Dillards 57: Run, D’Wreck, Run!

[emmeline]

I'm a picky eater, and trying to raise my kids not to be. Mr Toddler is pretty fussy at the moment but I think it's a fairly normal stage that lots of kids go through. We keep offering what we're eating and I don't make anything special for him (but do make sure there's something on the plate that he will eat). 

I'm glad to see Jill offering her boys a range of foods. Food is a good first step to learning about other cultures. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

I was raised in a bland-food house, and probably the most exotic thing I had eaten (at a restaurant) until I married and moved out was chicken divan crepes and French onion soup. First marriage I lived in Germany and ate some pretty amazing food there! Also, lived in Louisiana where alligator was frequently on my plate.

Second hubby has really expanded my eating horizons - he introduced me to Indian food (my all-time favorite), for example. He also cooks a lot of traditional English dishes (cock-a-leekie soup, shepherd's pie, and a bunch of medieval recipes, which are simple and lovely). 

I've been fortunate to travel a LOT in my adult life, so I'll try anything once - but I have to try it and despise it THREE TIMES before I will say I won't eat it.

My list of "won't eats" is very short:  liver, teriyaki anything, beets.

Edit:  Forgot this - I used to work with a guy (in his late 20s/early 30s) who had never had chicken on the bone. Never. I was stunned. Not even a KFC chicken leg as a kid. Always nuggets. 

[freethemall]

I'm a very adventurous food eater and everyone is always shocked that I have exactly one thing I never eat: lamb. Just the smell makes be nauseous.

However, I want my toddler to try different foods and don't want him to adopt my dislikes. So I hope when i have a chance to have him try lamb. My SIL on the other hand is quite picky herself and is now making her toddler picky - he hasn't ever had any fish or seafood because she doesn't eat that (and they live in Florida!), he basically just eats Mac n cheese. I find it kind of sad.

 

[FloraKitty35]

I am not usually a picky eater, but I am very picky about how I want things prepared.  I like my veggies to be thinly sliced and if the beets aren't pickled I am not eating them.  (I want to taste cloves and cinnamon not mud.)  My least favorite food is celery.

[WiseGirl]

Using the throwback machine, when my parents (in their mid 80's) met way back when and my father ate at my mom's house for the first time, he was blown away because of the flavor of the food. It was, wait for it, Italian food. That my Italian mother was the first to marry a non Itailian, the horrors! He went on to become quite the adventurous eater. Due to allergies and Celiac Disease,  I find many other foods from around the world (rather than "typical American" diet) to be much more naturally Celiac friendly, except soy sauce based dishes. *grumbles about cutting foods/filling foods with wheat.*

[SapphireSlytherin]

39 minutes ago, FloraKitty35 said:

(I want to taste cloves and cinnamon not mud.) 

Exactly. Beets just taste like dirt to me.

As for stunting kids' growth - I've seen it with two of my friends. One friend is my height (5'7") and the other is 5'4". The taller mom's daughter is 4'11" - she was a picky eater as a child (only ate chicken nuggets, green beans, and bread). The shorter mom's daughter is 4'9" - she only ate mac-n-cheese. It's so sad, but the two girls were amazing flyers on their cheer teams. So...

[AnnEggBlandHer?]

Can you really judge a person’s height to be from a mediocre diet as a child? I can see it affecting a person in cases of actual malnutrition, but I hesitate to call all unhealthy diets malnourishment. Even picky kids will usually eat applesauce, or tomato sauce on pizza or pasta? Sometimes a kid is going to be short or tall regardless. Even in cases of siblings...my only sister (1.5 years younger) is 4 inches shorter than me and we had the exact same diet growing up. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

There are numerous studies on the effect of nutrition (specifically prior to puberty) and height. Here's one article from a reputable source:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-of-human-height/

 

[acheronbeach]

57 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

There are numerous studies on the effect of nutrition (specifically prior to puberty) and height. Here's one article from a reputable source:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-much-of-human-height/

 

I don't think @AnnEggBlandHer? was disputing the link between poor diet and height.  They questioned (rightly, I think) whether a layperson could legitimately say a mediocre (and not malnourished) diet caused a kid to be short rather than genetics.  

