Transcript Episode 18 - The Do’s and Don’ts of Hiding Foods + Chia Seeds as a Picky Eater’s Nutritional Superhero

Karla Moreno-Bryce: Hey there! I’m so glad you’re tuning in to the Vegan Kids Nutrition Podcast today because in this episode I’m talking about a topic that many of us have, are, or will encounter at some point in our feeding journey—and that is picky eating. 

If you have a picky eater at home or feel unsure about how to meet all their nutrient needs to thrive on a vegan diet, you’ll find this episode valuable. 

I can understand the challenge it is to feed your vegan child, especially if they are selective to various plant-based foods. I have experienced something similar with my first born daughter Camila. She began to show signs of picky eating around the time she was turning 2 years old. Such as refusing to eat new foods or only accepting certain types of foods, for her it was mostly crunchy foods like crackers and foods that had a consistent taste like pasta. 

More often than not she would choose to eat from what was served without making a big deal about it or having a tantrum. I didn’t really experience very many food battles with her until her preschool year. When she turned four four years old and began her preschool year, that’s when her food selectivity and eating challenges heightened. A big part of that was the feeding environment she experienced at her preschool and just due to her temperament, it really, really affected her and our family when we had family meal times. And I tell that story in great detail in Episode 17 and share the strategies that I did at home to turn things around for us as well as four tips that you can begin to implement right now in your feeding no matter what age your vegan child is. You can find the link to Episode 17 in the show notes. 

My mind is still in that picky eating phase, mostly from my own personal experience but also because some of the most common challenges I continue to hear from vegan parents like yourself is how to feed, what to cook and give, and what foods to focus on for picky eaters. 

So, in today’s episode, I want to share with you one common practice some parents do at home to help their children meet nutritional needs and my honest thoughts about that approach, coupled with what the research has to say about this common practice. And then, I want to share one of my favorite plant-based foods that is great for all vegan kids but even more impactful for vegan picky eaters. As a disclaimer, this episode is for the more general picky eaters. It’s not really geared for children who have been diagnosed with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (also known as ARFID) or has certain sensory sensitivities that make feeding challenging. I always try to be transparent about that when it comes to picky eaters. 

Meal planning can get exhausting. Whether you have a picky eater in your family or not, figuring out what to cook that’s easy, that meets nutritional needs, and that satifies family member’s food preferences is a lot. I recently shared a blog post about this titled 26 Vegan Meal Ideas for Toddlers and Kids to help bring some inspiration to your meal planning. You can find the link to that blog post in the show notes here or go to vegankidsnutrition.com/mealideas. 

Feeding our vegan families is a full-time job and we don’t often get enough credit for doing so. So, if you’re exhausted from trying to figure out what to cook for your picky eater, especially if they don’t accept leftovers or their food preferences change day by day, I just want you to know that I see you. That I understand what you’re going through because I too experience many things you do, sometimes it’s just hidden behind doors. 

Now, I’m getting a bit on a tangent here but I just wanted to share that I completely understand how exhausting meal planning can be for feeding your vegan family. In fact, I probably complain about this very regularly to my husband more than I probably should and meal planning becomes more of a challenge if you have a picky eater at home. 

Perhaps you’re tired of trying out recipes only to find your time, effort, and attentiveness wasted because your vegan child doesn't eat it. Or maybe you’re unsure of what nutrients are important to cover in your meals for your picky eater. Or perhaps you just can’t find simple, quick recipes that your child will accept and meet their nutritional needs. This is what makes meal planning and feeding our vegan kids so challenging. 

And this brings me to the most common feeding practice I see in parents, which is “hiding” plant-based foods that your child doesn’t currently eat. And what I mean by hiding is intentionally concealing a food mixed or prepared in a dish or meal so that your child isn’t aware of this food and doesn’t see it.

What I see some parents and caregivers do is they intentionally add whatever food their child isn’t eating into smoothies. Now, I love smoothies. Smoothies are great for boosting nutritional needs for a growing child; however, my honest thoughts about them is that I don’t support the idea behind using smoothies regularly for meeting your child’s nutritional needs. 

You see, when we intentionally hide certain foods or ingredients in foods like smoothies, we’re not giving our vegan child the opportunity to learn to like this particular food they don’t want to eat. We’re not giving them the opportunity to become more familiar with that food because they’re not being exposed to it in a way where they can physically see and touch that food. 

