KW wrote:
>
>
> I resemble that remark. Wild Turkey got me and now I can't drink any liquor
> with an amber color.......with Tequila being the only exception, but drop a
> Whiskey, Scotch, Dark Rum in front of me and I'll start gagging.


I was into Southern Comfort for a while. I once made the mistake of taking
a bottle of that stuff to a BBQ dinner on a hot day and drank it all. I
couldn't hold water down the next day and someone told me I didn't look so
good green. I haven't touched the stuff since, but there are lots of
things with a similar colour that I can still drink with pleasure, as long
as they don't taste like orange.

On Tue, 22 May 2007 20:15:22 -0700, Caryn Nadelberg
> wrote:

>We have been having our son try things at least once. We've noticed
>that the more he is around other kids the more resistant he is to even
>try something, saying it is gross or yucky before he has even tasted it.
>
>But we still do insist on just a bite. He can even spit it out if he
>needs to. Then we leave it. Sometimes he will eat more, sometimes not.
>
>We don't want a picky eater so we do try to offer him different things
>and take him to different places. He seems to be able to eat something
>most anywhere we go.

When my son was little, we had the 3 bite rule. Chew and swallow
three bites (they could be little), then if he still didn't like it he
don't have to eat any more. Years later, he told me he used to hate
me for doing that because I was often right.... it *did* taste good,
but he didn't want to admit it.

My daughter is three years younger and she had a different attitude
toward the three bite rule. She would take one look and decla
Whatever *that* is.... *I don't like it*. Period, end of story. We
were lucky to get her to take ONE bite of something she decided she
didn't like the sight of. She never was a big eater, so hunger wasn't
a factor. If she didn't like it, she wouldn't eat it, didn't care
when she ate next and there was no whining about being hungry an hour
afterward.

Both kids grew up to enjoy a broad (and very healthy) range of food
and both are great cooks, so I don't think I failed in that respect.

My grandson is different from your son in the sense that it seems like
the more he's around other kids, the more likely he is to eat
something he doesn't usually want to try. Our job is to expose them
to different textures (a biggie), flavors and styles of cooking.
Everyone is entitled to likes and dislikes, but they need to be based
on something more substantial than unfounded opinion.

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On Tue, 22 May 2007 23:10:19 -0500, Skyhooks
> wrote:

>I never
>forced him to eat foods he obviously disliked, unlike my own parents!
>
>Oh, how I wish my folks were as enlightened as you when I was a kid! I
>cannot begin to count the many times as a child when I had to remain at
>the dinner table until bedtime because I adamantly refused to eat the
>(read various expletives here!) canned peas


CANNED PEAS! I spent many hours lingering over uneaten peas at the
dinner table myself.

Peas be with you Sistah


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On Wed, 23 May 2007 08:13:06 -0400, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:

> (Their scenario often involved wars or famines where
>I'd be the first to die because I was too picky to eat available food.)

You mean they didn't tell you about all the people starving in (fill
in the blank: county)? For me, it was China.

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Chatty Cathy wrote:

> I have noticed it with a quite a few of my friends - both with them and
> their children as well - they seem to like what they grew up with and
> are not all that keen to try anything that could be termed "strange food".

That's not the case with the kids I raised. One was picky from birth
and still is; one was willing to try anything, and still is.

>
> Anybody else think that if children are not "exposed" to certain foods,
> say between the ages of 2 and 6 y/o, that they will never really
> develop a taste for it, or that it will "take some doing" to get them to
> try something "new" when they are adults?

Nah. I think it might be a factor, but I also think that kids have
preferences just like anyone else does, very early on.

Serene

sf wrote:
>
> You mean they didn't tell you about all the people starving in (fill
> in the blank: county)? For me, it was China.


Nah. That would be scaring me into eating because of other people's
deaths. My parents' tactic was to scare me into eating because of my
own. They thought this was funny. I was an anxious little kid.


--Lia

sf wrote:
> When my son was little, we had the 3 bite rule. Chew and swallow
> three bites (they could be little), then if he still didn't like it he
> don't have to eat any more. Years later, he told me he used to hate
> me for doing that because I was often right.... it *did* taste good,
> but he didn't want to admit it.
>

This is why after he takes that one bite we just let it go and many
times after a bit, he will start eating more. We really try to not make
a big deal about it when he does start eating more. Most of the time we
just look at each other and try not to laugh.

--
Caryn
Caryn Nadelberg - Mommy to Sam and Queen of the May
www.carynen.blogspot.com

>> Anybody else think that if children are not "exposed" to certain
>> foods, say between the ages of 2 and 6 y/o, that they will never
>> really develop a taste for it, or that it will "take some doing" to
>> get them to try something "new" when they are adults?
>
> Nah. I think it might be a factor, but I also think that kids have
> preferences just like anyone else does, very early on.
>
> Serene


I think the exposure is good, but from what I have seen with our son is
that he has some tastes that he seems to have been born with and they
are very similar to some of his father's tastes. Things that he just
likes that I am not particularly fond of. I think it's very funny
sometimes to see them eating these things together.