[SapphireSlytherin]

2 minutes ago, acheronbeach said:

I don't think @AnnEggBlandHer? was disputing the link between poor diet and height.  She questioned (rightly, I think) whether a layperson could legitimately say a mediocre (and not malnourished) diet caused a kid to be short rather than genetics.  

Gotcha. No, that's not MY judgment call on the girls' heights. Both mothers have publicly spoken about the nutrition/height link that was diagnosed by medical professionals. They didn't just sit idly by while their daughters ate little or nothing - they were actively working with nutritionists, doctors, and therapists to help their children.

 

[Glasgowghirl]

My food phobic nephew would probably last two minutes in the Duggar house, he has started to gradually try the odd new food but the sight of TTC would send him running away, I'd be right behind him. It looks horrible and the don't even add any vegetables to it.

Jill letting Sam try Indian food is no big deal, as a young child every time my mum and aunt took me shopping in a neighbouring town as soon  as I got off the bus I'd say can we go for an Indian, I was 2 or 3 at the time. 

 

[VelociRapture]

We’ve been doing our best to introduce Velocitoddler to a variety of foods and flavors. She really loves black beans and the vegan chili, vegetarian quesadillas, and vegetarian burritos recipes I found online. We try not to make things too spicy - if she has diaper rash the spicy food makes it worse. She also loves pasta and most of the Italian food we make (which is good because she is part Italian.) She loves pizza, the Chinese takeout we get, bagels, steak, chicken, and anything made with potatoes (there’s my Irish side coming out!) I try to look up new recipes online every once in a while and husband helps me pick which ones we want to try.

ETA: Oh! She likes Fried Calamari too. Husband and his family have eaten that at restaurants for a long time, but I only started eating it once we started dating. Velocitoddler seemed to enjoy that.

@emmelineI feel your pain. My daughter is 17 months and will change her mind about what she will and won’t eat multiple times a day. A lot of times we start eating and she decides halfway through that she doesn’t want it anymore and wants something from the cupboard. If she ate a decent amount from her tray then I’ll usually give her Cheerios, Goldfish, or Teddy Grahams to be sure she’s eaten enough. She’s always been a fairly good eater and will usually try at least a little of something new, so I’m hoping she eventually grows out of this phase. 

(I’m also hoping she eventually learns to use a spoon and plate. She can use a fork if we stab the food for her, but she has trouble with holding the spoon flat and seems to enjoy dumping the plate all over the place. And that eventually she stops demanding I share food off my plate with her, even when she has the same exact food on her tray. ) 

[SapphireSlytherin]

11 minutes ago, VelociRapture said:

Velocitoddler

Not gonna lie - this made me tear up just a tiny bit. She's not Velocibaby anymore.

[VelociRapture]

5 minutes ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Not gonna lie - this made me tear up just a tiny bit. She's not Velocibaby anymore.

I know! I delayed switching the name for a while, but there’s no denying my sweet little baby has grown into a spunky, sassy, and hysterical toddler. I miss the baby days, but I am really enjoying life right now too - it’s ridiculously fun and cool to see her exploring and learning so much!  

(And it helps that my sister is having her second son this summer, so I’ll have a new little baby to snuggle soon!)

[AnnEggBlandHer?]

3 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

Gotcha. No, that's not MY judgment call on the girls' heights. Both mothers have publicly spoken about the nutrition/height link that was diagnosed by medical professionals. They didn't just sit idly by while their daughters ate little or nothing - they were actively working with nutritionists, doctors, and therapists to help their children.

