Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Taste buds from Toddler to Teen Ager. Tastes Change.

Last post, I wrote about finding the "real" vegetables because I think that vegetables have the best of what we need for growing and healthy living, especially for kids.  I was looking for five vegetables for my kids to eat that they like.

Well the truth is a bit more complicated.  Of course.  Because some kids are really picky eaters and some aren't.  But the thing is that many of them will grow into being a picky eater  and then grow out of being a picky eater.   Here is the story.

I did some more reading on the subject of tastes between kids and adults,  because I think adults can "stand" more tastes where as kids can not.  Ever try giving a pepper mint or even just some mint to a toddler?  ouch.  Why do we have to buy two types of toothpaste, one for us grown ups and one for the kids?  Because the kids really cant stand the grown up tooth paste.  It burns them.  My 4 year old can barely take the taste of her kids tooth paste.

Well naturally because of the taste buds.  Kids have as many as 30 000 taste buds on their tongues.  Adults more like 10 000 (other numbers quoted have been 10 000 taste buds in children and 5000 in adults).  In fact super taster adults have more taste buds left on their tongue and they can detect minute changes in ingredients and can not "take" hyped up food.  They prefer played down, milder tastes, just like kids, because they have more taste buds.  People and kids who have more taste buds have more of an intense reaction to all foods.  Ever taste breast milk?  It is rather boring and even watery or ... but to a new born it is enough.  For them it even has the taste of vanilla.   

  Many articles mention that kids and toddlers are "sensitive" or just don't like bitter tastes.    "Bitter" is an acquired taste which usually doesn't come until the twenties.  Bitter can be akin to the taste of poison to kids.  This makes it difficult to feed the veggies because most veggies aren't high on the sugar tasting content, and often bitter.  My littlest girl wont eat a carrot.  Spinach, forget it for all of them.  Sweet taste doesn't overwhelm their taste buds and is also associated with good memories.

Babies will eat a lot more things, mostly mashed up, but they become more limited after about 18 months (I am trying to find the source for this comment, I did read it).  Then they may turn into the picky eaters which will drive you crazy for the next.... um... about ten years.

But hold on, and keep the faith because many of the writings say that when the kids start to become teenagers, they lose their taste for the ultra sweet stuff of youth and start to venture out even to the bitter edge of the galaxy, though maybe not so willingly.  This is when your kids will turn back to vegetables and give them another try.  I remember how my sister when she became a teenager she got so turned on to carrots that in fact she started turning orange in her hands and extremes.  Seriously.

The problem is that we also associate taste and good taste with good memories.  So, if you were nagging your kids for ten years to eat their veggies, by the time they actually WANT to eat their veggies they will have only bad memories of vegetables and still wont want to eat them, even if now they might have developed a taste for them.

This is like an epiphany for me.  I have to lay off the nagging and make sure I don't give a negative memory association with vegetables.  This puts things in a different light.  I may even stop urging them to eat vegetables altogether and let them eat what they want... Maybe.  At any rate, this is a game changer for me and I still have to mull it over in my head about how to tackle this in light of my new information.  My daughter who is very sensitive and doesn't like carrots might even be a super taster and we don't know it.

The best advice I read was, even if your kids don't like many of the things, or healthy eating now, just keep trying with them.  And keep setting a good example.  If they see you eating a salad every day, it may take a while, but maybe by the time they are a teenager they might start eating a salad every day too.  You cant tell now when they are 4 or 7, you might get really frustrated and depressed trying to get them to eat "good food", but it may pay off, uh, later.  You just have to eat what you know is good and healthy and they (hopefully) will come around to your line of thinking too.  In other words, STAY PATIENT.  It will work out.  Probably. 

source links for information on kids and taste buds.
http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/menus/kids-taste-buds.htm

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2013/jan/29/changing-tastes-food-and-aging

http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/difference-between-taste-buds-adults-kids-27362.html

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050211084620.htm

Was listening to Death and Vanilla while writing this:
https://www.facebook.com/Death-And-Vanilla-114660564210/

Check them out.  Sort of psychedelic retro chill out.  Reissues coming out in May.  Vinyl will be available at http://www.maximum.cz/

Monday, April 11, 2016

Will the real vegetables please stand up and be eaten

Fully realizing that fruits and vegetables are perhaps the most important things to eat every day and especially for kids, I started to wage a battle several weeks ago to get more fruits and vegetables in my kids diets and tummies.  Now, you may say, "well no sheet Sherlock, why so late?"  And in fact I do plead a bit guilty and have to say that I was put off and found it hopeless for about a year trying to get my kids eating in this direction.  My older girl used to eat things as squash and zucchini and everything, but seemed to change when she saw her younger sister wasn't eating any of those things.  And her younger sister was adamant about not eating any of those "veggies".  Being the dictator she is, I have to say, we kind of gave in to her and didn't push her.

