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?

Will he eat strawberries and raspberries, blueberries?

I’d focus more on vegetables than fruit, tbh. If he likes fruit, that’s okay, but it’s not an essential part of a healthy diet. Broccoli, carrots and baby corn are great. Give him some of those everyday, plus a smoothie and you’re doing well. For the rest, I wouldn’t worry. It’s not a wide range of food, but there’s a mix of protein, carbs, dairy, veg and so on. It could be a lot worse.

One thing DD likes is homemade coleslaw

It's literally full of veg, sweetish mayonnaise sauce

https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/240784/easy-coleslaw-dressing/

^
I use this recipe

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

That reminds me, you can make a vegan/dairy free avocado chocolate mousse. I've not made it myself but it's all over the internet.

Chuck a handful of baby spinach into a sweet fruit smoothie

Texture wise avocados sound like they might suit him generally so you could also try making home made guacamole (although it's more textured than shop bought).

Oh, on the sausage front. DS (who is very fussy about meat) likes sausages but as well as eating normal sausage also likes black pudding, haggis and chorizo because we've introduced them all as kinds of sausage. Going on holiday abroad has forced his hand somewhat as well, he now drinks cloudy apple juice because that was the only option in Denmark and likes greek meatballs aftergoing to Greece (but not burgers or any other kind of shaped mince product 🤷🏼‍♀️).

He is doing pretty well overall. He won’t eat blueberries, raspberries and strawberries as they have skin and seeds but he will drink a smoothie with those flavours.

He choose some salmon and rice sushi at the supermarket recently which he loved x

Avocado brownies

I have tried, you would not know that they contain avocado !

Where do you think sausages, breaded chicken, fish nuggets, gammon, baked beans etc come from?

If I was being contrary, I would add peanut butter to the list too 😉

ASD with ARFID here and that would be a long list for us and we'd be so happy. We have had nutritional bloods and all was fine so I would think that you don't actually need to worry but obviously always good to be working on increasing options and choice

How rude! No, I don't need to educate myself. I'm well aware of ARFID, but most fussy eaters are simply fussy eaters, a tiny, tiny minority will have ARFID, and I think the OP would have mentioned that extemely relevant fact if her DS did have ARFID.

My point stands, at 9 he's at the age he should be able to understand the importance of good nutrition, and should be accepting a healthy range of foods because he understands they are good for him, even if they are not his favourites.