"As long as my kid has a balanced diet, why should I care if it is varied?"

[NotQuiteCockney]

That's what my BIL in law said to me the other day. I honestly didn't know what to say! I thought a varied interesting diet (and an open mind about food) was obviously a good thing.

Am I on my own here?

Because different foods contain different nutrients and you need to eat a range of foods to get all the nutrients you need. The Food Standards Agency agrees with you, NQC, about the need for variety. Your BIL doesn't know what he's talking about and hasn't bothered to find out.

it only becomes balanced through variation surely?

But if your child will only eat X items and those X items happen to be fairly balanced then I agree. Mainly because that's what my DSs are like! I try to sneak other things in from time to time with a varied hit rate.

I would have thought that balanced was good, balanced AND varied would be fabulous - but we can't all achive that as some of our kids don't do "varied" !

Not balanced is what would bother me !

I am in favour of as varied a diet as possible. However I do see your BIL's pov to an extent. But if your child eats only one vegetable (say carrots) and only one fruit (say pears) what happens if they go off them? Also if the child only eats carrots and pears does that really classify as a balanced diet? Might be OK over the course of a day but not a week or month, where nutrients from other veg eg leafy greens and other fruit eg berries would be missed.

but if it isn't varied it can't be balanced over the long term surely

yeeees ideally it should be varied because that will bring the best balance but if it is a struggle to get a child to eat a varied diet (which it so often is) then I would say it's better to concentrate on that in the short term rather than turn the eating thing into a battle.
for example - if your child will only eat carrots and brocolli (say) then why not just keep serving that - knowing he will eat it - rather than making a big song and dance and forcing (or attempting to force) the child to eat cabbage and peppers.
that's how I would interpret that remark

It can be of limited variety and still balanced.

I agree with Soupy - my ds's have certain things they'll eat but they aren't very adventurous with new things. They do try new things but there are only certain vegetables they'll eat for example. Regardless, their diet covers all the food groups and their diet is nutritionally balanced.

I think my babbling was agreeing with twiglett.

gdg that sounds like a sufficiently varied and therefore balanced diet

it only has to be varied enough

Agree HC - the only veg mine will eat with a meal are carrots, peas, sweetcorn. Anything else I'd have to hide in food (so I can sneak brocolli, spinach, onions, celery into a pasta sauce by whizzing it all down). They eat a good range of fruit on top of that limited veg list though.

I can understand this point of view when your kid is little, I guess. I certainly don't worry about DS2 (17 months) having a reasonably restricted diet. But by the time a kid is four or so, you can reason and bargain with them, and (in my view) expect or hope them to have reasonably a balanced diet.

Does he just mean that they tend to eat the same meals? Mine deffo have a limited set of main meals that they eat and therefore I tend to describe their diet as quite narrow. OTOH, those meals do include red meat, chicken, fish, potatoes, pasta, cheese, vegetables and usually followed by fruit and yoghurt. I get fed up of making the same things but they don't generally have the same thing 2 nights in a week.

Maybe it's down to interpretation - maybe I think my kids' meal choices are narrow but compared to others they are not iyswim.

I'm waffling, I know - I should be working and it's boring.

I think that for toddlers, if you are getting the main food groups into them then you can consider yourself to be doing an Excellent Job. Anything else is a counsel of perfection: something to strive for.
some people like variety in what they eat. some don't. not many toddlers do, that's for sure.

I guess what I mean by varied, really, is, can you take your child to a restaurant (any restaurant, really) and expect them to eat something? Will they eat whatever is served (within reason) at a friend's house?

I think yours sounds pretty broad gdg ! so probably is interpretation

ds is 18 next moth and he does eat a restricted diet which I've no doubt is why he has recently developed stomach problems..he has never eaten any vegetables except potatoes which is not really the same thing, the occasional bit of cucumber or lettuce or grapes and otherwise generally white food

Oh god, with toddlers, if they're eating something that vaguely appears to be food, if they're not living on juice and turkey twizzlers or something, you're doing great.

Hmmm everytime I cooked in January and February I cooked a different meal. Mostly I cooked double quantities though so we had everything twice. I didn't do that for the kid's diets though, more as a challenge to myself because I get bored cooking the same things/being stuck in a rut. They ate most of it. And I didn't cook fish once because DH doesn't like it and I'm not that keen. I have decided it would be better for them to eat it so I did tuna with chilli and lime when DH was away last week and then they ate at a friends and she gave them salmon. So they have had a more balanced diet so far this month.

with older children you just have to keep encouraging them I suppose. cooking with them , involving them in choosing what to eat, growing it etc. and modelling good behaviour.
my sister has three children, all brought up pretty much the same in my observation. the older and younger one have a pretty restricted diet while the middle one will try ANYTHING. EVEN when a toddler she would try EVERYTHING in a chinese or indian buffet for example. I think some people's palates are just different and more receptive to unusual tastes

Yes nqc I think I could take them into any restaurant and find something they would eat. Could not take DH into a seafood restaurant though.

NQC - to answer your question - my dd is 5 and a good eater - but no I couldn't just take her to any old restuarant and expect her to eat. She would not eat Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai or Japanese food (we have tried all !) - but English food, or pubs are no problem as they always have bread and chips on the menu plus the usual sausages, nuggets etc.

She eats most normal (non exotic) fruit and veg and in my opinion eats a balanced and varied diet - but relative to her age !

As regards going to freinds houses - she eats roasts and all children's type food - and anyone we visit always asks about her eating habits anyway - so it is never a problem.

NQC - atm, I don't think I could take mine into any restaurant and find them something they'd eat. THey are all under 5. If I went into a restaurant I'd be looking for a pasta dish as that's teh most likely thing I think they'd eat.

WRT going to a friends house - one friend did bolognese and he didn't eat that - ate a little bit I think (I've told him it's polite to try whatever is served) but he wouldn't eat it at home either. I always blend it down to a smooth sauce for him. He's majorly fussy! Having said that, when I was a child I wouldn't eat anything made with mince meat, cheese or onions but since my teens have eaten all of them and they are part of my regular diet.

Ds eats a ridiculously narrow diet, but I HOPE it is balanced. I can not get him to eat a more varied diet, and because of his nature, the best hope for introducing new foods is NO PRESSURE on him. But as long as he has some protein and some fruit/veg in a day (no problems with carbs etc) then I don't stress too much.