Until this year when her older sister started learning about the food groups in school and thank goodness the teacher was pushing vegetables and fruits on them.  My daughter came home one day from school and said "Daddy we should be eating FIVE servings of fruits and vegetables every day!  I want to do that."  OK, I said.  Well, which fruits and vegetables do you like to eat?  Lets name five in each group at least and I will make sure you have those vegetables and fruits to eat as many days as possible.

Finding enough fruits she liked was easy.  Sort of.  She loves grapefruits and she will eat apples, so it is no problem most days to at least have apples at home.  And I try to keep grapefruits on stock for their extended growing season.  They do have a long season and they come in in the winter when most other things are out.

But the real problem was naming enough vegetables.
"OK, so name five vegetables you like and will eat,"  I said.
"Um... carrots,  corn.... um.... peas...."
"You really like peas?  Are you sure?  I don't know if you like them so much?"
"I do I do," she, said.  "Its my sister who wont eat peas, but maybe wait and see if we have enough others to put them in, maybe I don't have to eat them.   Lets see what else?"

  A minute or two pause at this point.    "Um.... carrots, peas, corn.  Um  olives, I like olives, green olives.  And also beans, but only those red beans, I think.  And pickles too.  How many is that? carrots one, peas two, corn three, beans four, olives five.  Five and then also pickles.  That is a lot already.  More than five,"  she said satisfied.

My wife came into the room and had heard and said, "corn isn't a vegetable.  Its a cereal." Oh.  Both my daughter`s and my jaw dropped a little in sadness.

"Oh and I really like corn too.  Cant it be a vegetable?  Maybe in the summertime anyway?  I eat it everyday in the summer," my daughter asked.  But no,  the powers that be already designated corn as a cereal.  harumph.

"And olives are not a vegetable.  They grow on trees," my wife continued.
"Well, then they are a fruit," I said.
"Nope, not either.  They are ... like an oil.  Beans are a legume.  Not a vegetable either.  And actually peas are either legumes or fruits, but more likely legumes.  Legumes are not so good because your body has trouble digesting the whole thing.  Like the skin of corn,  you cant digest it, break it down.  So it just goes through you.  Peas too.  There is some controversy now whether legumes are good or bad.  But mostly it seems like some book sellers say they are bad in order to sell you their book and or diet.  Though Legumes DO have an upside and downside. " (Here is a fair article on the subject)

Image result for pictures of fruits vs vegetables
"Um....  What about the green ness of peas.  It must be worth something.?"
"They just aren`t vegetables.  But...They are very good.  Look at this."

So what was left on our list?
"Oh, pickles are a fruit too.   But they are sterilized, so even though they are still good, they aren't as good as say cucumbers, but which are still..... fruits.  But they aren't bad. You shouldn't bug out on pickled foods (though sometimes Daddy does in fact do just this with his pickles and pickled beets)"

"Fruits?"

"Yes, fruits.  Seeds inside, make them a fruit.  Same as tomatoes, eggplant and avocados."

This was getting very difficult.  This left us with...... carrots.  One vegetable my daughter liked.  But actually there is controversy whether olive is a fruit or that oil thinger,  but it is not a vegetable, but maybe we could count it as a fruit anyway.

"Don't you like any other VEGETABLES?", I asked my daughter. "Cauliflowers?  Broccoli? Beets? Spinach?"
"No, no, no and big very big no to spinach."   ..............

Image result for popeye vs bugs bunnyImage result for popeye vs bugs bunny

Carrots.
"I like peppers too.  But only the yellow peppers.  I don't like the green peppers."
"Well, this is fine," said my wife, "but technically peppers are fruits too. "

We were stumped.

Carrots.

"Well carrots are very very good for you.  And you can get them year round as they are root vegetables.  So, lets have a carrot party every day," I offered.
My daughter looked, sad, dejected and skeptical.

"OK,  lets throw in the peppers as vegetables too."

Well, technicalities aside, my daughter IS eating healthier.  We have vitamin bedtime snack where she eats a grapefruit or, a carrot.  My other daughter eats a banana or apple.  She too has become a bit, a little bit more of a healthier eater.  But I really wanted my older daughter to get more veggies as typically the fruits have more of the natural sugars and vegetables are pure wholesome goodness (unless you boil them which zaps their nutrients out), but I guess until her taste buds open up a bit more and accept cabbage, broccoli and ugh.. spinach, we have a lopsided fruit and vegetable menu with more fruits and um, carrots for the vegetable.

Well, as long as she  doesn't start turning orange, I guess we are heading in the right direction.  I don't know why I still feel dejected myself.  I guess I thought vegetables were the holy grail of healthy eating and my daughter still is not eating so many of them.

But only technically.  Lets just call pickles, peppers and olives vegetables for argument and good health`s sake. That is at least four vegetables she can eat during the day.  

Thank you.
(a good simple article on what is a fruit and what is a vegetable.  But peas and olives are often put in another group, although they are called fruits in this article)