 

Sorry, I definitely meant more generally, not to say you didn’t know what you were talking about in a specific case! @acheronbeach Your clarification is more what I meant

 

And @VelociRapture I am with you on all of those weird toddler eating habits! My almost two year old changes his mind by the minute about what he likes and doesn’t. This morning he stood at the pantry begging for a snack, chose what he wanted, and by the time I got it into the bowl for him he was turning his nose up at it. Drives me insane. But if I remember correctly, he got much better at using a fork near 19 months and stopped flipping his spoon upside down then too.

[PennySycamore]

@FloraKitty35 and @SapphireSlytherin,  I ate Harvad Beets at my friend Marie's home about 40 years ago and they were delicious, but every beet I've eaten since have tasted a bit too much like dirt!  I am glad that I'm not the only one that thinks that beets can taste like dirt.  Marie was a great cook.  She was retired from the FBI where she was a secretary and had traveled the world including living in Italy for 13 years.  Marie had never married and led a very rich life unlike the unmarried female fundies we discuss. (Sara Maxwell springs immediately to mind.)

I'm a vegetarian but that has nothing to do with pickiness.  I eat most things except I cannot abide mayo, raw oysters, Lima beans, milk, and liver. (Don't currently have to worry about oysters and liver.)  I can be a little picky about how things are prepared or served though.  Neither my oldest daughter not I like soft, melty ice cream; it needs to be firm, for example. I do put a little milk on my cereal, but very little -maybe a tablespoon.  I love spicy food, but I grew up in a home where my dad grew hot peppers in the garden and we had a cruet of pickled peppers on the table.  My husband, on the other hand, grew up in a home with bland foods.  When we got married, he liked green beans, corn, green peas and he may have learned to like broccoli by that time.  He'll eat asparagus now.  He does not like the smell of curry while it makes me hungry!  He doesn't like any kind of tree nuts even to the point of not liking Honey Nut Cheerios because of the minuscule amount of nuts in them.  He does love peanuts though.  I think it's an impoverishment to not like nuts.

@AnnEggBlandHer?, my cousin was the world's pickiest eater growing up.  He played college hockey for the University of Cincinnati and is now a sportscaster.  

 

[feministxtian]

My daughter all but stopped eating when she was around 2. I swear she didn't eat enough to keep a mouse alive. Drove me nuts! Then, by the time she was 3 or so she snapped out of it and ate normally. So...when I had my first son, I was thinking the cycle would repeat itself...WRONG! Bubba ate everything in sight from birth to now (30 years later). #2 son was weird about food. He had a bunch of food allergies/intolerances. He's outgrown pretty much all of them but there's a few things he won't touch. And, speaking of growth...his size was always about 2 years behind his actual age. He had bone-growth x-rays done every year. He went through puberty very late, like 15-16 or so. He still looks like he's maybe 16-17 now and he's 27. (holy shit, when did my kids get so damn old)

Daughter is 5'3" or so, not out of the realm of possible heights in the family. #1 son is 6'1" (an outlier) and #2 son is 5'7". 

[finnlassie]

6 hours ago, WiseGirl said:

 *grumbles about cutting foods/filling foods with wheat.*

Gotta say, being soy allergic, I'm quite annoyed that soy gets shoved freaking EVERYWHERE nowadays. Especially as lecitin. Can't have Oreos anymore. Can't have majority of chocolates. There's ONE Finnish brand of chocolate/confectionaries that I can eat (being in Finland, lol), and I used to not really like it... and now it's my only option so I devour it like nothing else.

[singsingsing]

12 minutes ago, finnlassie said:

Gotta say, being soy allergic, I'm quite annoyed that soy gets shoved freaking EVERYWHERE nowadays. Especially as lecitin. Can't have Oreos anymore. Can't have majority of chocolates. There's ONE Finnish brand of chocolate/confectionaries that I can eat (being in Finland, lol), and I used to not really like it... and now it's my only option so I devour it like nothing else.

