Variety in children's diet

[Angela123]

How much do you all "worry" about variety in children's diet? My children would eat pasta, rice, potatoes, beans, oatmeal, and fruit, fruit, fruit most of the time. They are starting to "fuss" about all vegetables. I want to make sure they get "all" the nutrients they need. Even pasta sauce is "too chunky". Am I too concerned? I like the starch based diet, but will they get enough of the vitamins and nutrients they need? I am not a fan of multivitamins at all, yet I do not want them to run short on what is needed to grow healthily.
Thanks, Angela

[Lyndzie]

I don’t worry about it. With the warmer months, I set out cut veggies (carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, sugar snap peas) and hummus, either while I make lunch or at snack time, and they’ll usually dive in just out of hunger. The fact that you even consider it shows that you are probably doing great.

For dinner tonight we’re having whole wheat pasta, cannellini beans, and kale with sauce. The kids will probably pick around the kale, but at least it’s an option. We do a lot of pasta - it’s easy and covers most of the bases.

We have cousins who eat only white bread, milk, cheese, fries, bananas and peanut butter. Even with zero vegetables, they continue to grow. Just think of all the nuggets and Happy Meals out parents fed us! And here we are today.

I dropped the kids off at a friend’s house last week, and the mom fed them: brownie Clif bars, cookie dough, and white flour tortillas with cream cheese, cinnamon and sugar. It blew my mind, not a bit of “real food” in sight!

[Angela123]

Thanks Lyndzie. I pretty much haven't worried about it, yet lately it just seemed to me that maybe we were not getting enough. Maybe I just read to many news articles. We have been raising them this way forever, and most recently the older ones have had "opinions" about different foods and I think it has trickled down to the younger ones. It is amazing how humankind keeps on going with the way most people eat. I really want to do as best as I can for mine. It is a big responsibility for a mama. what sauce do you use? I have not found, but one oil free and it is interesting at best.

[Lyndzie]

We get the No Salt Added sauce from Trader Joe’s. It does have olive oil in the ingredients list, but pretty far down (the nutrition label says 0g fat per 1/2 cup). TJ’s also has a fat free sauce, but the salt was higher than I was comfortable with. Whole Foods has a fat free sauce as well, but, again, the salt was high. We’ve tried Hunt’s NSA sauce, but it definitely needs doctoring.

A couple other meals my kids like: steamed broccoli on rice with soy sauce and sautéed tofu, and “Three Sisters,” which is black beans, corn and sweet potatoes. My kids are 4 and 5. I made a journal about what I cook, and haven’t had a chance to update it in a while, but hope to get back to it soon. Here it is if you’d like to take a look: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=57495

[Angela123]

Thanks again Lyndzie. I'll check out the link and sauces. My children definitely do not like WF sauce. It seems about impossible to get an oil free sauce. Maybe DrMcDougall will make one sometime.

[Grammy Ginger]

Dr. M told us to eat mostly starches with a few vegetables and fruit.

If your red sauce is too chunky for them, puree it. Many things can be hidden in red sauce. Puree onion, garlic, celery, and bell pepper before dry sauteing them. Add tomato sauce and nobody will even know they are in there but you. Mince up kale really tiny, cook it in your red sauce, and call it parsley. You can throw in slit red lentils, too. If pasta is their favorite, cook it for them a lot. Or put this sauce on potatoes or rice.

I hate bottled pasta sauce, as it always tastes too sweet or salty or oily or just yucky. You can make your own in the time it takes to boil a pot of noodles.

[viv]

Make sure your children are getting enough B12. If they have no animal foods they will need to supplement.

[Angela123]

Thanks Grammy Ginger and viv. We do B-12 supp. I think I'll try to make a sauce. They have become so picky about sauce though.

[Dougalling]

https://www.drmcdougall.com/misc/2012nl ... ildren.htm

[Plumerias]

Walnut Acres makes a no salt added no oil added marinara, if you have access to that brand. I have been getting it at Whole Foods in the Orlando area.

Do you have a farmers market? It's wonderful to watch families shop, to see the children actively participate in the food selections. It also teaches grocery shopping skills from a young age, as well as the seasonal nature of foods.

[Vegan-Vegan]

We buy TJ's no oil sauce and add a can of plain salt free tomato sauce to it in order to cut the salt in half. This works well for us when we don't have the time to make Mary's sauce.

[bunsofaluminum]

We get the No Salt Added sauce from Trader Joe’s. It does have olive oil in the ingredients list, but pretty far down (the nutrition label says 0g fat per 1/2 cup). TJ’s also has a fat free sauce, but the salt was higher than I was comfortable with. Whole Foods has a fat free sauce as well, but, again, the salt was high. We’ve tried Hunt’s NSA sauce, but it definitely needs doctoring.

A couple other meals my kids like: steamed broccoli on rice with soy sauce and sautéed tofu, and “Three Sisters,” which is black beans, corn and sweet potatoes. My kids are 4 and 5. I made a journal about what I cook, and haven’t had a chance to update it in a while, but hope to get back to it soon. Here it is if you’d like to take a look: viewtopic.php?f=21&t=57495

Prego makes a "lower calorie" pasta sauce that contains zero added oil. I was SO HAPPY when my local grocer started carrying it, because Walmart (which was the only place in town that had it) stopped stocking it. It's cheap, it's handy, it does what I need it to do. That is, coat my noodles and super easy to chunk up onion, zucchini, and mushrooms to add for my veggies. edit: i haven't ever noticed the sodium content. I shall do that right away.

[SilverDollar123]

When the kids were growing up & were fussy about veggies. They would eat my pasta dishes with tomato sauce.
They said it was the best...well little did they know that I was adding baby food carrots to the sauce for years!
RAS