Kids are Natural Eaters? A question for parents

[Guest guest]

I really want to believe that children are natural eaters. I really

really do. When I see my neighbor's kid eating lollipops for snack

one day and carrots and celery the next, I almost can. Then I look

at my own children and remember my own childhood and my faith in this

theory diminishes. There's also the " if they get hungry enough,

they'll eat it " theory. I have a rake thin friend with an anorexic

sister and a brother who has refused to eat any kind of fruit for the

last 25 (since he was 7yo) who disagrees vigorously with that

theory.

There's also the idea that you should count weekly, not daily food

intake for children. My own son went for a month when he was 2.5

refusing to eat all food offered except for pancakes and soymilk. If

I only offered pancakes once a day, he only ate once a day. When I

put my foot down and said " no pancakes today " , you guessed it – he

didn't eat at all that day. He's 4.5 now and yesterday, he did not

eat a single fruit or vegetable of the seven different kinds that

were offered to him. The day before that was not much better. Or the

day before….you get the picture.

I don't remember how I ate when I was 4. I do remember being stuck

in front of plates of cold food until I ate " three bites " and I vowed

not to do that to my children. I also do remember how I ate as a

7yo. Wheat cereal and cow milk for breakfast. Peanutbutter and

cheese sandwich for lunch. Wheat toast with cinnamon sugar for an

afterschool snack. (These were all things I chose myself.) Pork

chops, franks and beans, spaghetti, fish sticks or pinto beans with

bacon for supper. One avoid after another. When given mixed

vegetables, you know the frozen kind, I would only eat the corn and

lima beans. How was my health you ask? Let's see. I was the

shortest person in my first grade class when we charted our heights.

I missed 2-3 weeks of every school year to being sick – tonsilitus,

mainly. Gym class was my least favorite activity and I was always

picked last for teams. On the bright side I was always one of the

more academically advanced kids in the class.

So my question to parents is what have you done for your kids as far

as helping them to eat a variety of nutritious foods? Have you had

challenges with getting a bloodtype appropriate diet going with your

children? Advice for feeding A children while eating an O diet

yourself? Any other thoughts? Okay that's more than one question.

I'm just really looking for a brainstorm here.

Thanks!

Robin

[Guest guest]

Robin,

I'm lucky in that my 2 sons, ages 12 and 13, and I are all the same O-

secretors.

My sons are with me basically every other week. When they are with

me they don't eat any avoids because they aren't in the house, except

for a couple of products they use that have avoids low on the

ingredients list.

They have adjusted quite well to the BTD. They each have their own

likes and dislikes. One likes greens the other doesn't. The other

one really likes red meat and would gladly eat it frequently, even

for breafast sometimes. Etc. I somewhat try to adjust how often I

serve or how much I serve certain things to suit their likes and

dislikes, but I still serve the foods they should eat, and therefore

learn to like, sometime during the week.

They also eat a lot less sugary items then they used to. Not that I

ever really had that much of that kind of stuff around. However,

what I particularly notice is that they don't ask for sugary stuff as

much anymore.

However, even after 2 years of this they still do not eat completely

as an O should, particularly for breakfast. They still want cereal

for breakfast, or some other grain like toast or the occasional

buckwheat pancakes. At least now I am able to get them to eat some

turkey sausage or eggs with their breakfast.

Unfortunately, with school lunches, food at social functions, and

every other week at their mother's house at best they are only eating

right probably about 1/3 of the time.

I tried to get their O+ mother to do the BTD for the kids health, but

she concluded it was too hard to do. I think she is now doing Atkins

in her attempt to lose lots of weight. I glad she is to doing Atkins

instead of some low fat or veggie based diet. However, I don't know

if she is trying to feed the kids more protein and less carbs while

she is doing Atkins or not.

I also talk to my kids about the fallacy of the food pyramid and that

they need to basically ignore any nutrition advice they receive

outside the home. I discuss with them the food lists and why

different foods are good or bad for them. In other words I am trying

to educate them not just feed them. They need to learn to make the

right food choices on their own.

Don

P.S. I was also young and little for my grade when I was in school,

the last one to be picked for teams, and the smart kid in class.

> ... Gym class was my least favorite activity and I was always

> picked last for teams. On the bright side I was always one of the

> more academically advanced kids in the class.

