The Picky Cycle

 It's too bad my parents didn't know what I know now. What I know is that children and humans in general don't need vegetables to be healthy. ALL the nutrients in vegetables are present in meat and are more bioavailable in meat. While I enjoy eating vegetables myself, I now know that it's unnecessary to force them down the throats of children who are only following their humans instincts to avoid bitter-tasting foods (though the sensitivity varies from person to person and is genetic), which in the wild were often poisonous. That instinct, that kept generations of our ancestors alive, is now something to be punished. Parents spend untold amounts of time trying to force vegetables on their children and on cookbooks purporting to be able to get children to eat vegetables. Some kids love vegetables and it's great if they do, but it's not a tragedy if they don't.

Why? Plenty of people eat nothing but meat and don't suffer from obesity or other diseases parents warn their children they will get if they don't eat broccoli. If anything, parents should encourage their children to eat fat, which luckily most children instinctually like. Looking back at my childhood, I definitely did suffer from sicknesses all the time. My family blamed it on the fact I didn't eat vegetables, rather than my love for biscuits, crackers, and other processed goo. By some miracle I always had shiny hair and glowing skin though, which is probably because I did love fat. I especially always loved chicken skin. It wasn't until I started eating things like Kashi cereal and Nutrigrain bars and less fat that I had problems with weight gain, acne, and hair loss. I traded one type of stomach problem for another. 

So encourage kids to eat fat and don't worry if they don't love spinach. The sugar conundrum is a more difficult one, since sugar is a pervasive food in kiddie culture from birthday parties to school lunches. A few weeks ago I was walking down the street and saw a man pushing a stroller. His kid was merrily chewing on some candy and was holding a large bag of it. They pulled alongside another woman pushing a stroller and the man said loudly "Hey, want some gummy bears." The woman looked at him angrily and said "No, my daughter is allergic." I guess that's one strategy...