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Creating Safe Spaces to Explore Foods · Talking FACS

• 0:01
  Welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  This nationally recognized award winning podcast is hosted by the University of Kentucky Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Program.
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  Our educators share research knowledge with individuals,
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  families and communities to improve quality of life.
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  Hello and welcome to Talking Facts.
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  What you need to know about family food finance and fitness.
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  I am your host,
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  Mindy mcculley Extension Specialist for instructional support with Family and Consumer Sciences Extension at the University of Kentucky.
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  My guest today is Doctor Courtney Lutin,
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  assistant extension professor and Specialist for Maternal and child Health.
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  Welcome,
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  Courtney.
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  Hello,
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  Mindy.
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  So we are gonna have fun today talking about creating safe spaces for Children to explore new foods.
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  What we always have fun when we talk,
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  but this is gonna be a really fun one because I know giving kids the opportunity to eat something new and different.
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  The reactions can be all over the board,
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  right?
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  Yes,
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  it's unpredictable and entertaining at best.
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  So why do we not want to serve?
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  Is the same thing over and over and over again.
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  It's so easy to serve Children.
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  The same thing over and over again because we want to think about what will you eat,
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  right?
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  The reality is Children cannot learn to like new things unless we expose them to it.
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  It's for the learning factor.
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  And that kind of circles naturally into the health factor then because Children specifically can't learn to like healthy foods that will support growth and development and all that play time that they want to have without being exposed to them.
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  So that's really the reason to kind of set the foundation of health,
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  not only now,
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  but later in life and when you have Children who have very specific interests in food,
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  uh or lack of interest in food,
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  um sometimes just exposing them to some different things is,
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  is good.
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  I remember when Joshua,
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  my oldest was about five,
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  his grandpa said,
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  said,
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  said,
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  Joshua,
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  do you,
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  what do you want to eat?
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  And he said,
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  I want some chicken nuggets.
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  And dad was like,
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  well,
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  don't you want a hamburger or something else?
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  And he said,
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  grandpa,
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  if it weren't for chicken nuggets,
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  I'd be a veterinarian.
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  Of course,
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  he meant vegetarian.
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  Um,
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  but there are Children who are vegetarians and that's ok.
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  Right.
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  Exactly.
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  Yes,
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  you can get,
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  you can have a healthy lifestyle by following a variety of eating patterns.
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  Um whether it's vegetarian or,
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  you know,
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  including meat in your diet as well.
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  Yes.
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  So what are some ways that we can make kids feel more comfortable trying new foods.
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  Yeah,
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  I'm glad that you use the word comfortable because kind of with the example you provided about your son trying new things can be scary or uncomfortable and can lead to some strong reactions.
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  And so one idea to make it more comfortable is to keep food separate,
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  allow kids to see what is on their plate and to make choices about whether or not to try something.
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  Um,
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  you know,
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  there's been the old advice to hide veggies and other foods.
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  And while this might support a small increase in overall intake of vegetables,
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  the small benefit does not really seem to outweigh the cost of Children feeling tricked by this approach.
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  And they might have the opposite effect of further disliking those vegetables that we so desperately want them to eat,
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  at least a little bit of.
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  Um so by separating things like a casserole,
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  for example,
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  casseroles can be really overwhelming because there's a lot of ingredients.
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  And so think about,
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  I like to use the word deconstructed or like a taco is a great example.
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  We like to do deconstructed tacos in our house.
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  So instead of assembling it for our little one,
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  we like to put all the parts and pieces separately so that she can make choices about.
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  Do I want to put these things together?
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  Do I want to eat them separate?
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  So that space can be really important for some kiddos or like sauces and dips can be really helpful for feeling more comfortable or safe in trying a,
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  a new or different food unless they're like my granddaughters and then decide that ketchup on the fingers is just as good as ketchup on.
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  I don't know,
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  something else.
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  A spoon,
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  a spoon in our house.
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  And luckily she does eat very well,
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  so sometimes a little bit of ketchup doesn't hurt things.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  No,
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  not at all.
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  How else can we support kids who are trying unfamiliar foods?
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  One thing is to include familiar foods.
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  So that may seem counterintuitive.
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  Right.
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  We're trying to expose them to something new.
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  Why would we want to put a favorite or familiar food on there?
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  And the reason is that it makes Children feel more comfortable trying that new food instead of feeling overwhelmed by what are all these different things on my plate?
