Picky toddler that needs some raw love :)

I have one of the world’s pickiest 2 1/2 years olds and he is quite convinced he can live on peanut butter sandwiches and chicken nuggets. I am the only raw person in my house and also pregnant with my second kiddo so I am having a hard time getting him interested in raw. He doesnt even want grapes! So I am always looking for ways to sneak raw food into his daily meals. I do avocado spreads under the peanut butter, juiced greens in his applejuice etc. What would be some great things to sneak in on a daily basis that would maximize the nutrition he is getting? He will do some superfoods for me sometimes like goji. I’m just trying to think of some other foods to try…..

Comments

  • vegan2rawvegan2raw Raw Newbie

    Try green smoothies. They work great especially if you let them push the buttons. I would switch to the healthiest of those junk foods he loves like raw almond butter instead of roasted salted peanut butter and I mix sparkling water with Juice and my kids love it. I also make a coleslaw with a tangy sweet ginger sauce I will post the recipe later. My 3 year old gobbles it up. For my kids the trick has been to let them help as much as I can. Now my oldest will pick out a recipe she wants to try from books or this site its great. We make superfood bars sweetened with dates. It sounds like you are setting a wonderful example and just relax and enjoy it it will come in strides but soon he will be asking for those healthy things. Good job BTW ib sneaking in greens. My kids will drink wheat grass if mixed properly with other things. A vegan junk food that is cooked that we get for our kids is Mac n Chreese by road ends organic it is soy free etc and can be bought gluten free. We went vegan when our oldest was 18 mos and I was pregnant advice of a friend thinking Linnea was allergic and then Oriana came along allergic too. We were already vegetarian and wanting them to make a concious choice whether or not they wanted to eat meat(at an appropriate age).We went raw this summer. We warm things for them in the dehydrator a lot that seems to help.

    I hope all of this helps you some. Just stick with it being the example is the best form of convincing.

    Peace Light and Love

  • newbienewbie Raw Newbie

    I think presentation helps a lot too. For example, he might like those apple-pancakes with the smiley faces (on this site). I made “apple cups” for my 4 year old today and he loved it. I took an apple, cut in half, scooped out the core, filled it with almond butter, topped it with date slices, and sprinkled with cinnamon. It tasted like apple pie. Try also things that they can dip. For example, maybe a strawberry dip for apple slices, bananas, etc. You can hide a lot of good stuff in the “dip”. Good luck!

  • Time. That’s what it has taken for my (almost) 2 1/2 yr old. She’s raw except for some cooked brown rice every day. It was hard weening her off stuff, but once we took a food item away, we didn’t give in and bring it back. And it only took a few days to a week for her to stop asking for that particular item. Sometimes all she would eat all day is brown rice. Now she eats lettuce, green juices, sprouts, carrots, different fruits, etc. She just watches what we eat – and we always offer whatever we are eating to her. She still doesn’t want to try new stuff, but we keep offering and sometimes she’ll eat it and sometimes she won’t. She still doesn’t want smoothies but I know that will change.

    What helps too is when I let her help me make stuff. Like when I get the fruit and veggies ready for juicing, she’ll bring her little chair up to the counter and take bites out of the different things I have there. And if she wants to eat everything there then I let her and I’ll go get more.

    When we go on car trips I bring healthy snacks like baby carrots, apples, nuts (she used to really like seeds but she doesn’t any more), bananas, flaxseed crackers, etc.

    Also what I did was to put a bowl of baby carrots within her reach somewhere and I’d let her see me eat some of the carrots. Then I left them there for a while and I’d see her taking a little nibble here and there. I did that with grapes and apples too (I didn’t let the apples sit too long though).

  • Make yummy icypoles if you can and mix up superfoods in juice or coconut water with caroby chocolaty stuff. Make different colous…and let him choose from red, green or orange or something like that. I find if you give them a choice of ‘this’ or ‘that’ it often helps. You could even mix in a nutbutter to almond milk sweetened or something and call it his peanut butter sandwhich icecream. Let him dip it in strawberry syrup or something. Also do you have a champion juicer or something to make raw fruit icecream….you can add stuff into the creaminess of that sort of icecream. I guess thats just for treats really.

    I just made banana icecream with strawberry syrup…strawberries/agave. and folded in some cookie dough I had made from buckwheat flour, choc chips and agave and water and some sultanas. It reminded me of that yum cookie dough icecream from a gelare shop we have in Oz. Anyway the kids LOVED it!!

    Also almond milk and banana smoothie is realy yummy…thicken it with bee pollen if you can ….the little ones loved this. Add carob for choclate or vanilla pod if you can.

    east mushy baby food too..banana, raw tahini and agave with asking him which colour he wants to make it…green (spiriulina) or purple (purple corn extract)...and again you’re working with choice.

    Maybe store these ideas for later if he is too young….

    Loads of love…

    Lexi Loo x

    Dunno hope this helps. I mean 2 and a half would be too young for this..I am no expert. But I am just thinking of fun things.

  • Thanks guys! This really helps :-) Im sure some of it is just a phase he is going through but its frustrating none the less… Today we are doing an experiment with ‘butta’ (what he calls peanut butter) and seeing all the different kinds of foods it would taste good on. Wish me luck lol

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