I'm going to claim the ice cream lust as that's what I craved in the
last few months of my pregnancy.

--
Caryn
Caryn Nadelberg - Mommy to Sam and Queen of the May
www.carynen.blogspot.com

On May 23, 6:32 am, Andy <q> wrote:
> I remember when I stopped eating, I was two years old.
[snip]

wow. cool story.

Did you ever gain your eyesight back again?

Karen

On Thu, 24 May 2007 07:54:14 -0400, Julia Altshuler
> wrote:

>sf wrote:
>>
>> You mean they didn't tell you about all the people starving in (fill
>> in the blank: county)? For me, it was China.
>
>
>Nah. That would be scaring me into eating because of other people's
>deaths. My parents' tactic was to scare me into eating because of my
>own. They thought this was funny. I was an anxious little kid.
>
>
Good old fashioned guilt (an emotional hammer shared by christians and
jews) vs. fear of death.... hmmm.


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See return address to reply by email

Cathy - I can relate to your problem. I have a herd of grandkids.
Amazingly, the middle daughter's husband and their kids, will eat
anything that hasn't hit the floor yet. . .The poor dog feels left
out, when they are around.

However, my youngest daughter's husband, and their kids are the
pickiest eaters I've ever seen. Just about everything must come out
of a can, a box, and be "un-messed" with.

We will be together this weekend,and it's gonna be a lunch meat, hot
dog, potato chip weekend. The kids won't eat deviled eggs, potato
salad, or anything that has mayonaise or mustard. I have made some
baked beans, but I've been really careful to not make them too
"exotic."

I have the same fears you do, about taste development. . .I do know
that when my 10 year old grandson was a baby, I baby sat him, and made
all his food. During that time, he loved most anything I made for
him, but he has been prejudiced by his dad, and all those things he
ate as an infant, he won't touch today.

Good luck to you!

Myrl Jeffcoat
http://www.myrljeffcoat.com

On May 22, 12:22 pm, Chatty Cathy > wrote:

> You may have a valid point there. My daughter will eat foods that I
> don't like, but DH does, and vice versa. However, her maternal
> grandfather is a big "foodie" - I cannot think of anything offhand that
> he won't cook or that he dislikes (not even cabbage!) - so she may have
> gotten some of those genes from him too.
> --
> Cheers
> Chatty Cathy



I sometimes think that kids use food, especially picky eating, as a
control issue with parents. I know when I was a kid, I was very
picky. . .But the minute I got married, I became a serious
eater. . .I'll eat most anything but boiled ocra.

wrote:

> I have the same fears you do, about taste development. . .I do know
> that when my 10 year old grandson was a baby, I baby sat him, and made
> all his food. During that time, he loved most anything I made for
> him, but he has been prejudiced by his dad, and all those things he
> ate as an infant, he won't touch today.


I've heard another theory that has to do with normal growth rates.
Infants have voracious appetites. Parents are often amazed at how much
a baby will eat in proportion to her size. Some time around toddlerhood
and 4 years old, the child stops growing so fast. Proportional to size,
they need less food. The child sensibly stops eating when she's not
hungry, but the parents aren't prepared for the change. The child says
she's not hungry or that she doesn't want food or that she doesn't like
the offered food.


Parents don't realize they're doing it, but they push food on the kid.
In the kids' mind, the food really does look yucky because the thought
of eating it really does make the kid feel sick. A 4 year old isn't
able to distinguish where the feelings are coming from, the desire not
to eat, or the desire not to eat that yucky egg. Before you know it,
the kid is turned off certain foods for life.


Which is why the best advice is still for parents to offer a variety of
nourishing foods, spend no family food budget on junk, and let the kids
eat whatever they want from the foods offered.


I have another question for the picky eaters in the group and especially
the parents and grandparents of picky eaters. Are any of these picky
kids unhealthy or overweight? I was a picky eater who didn't grow out
of it until my late teens. I was a skinny kid, have been a slender
adult, and now that I'm looking at the extra pounds that come with
peri-menopause, still don't fall into the overweight category according
to the charts. I call it picky kid's revenge. Other than trying to eat
more fruits and vegetables, I've never dieted.


