I’m not usually one to start resolutions because I don’t deal well with failure. So, this year I am doing something a little different. My Dad has always told me, “If you don’t like you’re current situation, change it”. And here is my plan. Though I am not going through a tough time in my life (no tougher than the past year and a half), I still feel like there are many areas for improvement. For that, I have started a Do, Be, Have journal.
What is that?
A Do, Be, Have journal is something that was shown to me by a past fellow colleague during a ‘motivational’ presentation. It is a list of things that you would like to do, be and have. Pretty simple. The hardest part for me is to keep up with the journal and actually try to meet some of my goals.
One of my ‘Do’ goals is to feed Jack a more nutritious diet. Currently, we are feeding him anything that he will open his mouth for. This is crackers, anything with even a hint of cheese flavor, and convenience foods such as Chef Boyardi, Gerber microwave meals and Spaghetti O’s. Notice there was no mention of whole grains, fruits or vegetables? So, I am going shopping tonight after work. The items on my list are eggs, sliced cheese for grilled cheese sandwiches, apples (a cold apple slice would be perfect for a teething boy), tuna and whole grain waffles from the freezer section. I also need to add in some veggies which he has never been a fan of, so I will start hiding corn and peas. Meats have never been a problem so I will have to shift to more ‘healthful’ meats like lunch meat and chicken nuggets. This would be a great time to add in proteins from beans and legumes.
And here is where you can help us succeed. Do you have any suggestions for a picky eater with the eating development of a 6 month old?
We Know Jack 
what about mac & cheese with multigrain pasta, applesauce, what about mashed potatoes with a smashed veggie whipped in?? BTW Peas, YUCK>>>>>> When I get other ideas I will send them on to my boy..
Matt feels the same way about peas, but Jack will eat them if they’re hidden in Chef Boyardi. : )
Those are great suggestions. He does love mashed potatoes but I never thought about mashing other veggies and mixing them.
Thank you!
He might enjoy sweet potatoes too. You can microwave them with a dab of butter. Squash can also be hidden easily!
Good luck, momma! 🙂
Good idea, he did like sweet potato baby food so the real thing might work.
We mix oatmeal in with applesauce, he loves that. Also bananas. They can hold it and feed themselves. We cut cheese in to long chunks and he gums that too. We boil baby carrots or carrot sticks, broccoli, and cauliflower in chicken stock. It makes them soft enough to chew and adds some flavor 😉 As far as meat goes, we usually give him the bone (from ribs, or roasts, or turkey etc) and let him gum the little bits of meat off that. Which is not to say we don’t do junk food, baby mum mums (the rice crackers) are a HUGE hit in our house!
Oh, chicken stock. What a good idea. He loves chicken but doesn’t like veggies. That could be perfect!
You could certainly hide veggies in lots of things such as spaghetti sauce, lasagna, steamed brown rice, cheesy whole grain pasta dishes/casseroles. As far as meat goes, I personally think the best contenders, and most important thing is buying antibiotic and hormone free, organic if possible. If you want to go the chicken nugget route, I would highly suggest the earth’s best brand these are raised without all the yucky things Tyson brand and similar brands use. Also, be careful with lunch meats, they aren’t as safe as people tend to believe, there is no recommended safe amount of lunch meat consumption and they ate processed.
Speaking of teething and waffles, you may have heard but frozen whole grain waffles are excellent given frozen to teeth on! Also the all natural frozen fruit bars are a hit!
O! And don’t make the same mistake I did, be sure to remove the apple peel completely!
some healthy breakfast options, whole grain organic plain oatmeal with a touch of brown sugar, fresh apples and raisins have been big at our house, Yogurt and natures path toaster pastries straight out of the package, english muffins.
My biggest suggestion would be to stay out of the center aisles throughout the grocery store and buy organic as much as possible! Good luck on your adventures in food exploration! Jack is lucky to have such mindful and loving parents.
O and meatloaf is a miracle veggie hider!
Sorry, just thought of something else while peeling carrots this afternoon…using the veg peeler or cheese grater to shred veggies like carrots or zucchini for ex, helps hide them much better than chopping or even mincing 😉
Good suggestions. I will have to agree with you for the most part on organic but it’s not completely necessary for all foods. Being a food and nutrition scientist, I tell people that when buying organic, buy the foods inwhich you eat the packaging (apples, thin skinned vegetables, leafy greens, et c). There is little evidence that chemicals used on crops end up in cow’s milk. And as for processing, everything is processed. Even freezing an apple straight off a tree is processing. It’s the chemicals that are used in modifying foods ingredients that you should be more leary about. And even those are hard to avoid. I don’t want to invision a world without chocolate covered raisins!
Unfortunately for us, Jack’s favorite section in the grocery store IS the middle section, I’m trying hard to find the ‘better’ choices that he will agree to eat. But I think he will be a huge fan of meatloaf! Great idea.
Katiee, Hannah loved and would not sway to much else, Gerber spinach lasagna. It looks disgusting, solid dark green, but she loved the flavor. I used a small grinder and could do carrots and other fresh veges and she enjoyed them. Only introduce one at a time for a day or so, then go to next veges good luck sweetie!
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You had mentioned the Gerber lasagna before so I went in search for it but came up empty handed several times. I guess it’s just not being produced anymore. We did try Stouffer’s veggie lasagna which has a good amount of spinach and carrots in it and Jack seemed to like it. I think the massive amounts of gooy cheese won him over. But I agree with you, I have never seen the Gerber version, but this Stouffer’s version left more to be desired in the ‘looks appetizing’ department.
I am introducing things slow and one at a time. I don’t want to find a food allergy after giving him three different foods. Yeek!