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  There's nothing here I've ever eaten before.
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  Exactly.
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  Exactly.
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  It can,
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  um,
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  by having those familiar or favorite fruits foods take up most of the space on the plate,
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  the smaller portions make it less of a big deal.
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  And that's probably another trick to just don't make a big deal about it.
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  Offer it.
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  Here it is.
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  And then if they,
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  if they do wanna try it,
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  then talk about what they're eating,
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  you know.
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  Exactly.
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  Embrace that sensory experience because even though we're like,
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  it's just one new food,
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  one new food brings different sights.
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  So it might be a different color.
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  Might be a different texture or sound or flavor or smell.
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  So,
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  right.
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  Our senses that's already giving us five new things to try to process and interpret.
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  And so like you said,
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  yeah,
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  keeping it small and making it less of a big deal.
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  Um You can encourage them but remind them and ourselves that it's ok if they pass.
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  So are there things that we can do outside of meal time that might help kids feel more comfortable with these new foods during meal time?
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  Yes.
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  Children learn through play so we can explore through play and conversation.
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  So allowing them to learn about those food textures or smells or tastes can get them comfortable with the idea of eating it.
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  And so maybe like a s a sensory bin of non-food items that have similar textures to the food that they are trying or maybe it's a play kitchen of healthy items that you're introducing to Children.
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  And I remember reading stories about different foods that I think it was eating.
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  The alphabet was one that,
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  that my kids liked and,
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  and that we've read with Ellie and it's lots of different letters,
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  but they show these foods and so when we serve them,
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  then they're familiar.
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  Exactly.
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  It's less uncomfortable.
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  Even at the grocery store,
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  a lot of learning can happen at the grocery store.
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  You don't have to buy everything.
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  You see,
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  but you can talk about it.
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  I was laughing the other day,
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  my five year old just went over and picked up the cabbage and was like,
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  what are you doing?
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  Cabbage?
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  And I was like,
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  oh,
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  yeah,
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  I guess we've had cabbage in our house before,
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  but it just made me chuckle that,
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  like,
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  she knew exactly what that was and started having a conversation with it and sometimes that cabbage just need somebody to say hello.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  Do you have any final tips for helping Children explore new foods?
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  Let's remember that Children may need to see uh or explore a food 10 to 15 times before they are willing to put it in their mouth.
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  Much less like it.
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  That's a biggie.
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  Right.
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  Right.
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  And as adults do,
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  we always are oftentimes like something the first go unless it's a dessert or something,
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  probably not.
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  So to ease that train transition,
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  we can make small changes by branching out to foods that are similar in flavor or texture to their favorite or tolerated foods.
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  And so,
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  and you know,
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  people are going to know the Children in their lives the best.
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  And so if these tips aren't helping or Children are literally gagging with new foods or eat fewer than 10 foods,
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  that's when it's time to reach out to some one for additional support because there might be some sensory processing issues that make it difficult to engage with these new or different foods.
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  And so that's where they can loop you into professionals if you,
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  if you need support with that.
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  Well,
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  and as a grandmother,
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  I can say if at first you don't succeed,
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  try again because maybe,
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  you know,
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  they're too young or maybe that's just a flavor that they don't like right now.
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  Give it a year or so and try again because that might be something that they decided that they do like after a while.
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  Absolutely.
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  And,
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  and the older Children are,
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  I find that you can,
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  you can just point blank,
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  ask them,
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  what didn't you like about that food?
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  Maybe it was too hot and we just needed to cool it off or maybe it was too spicy.
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  We used the seasoning and next time we can leave it off or maybe it was the texture.
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  We can oftentimes cook things in different ways that lead to very different textures and sometimes different flavor profiles.
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  So the possibilities are endless.
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  So don't give up on that whatever it is.
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  You know,
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  it might be something that's gonna work out.
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  And I know as an adult I have things that I like now that I did not like when I was younger.
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  So I think our taste buds are always changing,
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  aren't they?
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  Absolutely.
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  All right.
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  Well,
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  thank you,
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  Courtney for spending the time with us to share today about getting Children to eat new foods.
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  I think this will be a fun one to hear how it's worked for some of our,
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  our families who listen and yes,
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  I'd love to hear if you are just tuning in,
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  you are listening to Talking Facts and we are available on all major podcast providers.
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