> So my question to parents is what have you done for your kids as

far

> as helping them to eat a variety of nutritious foods? Have you had

> challenges with getting a bloodtype appropriate diet going with

your

> children? Advice for feeding A children while eating an O diet

> yourself? Any other thoughts? Okay that's more than one

question.

> Thanks!

> Robin

[Guest guest]

Robin,

I feel for your mama worry here.

Truman was tube fed for over 2 years- numerous surgeries and the

idea of not giving him what he wanted to eat scared me

tremendously.. " what if he refused food and died? " ...etc would run

thorugh my being mostly unspoken fear but still. I had almost lost

him so many times before- shouldn't I do ALL I could to make it

better....blah, blah, blah. The fear would have me get microscopic

and lose the big picture.

I think you are so wise to ask for reassurance to dispell some of

your mama worry. First of all 2 year olds are not 4 year olds! 4

Year olds eat differently than 2 year olds and for different reasons.

However, kids pick up on our anxieties and can milk them to their

benefit- you should see some of my single mom friends whose children

can imply the " I come from a broken family " guilt thing and watch

the mama cave every time-LOL.

My suggestion is to do a little self talk and mentally rehearse some

of your meal times with your creature. You can try to offer him of

something, if he refuses, serve yourself some more of that item and

consume it with a smile on your face- no comments about what he's

missing etc. Big picture truly is that kids do not starve themselves

unless they have some serious emotional difficulties and corn syrup

or wheat toast will not help those problems.

Sometimes, just getting the focus off what he is or is not eating

will take the pressure off of you and make things more natural at

mealtimes.

I was told by a behavioural Therapist that sometimes, it can take 20-

30 times offering a food before a child will accept it. This was for

normal eaters- not special cases like Truman.

I agree to not make mealtimes into power struggles- I do at times

weild the " you must eat 3 bites " strategy- but that is maybe 2 times

a week and without much emotion.

for your As, remember, it takes their little tummy juices time to

generate- we Os are primed and ready to chow. I had a family over

for lunch and dinner last night, an A and O family ( not sure of

children's status) Anyway, my a hubby is working on this bucket

contraption while I am hauling food to the table. The other O

hubby is sitting poised, ready to eat. The A wife keeps strolling

over to the kids' table to check this or that while my hubby is

still setting this contraption. We Os were ready to chow while the

As had all the time in the world to allow their juices to flow

before eating. Manners or not, I just dug in- Other O hubby seemed

appreciative- we blessed the food mid-meal-LOL.

Hang in there mama.

Joy

[Guest guest]

> So my question to parents is what have you done for your kids as

far

> as helping them to eat a variety of nutritious foods? Have you had

> challenges with getting a bloodtype appropriate diet going with

your

> children? Advice for feeding A children while eating an O diet

> yourself? Any other thoughts? Okay that's more than one

question.

> I'm just really looking for a brainstorm here.

>

> Thanks!

> Robin

Robin!

I hear ya! I'm an O+ non sec, with three children, 2 being

A+ non-sec, 1 an A+ sec. Have you had secretor status checked? It

makes a pretty big difference.

My secretor (the 2 yo)freaks out on tomatoes. One of my non-

secretors (the 4 yo)seriously craved carbs and sugars and dairy-

still does, but it's so much better. He'll eat rice cheese or almond

cheese.

For me the key has been time, patience and setting the best example I

can - mommy falls of the diet from time to time! They do see how

much better I feel when eating the right foods and we constantly talk

about it. As more time goes by, the more we stick to the diet, the

less avoids they ask for, the better they behave/feel. We have also

being seeing a naturopath - and have been on various homeopathic

remedies. The two youngest had some behavioral issues associated

with their diet before we switched to the BTD. The combo of the diet

and the remedies has worked very well for us. Also, and this is very

important. Please don't be hard on yourself. I do this and it

stresses me out. It's hard enough for me to stick to the diet - but

when trying to get the little ones to do it - it can be almost

impossible at times. Especially out of the house and at other

functions etc. I usually let those times slide and prepare myself

for what's to come when they get a hold of some artificial coloring

or some other crap or just an avoid. Sometimes the reaction is more

severe than other times. Life's not perfect.

One other idea that has worked well for us is planting a garden with

the kids. They are much more likely to eat what they grow. Or go

berry picking or to a farmers market to pick out fresh fruits and

veggies.

good luck, i know it's hard.

J. in Oregon

O+ non sec