Kids learn how to eat from the time they begin solid foods to well until they’re about six years old. So, even if your child isn’t eating a plant-based food at 2 years old, they still have plenty of time to learn to like that food. But only if they are exposed to it regularly throughout their childhood. And if you rely on smoothies or any other mixed dish as a way for them to eat that food, then it doesn’t do any service to you or your child. 

Again, I’m not making smoothies the bad guy here. They can certainly be part of your child’s diet. You can add just about anything to smoothies, that’s the great part about them. But it’s the intention behind your approach of why you’re adding that food that matters. If you’re adding leafy greens to smoothies because it’s a way to boost nutrition for that smoothie, that’s OK. If you’re adding leafy greens to hide them from your vegan child because they don’t eat them any other way, that is a disservice to your vegan child because they’re not getting an opportunity to learn how to be around this food and become more familiar with it.

Studies that look at parents' experience with hiding vegetables find that children learn to distrust food and potentially weaken their trust with their parents because they feel tricked, if they happen to learn that the food they’re not ready to eat is somehow hiding in their food. This in turn leads their picky eating to become worse, to dislike that plant food even more, and potentially putting at risk their trust in you.

I get that you want your vegan child to eat those leafy greens, beans, sweet potato, or whatever plant food they’re not accepting. I want those things too. There are other ways to help your vegan picky eater learn to like, accept, try, and eventually eat that plant food without feeding practices that may negatively impact their overall eating habits. I share a few of my own strategies in Episode 12 and I’ll leave the link to that episode in the show notes for you to take a listen too. 

Which now brings me to one of my favorite plant foods to boost nutrient content for picky eaters. Now, picky eaters often fall short in meeting certain key nutrient requirements because their intake may not always include a variety of foods. These nutrients are protein, iron, zinc, calcium, Vitamin D, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, and fat. So, quite a few. And not meeting these nutrients has been associated with risk of being underweight and poor growth in picky eaters. So, the overall intake of vegan picky eaters can be defined as being poor, especially where there’s a lack of variety of foods in their diet. 

Now, I don’t want to alarm you or worry about whether you're doing enough to help your vegan child meet their nutritional needs. I just wanted to bring this up so you can be informed and aware because the growth and development of extreme picky eaters can potentially be a concern if they have several foods or food groups that they avoid. 

But there is one plant-based food that I love for picky eaters, and even if your child isn’t considered a picky eater, this food is just as beneficial for them. And that is chia seeds. That’s right, this little seed is a powerhouse when it comes to nutrition. Chia seeds provide and help meet many of the nutrients that picky eaters fall short on, such as protein, iron, fat, and calcium. The best part about chia seeds is that they are so versatile when used in your meal planning. They can be added to just about anything to boost the nutrient content of that meal. 

For example, I like adding chia seeds to my pancake, waffle, and muffin recipes. Regardless of what recipe I make, whether it’s one from the Vegan Kids Cookbook or one inspired from what I saw online, it’s a natural instinct for me to add chia seeds. I also like adding chia seeds to savory dishes like lentil loaves, bean patties, or even corn fritters. I’m always trying to find other creative ways to add chia seeds to our dishes. 

Try to think of meals you make for your vegan family where you can add some chia seeds to boost overall nutrient content. And if you have a picky eater that may be cautious of these little seeds, be honest with them. Let them know that you’re going to add chia seeds and that you trust them to try that food or dish when they’re ready. That is one of the most impactful messages you can send to your vegan picky eater. 

Before I let you go, I want to remind you that I have a free guide on picky eating that you can download in the show notes. I share my top five strategies to implement at home to help your vegan child learn to like and eventually eat foods they may be avoiding at the moment. Note that it’s not something that will happen overnight. It’s a process but if you stay consistent and you follow these strategies, I know that you will feel less exhausted in trying to figure out how to get your child to eat certain foods. Grab the free picky eating guide with the link in the show notes. 

I hope that today’s episode gives you a different perspective of how your meal planning and overall feeding approach can help your vegan picky eater broaden their food acceptance. I understand the challenge and perhaps frustration at times, believe me I’ve been there, but trusting the process and feeding with compassion by not intentionally hiding foods brings more benefits to your child and your vegan feeding journey. I’ll talk to you in the next episode. Bye for now.