Fruit and veg for 9 year old

[bigfluffyclouds]

He is tall, slim and active but can look pale and does get most colds going. He has issues with texture (bits) so no solid fruit or veg with skin on or salad. He will eat:

Broccoli
Carrots
Baby sweetcorn
Smoothies (no bits in)
Fruit yoyo
Raisins
Mango sorbet (won't eat mango)

Most meats are 'too chewy' or roasted meat is 'too dark'. Even in the slow cooker. He only likes sausages in the slow cooker, breaded chicken and fish (nuggets) or gammon and spag bol but does pick the mince out.

He drinks a lot of milk and loves cereal. His fav carb is pasta and he isn't a fan of potatoes (only boiled baby ones and chips). He always leaves most of his mash.

I try to give him a smoothie after school as he's hungry. He will eat grated cheese and carrot. Peanut butter sandwiches and a smoothie most days after school. He likes scrambled egg on toast and loves baked beans.

He has a multi-vitamin and a probiotic. Am I worrying too much?

Homemade soup? A stick blender makes it really easy to make it smooth and you can include a huge range of fruit, veg and pulses.

He only eats a few mouthfuls of soup but yes worth trying more recipes. He is a slow eater.

I feel like his lack of fruit isn't made up by a wide variety of other veg but I suppose at least he eats a few types of veg!

Can you get some veg into the smoothie?

Also ginger, turmeric, garlic - all anti-inflammatory, how can you get those into the foods he does eat?

And keep offering a range of foods so there's always something he will eat and something he can try at mealtimes.

I would be a bit worried that it's a lot of processed food and not sure if there's enough calories in there. I would grate cheese onto everything and turn that smoothie into more of a milkshake.

Do you think he would be more keen to try other stuff if he helped you to cook it? Could start with a homemade version of the breaded chicken.

Can you get fruit and veg smoothies or make your own? That’s what I do for my picky son. I know picky kids until their teens / adults

Yes I'm worried about getting enough calories into him as he's active.

I try and make homemade smoothies but if he won't drink it if there's any pith or seeds in it. I've tried them with tinned fruit. He loves the Green Machine ones from the shops.

He loves a milkshake. What can I put into one to include milk and fruit?

I used to puree a lot of veg into spaghetti bol sauce: onions, red and yellow peppers, courgettes, small amounts of spinach, celery and mushroom. With plenty of tomato passata to keep it looking red.

Try petit pois if he'll eat corn. Like peas but smaller so easier to swallow.

How about a banana and blueberry or raspberry milkshake with a scoop of vanilla protein powder in it and whole milk? Blend the ingredients until smooth. Then, if you have to, put it through a sieve to remove any traces of blueberry skin or raspberry seeds.

I even used to peel strawberries so DS would eat them as he hated the texture of the seeds. They outgrow it eventually if you keep offering variety.

Is he diagnosed with Arfid or just extremely fussy?

You can also sneak fruit and veg into cake. Beetroot and chocolate brownies. Or courgette chocolate cake. The trick is to not put much veg in at first, and increase it gradually once he knows and likes the recipe.

Banana bread made with almond flour and dark choc chips, with fresh OJ drizzle icing on top. Carrot cake.

Blend veg in to all sauces. Peppers, carrots, toms, spinach, lentils etc etc. Hide it all as best you can.

If he drinks milkshakes put a scoop of protein powder in them.

Try him on HUEL

Most importantly, don't stress too much. My brother ate five foods as a small child, my Mum despaired of him. He ended up the tallest in the family and in his 40s is a really good cook.

So there are two ways to go. Firstly, hide fruit and veg in things. So, as well as the smoothies and soup you can blend or grate things into a tomato sauce for pasta so he's eating more veg than he thinks. Or make things like meatballs or fritters with different grated veg. Or you could bake with sweet root veg, you can find recipes for cakes and muffins made with beetroot, carrot, sweet potato. Or old fashioned banana bread might go down well. All filling and a healthier option than the processed food he eats. Loads of sugar and fat but if you're concerned about weight it's a way to get calories in.

