The Picky Eater Project: 6 Weeks to Happier, Healthier Family Mealtimes

by Natalie Digate Muth, Sally Sampson

Overview

The Picky Eater Project: 6 Weeks to Happier, Healthier Family Mealtimes is a one-of-a-kind book that can transform even the most finicky eaters into fledgling foodies. Focusing on kids’ participation, interactive strategies, kitchen experiments, and delicious kid-friendly recipes, the book is based on a six-week plan that makes shopping and cooking fun. Weekly themes and goals include

• Week 1 – Picky-Free Parenting: Setting the stage to help your child choose a wider variety of healthful food with key parenting strategies
• Week 2 – A Kitchen Revolution: Shaping your child’s taste preferences away from bland, white and processed towards flavorful, robust, and more adventurous by changing the way you purchase, arrange, and prepare foods.
• Week 3 – The Little Chef: Getting your child into the kitchen – early and often – to encourage him or her to try new foods.
• Week 4 – A Shopping Adventure: Making grocery shopping and meal planning with your child more of an adventure than a chore.
• Week 5 – Family Mini-Feast: Recognizing the value of family meals and setting them up to fit your lifestyle while progressing in your pursuit of undoing picky eating.
• Week 6 – It Takes a Village: Enlisting spouses, partners, grandparents, siblings, and friends to help undo picky eating and influence more adventurous choices.
• Post-Picky Eater Project Week – Making It Stick-y: Planning for challenges and barriers, and putting contingency plans into action for lasting impact.

Six weeks will fly by before you know it! You and your junior chef will have an amazing time working together to make

• Layered Yogurt Parfaits
• Corn Pancakes
• Mix and Match Smoothies
• Beanie Cheeseburgers
• (Almost) Any Vegetable Soup
• And many more fun and healthy recipes!

Written by Natalie Digate Muth, a pediatrician and dietician, and Sally Sampson, cookbook author and founder of ChopChop, a food magazine for kids and their families, The Picky Eater Project addresses both the importance of healthy childhood nutrition and family harmony. It offers tips and troubleshooting, recognizing that it takes planning and perseverance to make behavior changes stick, but that it can happen.

Start your picky eater project today – your kids will love it, and you’ll see real changes in their eating habits!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781581109818
Publisher:	American Academy of Pediatrics
Publication date:	01/03/2017
Pages:	227
Product dimensions:	7.20(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Natalie Digate Muth, MD, MPH, RDN, CSSD, FAAP, is a dual board-certified pediatrician and obesity medicine physician, registered dietitian and board-certified specialist in sports dietetics. She practices general pediatrics with a focus on healthy family routines, nutrition, and physical activity.

