seed & oat (or seed & grain?) bread. I've recently discovered 2 new high fiber bread & 1 high fiber flat bread at a local Aldi's store that I like. I didn't want to deal with the big grocery store. Just didn't want the hassle of all the ppl.

Aldi's was perfect. There was kind of a lot of ppl there but it was more quiet. Will probably shop there again. Maybe the kids these people are talking about that won't eat or will only eat certain foods, maybe they'll eat it if they can pick it out at the rocery store.

Take them to a candy store and let them pick anything they want (within $$ reason) and then take them to the grocery store. tell them they can have anything in the store to eat EXCEPT the liquids/foods they already eat. They can have X amt of candy if they try the food but decide they don't like it so don't eat it or they can have ALL the candy (amt pre-determined) if they eat at least half of the food item they picked out but decided they didn't like, but ate it anyways.

If they eat all the food they picked out (for that meal), award them with a little prize on top of what they already eat. If they've already tried it...sorry.

Many of the mothers have said "You can't force them to eat". They are absolutely correct. Keep offering them foods but don't be upset if they refuse. Don't make eating a part of getting to go somewhere or do something fun.

Mom always bribed me with ice cream. I was and am still crazy over ice cream. I would just as soon go without ice cream then eat some of the stuff she put in front of me. Bribing them don't usually work but sweets on the other hand...it usually, not always but usually, will work.

And swimming...is another favorite of mine as a child. I would not eat even if she said so-an-so was going swimming. If i ate, I could go with them. My mouth would clamp down harder.

Jr high my eating was better but still picky. I did start eating more fruits but still no veggies unless they were swimming in cheese sauce.

High school was nothing but cheese burgers. and fries. Those are still on my short list of foods I will eat as an adult. Speaking of Adulting. I quit cookin. It requires too many steps and I just can concentrate. Even medicated, my concentration & memory is very little. I fail at list making (which includes step makin, such as the steps needed for cooking, baking, ect).

I use to be a really good cook. An even better baker, just like my mother. As my mother got older (and so did i!), I noticed her cooking was really getting bad.It finally to the point where she had to stop cooking because of burnt meals, cakes & pies.

I started bringing her food to her. and later after she moved to TX, my SIL started bringing her meals to her. Mother, at the time of her passing, only ate a few foods and only if made by herself or my SIL. I've became the same way at about the same time my mother did. It's now known to be passed down in families and i wonder if my mom didn't have ADHD also. I was just DX with it about 6 months ago.

Dr suspects I've had it my whole life. I suspect she's right. She also DX me with mild dementia. I remind her that my grandmother died from complications of Alzheimer's. She was quick to say she didn't believe it was Alzheimer's but didn't know what other type it may be. She said probably from a combination of all my other DX that cause memory problems also.

I'm never hungry. It reminds me of the elderly I took care of for 30+ yrs. They always complained of never being hungry. Most days I forget if ate or not. Most days I know if I've not eaten because I'll wake up hungry.

Normally I don't get hungry until 2 in the afternoon. If i get hungry before then it means I didn't eat the day before.

Don't give up Parents but also, don't give your kids a hard time about it. They'll either eat or they won't. Love them anyway. They'll start eating eventually and if they don't, deal with it the best way you can. I've got 2 grandkids with eating issues and they are finally growing out of it at 17 & 11 y/o.

Deal with the fall out and keep loving them.