The second option is to get him involved in the cooking. Have a long term project where you choose a vegetable he's not keen on cooked in three different ways so he can pick which way is his favourite. Work your way through the alphabet or something. Since texture is an issue then e.g. roasted peppers with the skin removed might go down well (or you could liquidise and make into an alternative pasta sauce which might be even better.).

If he likes chips will he eat potato wedges? What about sweet potato wedges or chips?

Great ideas. Thank you.

He’s hated most fruit and ‘skin on’ veg since weaning.

No banana (he can smell it in drinks).

I need to use a sieve more. He likes to bake biscuits and will occasionally chop vegetables with me.

No ARFID.

Banana bread

Raisins in cakes

Blueberries in granola etc

I make homemade veg soup and then mix it with pasta sauce

Could you juice fruit rather than blend? Not the ideal but better than nothing

Kids are fussy though but they usually grow out of it. I was super fussy and friend only ate about 3 things until she was a teenager but you wouldn't guess it from either of us now.

That's a really restricted diet.

At 9, he's reaching the age where he should be mature enough to realise that he needs to eat a full range of fruit and veg for health. Not every meal can be made up of only his small selection of favourite foods.

How about a discussion on 5 a day and trying to get him to work with you towards hitting that every day? I know its not perfect, but it's a good, easy to understand starting point.

I think that as they get older it gets harder for fussy eaters because they start getting embarrassed and upset about it because they know most people eat more variety than them but they really struggle with it (my 12yo doesn't like eating out because he finds it hard to find things he likes on the menu and he's now less fussy than @bigfluffyclouds 9 year old). As parents we should remember that while we are now encouraged to eat a big variety of foods the reality is that for most of human history most people were eating a very small variety of locally available foods. Even just 50 years ago in foods like blueberries, sweet potato, red peppers, spinach, courgette, and mango (all mentioned on this thread) would have been difficult to buy in the UK in February. Keep plugging away encouraging him to try things in a no-stress way and eventually,if the rest of the family eat a good diet, he'll get more adventurous slowly as he gets older.

Have you tried freeze dried fruit? Ie strawberries. The texture is very different

We have talked about the 5 a day. Have done a slow cooker spag bol tonight with lots of veg in (some blended and some chunky like the carrot). He'll have pasta and baked beans with that as he loves those.

He's just enjoyed a Lidl smoothie with avocado and spinach in it.

I try not to comment on his eating when we are having a meal and be as relaxed as poss. As you say, I'll keep plugging away encouraging him to try things in a no-stress way and eventually he might get more adventurous slowly as he gets older.

How on earth is any of that processed besides cereal!?!? You're just being contrary for the sake of it!

OP, you're worrying over nothing his diet is far better than many children with sensory issues. My child has ARFID & ASD and believe me, I'd be over the moon with what you listed! Even her NHS dietician has all but given up trying to get her to try new foods and believe me we've been working with her (the dietician) for 8 years now.

You need to educate yourself! Have you never heard of ARFID???? Millions of children have sensory issues surrounding food. 🙄

I saw a video recently

Fruit puree cooked flat on a tray (guess you can peel & remove seeds before puree)

Cooled

Cut into long strips

Rolled up & eaten like a sweet

Look up some recipes

---

How about freeze dried fruit ?

Frozen fruit ?

Icecream or sorbet

Make coloured pasta with veg juice ?

From my world that is a pretty long list, and you should be able to get plenty of calories into him as long you're prepared to keep serving up things he eats. I wouldn't worry too much, I think you risk building him a self-image that he is a picky eater which will make it harder for him to branch out.

A friend of mine once brought her child over to eat with mine because mine was "such a good eater" and hers was "fussy". I watched her child eat peppers, cucumber, all sorts of things my child would never touch.

How about doing the spag bol with grated tofu, Quorn, tinned lentils or just more veg instead of the meat? All a bit softer then mince and may be more tolerated.

My dc are also fussy, so I feel your pain.

Could you try homemade smoothie with non bitty fruit? Eg mango, banana, kiwi, blueberries etc. I add silken tofu which gives it a smoother texture, with a bit of whole milk to thin it down to thickness he likes.