Table of Contents

Preface xv

Acknowledgments xix

Introduction xxi

What You Can Expect xxv

Chapter 1 Week 1: Picky-Free Parenting 1

Meet the Family 3

Family Schedule and Routine 5

Meal Dilemma 6

Are You a Picky-Free Parent? Child Feeding Questionnaire 8

10 Rules of Picky-Free Parenting 13

Your Picky Eater Project-Week 1: Picky-Free Parenting 18

Week 1 Recipes 19

Cuban Black Bean Soup 21

Baba Ghanoush 23

Chicken Fingers 25

Tomato Salad With Basil and Feta Cheese 26

Mixed-up Eggs and Spinach 27

Skillet Lasagna 29

Chapter 2 Week 2: A Kitchen Revolution 31

Kitchen Revolution Guidelines 36

The Lowdown on Herbs and Spices 41

Your Picky Eater Project-Week 2: A Kitchen Revolution 49

Week 2 Recipes 51

Parmesan Yogurt Dip With Carrots 53

Spicy Turkey Chili 54

Sweet Potato Spinach Baby Puree 56

Roasted Vegetables 57

Layered Yogurt Parfait 59

Every Kind of Burger (Well, Almost) 60

Energy Bars 62

Chapter 3 Week 3: The Little Cook 65

Teaching Kids to Cook: A 5-Star Recipe 69

Your Picky Eater Project-Week 3: The Little Cook 78

Week 3 Recipes 79

Basic Mix-and-Match Smoothie 81

Sandwich Mix and Match 83

Classic Hummus 85

(Almost) Any Vegetable Soup 87

The Salad 89

Rainbow Kabobs 92

Beanie Burger With Cheese 93

Oven-Roasted Broccoli 95

Banana-Peach Frozen Yogurt 96

Double Corn Cakes With Fresh Corn 97

Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup 99

Chapter 4 Week 4: A Shopping Adventure 101

Shopping Trip Success: Brooke's and Hunter's Treasures 103

Making the Most Out of Your Farmers Market Adventure 106

Grocery Store Shopping 101 110

Understanding the Nutrition Label 126

Food Label Tips 129

Your Picky Eater Project-Week 4: A Shopping Adventure 132

Week 4 Recipes 133

Zucchini Pasta 135

Snappy Green Beans 136

Chapter 5 Week 5: Family Mini-feast 137

The Picker Eater 5-Step Plan 140

Your Picky Eater Project-Week 5: Family Mini-feast 150

Week 5 Recipes 151

Melting Apples 153

Fajitas 155

Fish Tacos 157

Sweet Potato Bar 159

Vegetable Chili 161

Chapter 6 Week 6: it Takes a Mage 163

Leaning on the Village to Undo Picky Eating 167

Modeling the Way 167

The Power of Peers 168

Eating Healthy at School 172

Grandparents 175

Your Picky Eater Project-Week 6: It Takes a Village 177

Week 6 Recipes 179

White Bean Dip 181

Cucumber Tsatziki 183

Guacamole 184

Date Nut Cream Cheese 185

Homemade Peanut Butter 186

Chapter 7 Post-Picky Eater Project: Making It Stick-y 187

Family Project Reflection 189

Picky Eater Project: Going Forward 191

Your Picky Eater Project-Post-Picky Eater Project: Making It Stick-y 197

Chapter 8 Troubleshooting 199

Health Alert: Red Hags 202

Identifying Possible Health Conditions 203

First Steps in Battling Picky Eating Habits 211

Your Picky Eater Project-Troubleshooting 212

Post-project Recipes 213

Green Monster Smoothie 215

Oatmeal Cookies 216

Broccoli Cheddar Soup 218

Tomatoes-Any Way You Want Them 220

Oven-Roasted Tomatoes 220

World's Quickest Tomato Sauce 222

Index 223

Note: All recipes in this book either appeared in ChopChop or are adapted from recipes in The Fun Cooking Magazine for Families.

Editorial Reviews

11/21/2016
Muth, a pediatrician and registered dietician, teams up with James Beard Award–winning cookbook author Sampson to help families collaborate in the kitchen. The two authors, both mothers themselves, present a six-week plan including 40 well-designed recipes to encourage children to eat more adventurously. The key, they believe, is getting children involved: “I believe most every child will enjoy most every healthy food, if those healthy foods are what there is to cook, share, and eat,” writes Sampson. In addition to recipes, each chapter contains a mission (“Create an environment that supports more adventurous eating”), strategy (“Cook together”), and measurement, explaining how to gauge success (“Parent and child perception of shopping experience”). Each recipe includes a list of equipment needed, age-appropriate suggestions on how to involve children in the cooking process, and ways for kids to personalize their meals by substituting ingredients. The healthy dishes for all ages include classic hummus, vegetable soup, fajitas, and fish tacos, while introducing flavors such as cilantro, mint, basil, and crushed red pepper. This is an informative, accessible book sure to expand tiny palates and bring families together in the kitchen and at the dinner table. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Reviewer: Anne Turner-Henson, PhD, RN, FAAN (University of Alabama at Birmingham)
Description: The rates of eating disorders among children (including childhood obesity, infant feeding disorders, anorexia, etc.) are increasing in the United States. Part of the HealthyChildren.org initiative, this is a useful book on healthy eating for families with young children.
Purpose: The purpose of this book, written for the lay person, is to provide helpful tips to promote healthy eating habits for children and families. The objectives are worthy and based on experiences by families who completed the Picky Eater program.
Audience: Although specifically designed for parents of young children, the book is useful for health clinicians and professionals who work with young children (e.g., early childhood education programs, schools, etc.). The authors are credentialed in the topic area (pediatrics, nutrition), and credible authorities. HealthyChildren.org is an initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Features: The book is intended to be an interactive guide for families who have children with eating problems. The book is not designed for children with diagnosed health conditions related to eating (e.g., obesity, anorexia, etc.), but as a source of techniques to prevent such disorders. The Picky Eater Project is designed as a 6-week series. Readers are encouraged to seek advice from a health provider if needed. The chapters provide useful advice along with recipes and cooking and shopping tips, promoting children to help with cooking, a family approach (including grandparents), and sustaining the change. The photos display colorful and fun pictures of children engaged in eating healthy foods and food preparations.
Assessment: This is a helpful book for families with young children. While there are plenty of advice books for young parents, this book presents useful and feasible methods for promoting healthy eating.

Doody's Review Service

The Picky Eater Project is a BRILLIANT solution to one of parenting's toughest dilemmas! Finally, an approachable, practical guide to the question "what’s for dinner?” that instantly helps families, with children of all ages, conquer food phobias, get cooking, eat healthier and, most of all, enjoy mealtime together!
• Gail Simmons, food expert, TV host and author of Talking With My Mouth Full

From the Publisher