Picky Eating!

Help~~~ My child is a picky eater!!! 

Mamas, this is not "normal". We have accepted it as such, but it's not how it is SUPPOSED to be for our children, or ourselves. Modern food conveniences have pushed us towards non food choices which, in my opinion, have basically altered our taste buds and not for the better. This is just my personal observation from having switched from frozen, canned and processed foods to whole, natural and organic foods; I can not eat the stuff I used to eat, my taste buds can detect the chemicals and it does not taste like the food I have come to love and crave. 

Ok, so back to our kids! I say this next part with a LOT of love, compassion and understanding because I was once where you are: I had kids who wouldn't eat many veggies and lived on a steady diet of chicken nuggets, macaroni & cheese, ketchup and cereal. I get where you are right now. 
I think we, as a society, have put some of this picky eating on ourselves, or rather on our children having strayed very far away from the way our grandmothers used to feed us and their mothers before them and so on. We have bought into the lie that convenience is better, or that it is needed when we really need to just slow down and give some thought to what really matters in life, which is our health, well being and family. It's been such a gradual change that we have hardly noticed, but we now have kids who are, by percentage, more overweight, diabetic and chronically ill at a rate that we can hardly keep up with, let alone manage. Our kids our sick. 
We have the power to change it. It's right in our grocery stores! Easy access and easy to prepare. Food does not have to fancy or look like a picture from a magazine to taste good. It really just needs to good FOR us and for our kids too. Oh, one more thing to consider, and I am SO guilty of this myself, but too much snacking of carb heavy foods is contributing to that dinner time struggle to get our precious offspring to eat a nutritious meal. I've learned to cut back and offer small snacks of fruit or veggies but NOT after 3:00 p.m. I want my little darlings HUNGRY by 6/6:30. 

There are some deficiencies which can contribute to picky eating and even some sensory issues with eating.   Come back next week for Part 2 to learn more!