That's the worst. I've noticed this even though I'm not allergic to soy because I do have a nut allergy and I've taken to reading labels like a hawk. It's absolutely insane how soy seems to be in everything! It seems like most packaged foods would be out. There are some nice brands that make products free of the top allergens, including soy, but there still isn't a ton of variety and they tend to be pricey/hard to find - I'm guessing they're even pricier/harder to find in Finland.

[finnlassie]

2 minutes ago, singsingsing said:

That's the worst. I've noticed this even though I'm not allergic to soy because I do have a nut allergy and I've taken to reading labels like a hawk. It's absolutely insane how soy seems to be in everything! It seems like most packaged foods would be out. There are some nice brands that make products free of the top allergens, including soy, but there still isn't a ton of variety and they tend to be pricey/hard to find - I'm guessing they're even pricier/harder to find in Finland.

Honestly, I can't buy ANY nuggets apart from Tesco's free from range that are pish expensive (a Finnish shop chain sells some tesco stuff), no ready made meatballs, confectionaries are a no go. From biscuits, digestives for the most part don't include soy in them. But, I counted at one shop, and I can only have 10-15 different sorts of biscuits from there - and half of those are stuff that I really can't bear. At least I'm glad that as of like last year, majority of brands here have bolded out soy in the ingredients list. I've just started to make my own marinades, have had to remove woks and such from my diet... sigh. My old easy go to foods, no longer available.

Mum went to Ireland and brought me a Chocolate Orange (I devoured them back in Scotland, didn't find out I was intolernat/allergic til I returned to Finland)... was about to take a piece, but I checked the ingredients... lo and behold, soy!

[nastyhobbitses]

I'm a pretty non-picky eater (I have preferences and a few hard dislikes, but pretty much no matter where I go, I can find something I'll tolerate, like, or want to devour 80 plates of), but I am frustrated by my Oral Allergy Syndrome, which gives me annoying but not life-threatening reactions to most raw tree fruits, and occasionally nuts or berries if my seasonal allergies are really acting up (for those unaware, OAS is basically a by-product of pollen allergies, where your mouth, throat, and ears react to the pollen in raw fruits from trees or plants you're allergic to).

I really like fruit and in general I'm really into eating healthy, but because of my allergy, I have to be careful about fruit salads and stuff like fruity cocktails, or just trying fruits I've never tried before. Had a very awkward moment in China where my boss's wife offered me pomegranates she had grown herself, and of course, I wanted to eat some to be polite and because I like the taste of pomegranate when it's in sauces and juices, I'd just never eaten the raw fruit/seeds before. Cue fish lips and my ears and throat itching like hell. Thankfully I don't get anything worse than that (again, annoying, not life-threatening), but nothing cements a professional relationship like "your wife just triggered an allergic reaction by being nice and welcoming to me". 

[SilverBeach]

9 hours ago, freethemall said:

'm a very adventurous food eater and everyone is always shocked that I have exactly one thing I never eat: lamb. Just the smell makes be nauseous.

Can't stand lamb,  but I like gyros. No to Indian food (can't stand curry), except "pink" chicken (tandoori). Don't do hot sauce or anything hotter than a jalapeno. Mr. SB puts hot sauce on everything but sweets.

[HarleyQuinn]

The running joke in my family is that coffee "stunted" my growth because i started drinking it at age 3. I'm "only" 5'6 in a family of everyone about 6' and over. Lol

[acheronbeach]

50 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

The running joke in my family is that coffee "stunted" my growth because i started drinking it at age 3. I'm "only" 5'6 in a family of everyone about 6' and over. Lol

Honestly curious, HQ, how did you get started on coffee as a toddler?  

[PennySycamore]

@HarleyQuinn, I started coffee as a toddler or possibly even as a baby.  I can't recall a time when I did not drink coffee.  I don't like milk (may even be a little allergic to it) so my speculation is that my parents may have let me drink coffee to get some milk into me.  I've heard the stunting growth thing all my life.  I think I just got my short stature from my grandmothers.  I'm 4'11.5, btw -the same height as Judy Garland.