--Lia

On May 25, 7:58 am, Julia Altshuler > wrote:
> wrote:
> > I have the same fears you do, about taste development. . .I do know
> > that when my 10 year old grandson was a baby, I baby sat him, and made
> > all his food. During that time, he loved most anything I made for
> > him, but he has been prejudiced by his dad, and all those things he
> > ate as an infant, he won't touch today.
>
> I've heard another theory that has to do with normal growth rates.
> Infants have voracious appetites. Parents are often amazed at how much
> a baby will eat in proportion to her size. Some time around toddlerhood
> and 4 years old, the child stops growing so fast. Proportional to size,
> they need less food. The child sensibly stops eating when she's not
> hungry, but the parents aren't prepared for the change. The child says
> she's not hungry or that she doesn't want food or that she doesn't like
> the offered food.
>
> Parents don't realize they're doing it, but they push food on the kid.
> In the kids' mind, the food really does look yucky because the thought
> of eating it really does make the kid feel sick. A 4 year old isn't
> able to distinguish where the feelings are coming from, the desire not
> to eat, or the desire not to eat that yucky egg. Before you know it,
> the kid is turned off certain foods for life.

I swore I wouldn't do that. I remember sitting at the table until
bedtime with some food or other that I didn't want sitting on my plate
uneaten.

My daughter was what we called the "air baby". She would eat and
nurse normally, then all of a sudden, had little to no interest in
food. The next morning, her clothes would not fit! Hmmmmm. This
pattern lasted until she was about 5, when she became a picky
eater<g>. My response was to give her tiny portions of everything,
which she had to eat (a teaspoon or so to start). Then if she was
hungry, she could have more.

At 15, she now has definite preferences, but eats a reasonably well-
balanced diet.

> Which is why the best advice is still for parents to offer a variety of
> nourishing foods, spend no family food budget on junk, and let the kids
> eat whatever they want from the foods offered.
>
> I have another question for the picky eaters in the group and especially
> the parents and grandparents of picky eaters. Are any of these picky
> kids unhealthy or overweight? I was a picky eater who didn't grow out
> of it until my late teens. I was a skinny kid, have been a slender
> adult, and now that I'm looking at the extra pounds that come with
> peri-menopause, still don't fall into the overweight category according
> to the charts. I call it picky kid's revenge. Other than trying to eat
> more fruits and vegetables, I've never dieted.
>
> --Lia

I felt it was the overriding of the child's "appistat", the signal
from the stomach to the brain that they've had enough, that caused
obesity and eating disorders. The "clean your plate" syndrome. I've
trained myself to not eat everything on the plate when we eat out, and
to take smaller portions at home. Doesn't always work, but it's
better than it used to be. The kid is now learning to order by what
she will eat.

maxine in ri

On May 25, 8:58 am, Julia Altshuler > wrote:

> I have another question for the picky eaters in the group and especially
> the parents and grandparents of picky eaters. Are any of these picky
> kids unhealthy or overweight? I was a picky eater who didn't grow out
> of it until my late teens. I was a skinny kid, have been a slender
> adult, and now that I'm looking at the extra pounds that come with
> peri-menopause, still don't fall into the overweight category according
> to the charts. I call it picky kid's revenge. Other than trying to eat
> more fruits and vegetables, I've never dieted.

I was a picky eater. Unfortunately, what I picked were
things like french fries. And because I was the sole kid
in a house with four adults, they always found it easier to
make me macaroni with butter, salt and pepper than fight
with me over food.

I have been overweight or obese as long as I can
remember. It's a struggle, even now when I enjoy healthful
foods like vegetables, to refrain from gaining, much less
lose any. And menopause isn't doing me any
favors in the metabolism department.

Cindy Hamilton

sf wrote:
> On Wed, 23 May 2007 08:13:06 -0400, Julia Altshuler
> > wrote:
>
>> (Their scenario often involved wars or famines where
>> I'd be the first to die because I was too picky to eat available food.)
>
> You mean they didn't tell you about all the people starving in (fill
> in the blank: county)? For me, it was China.
>
my husband, as a kid of course, after being told that (Africa) scraped
all the food off of his plate that he didn't want to eat, put it in a
box, and put in by the mailbox with Africa written on it.

sf wrote:
> On Tue, 22 May 2007 23:10:19 -0500, Skyhooks
> > wrote:
>
>> I never
>> forced him to eat foods he obviously disliked, unlike my own parents!
>>
>> Oh, how I wish my folks were as enlightened as you when I was a kid! I
>> cannot begin to count the many times as a child when I had to remain at
>> the dinner table until bedtime because I adamantly refused to eat the
>> (read various expletives here!) canned peas
>
>
> CANNED PEAS! I spent many hours lingering over uneaten peas at the
> dinner table myself.
>
> Peas be with you Sistah
>
>
I used to hide the canned peas in my napkin, then go to the bathroom and
flush them down the toilet. I still don't eat peas.

On Sat, 26 May 2007 09:44:06 -0400, Sharon V
> wrote:

>sf wrote:
>> On Tue, 22 May 2007 23:10:19 -0500, Skyhooks
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> I never
>>> forced him to eat foods he obviously disliked, unlike my own parents!
>>>
>>> Oh, how I wish my folks were as enlightened as you when I was a kid! I
>>> cannot begin to count the many times as a child when I had to remain at
>>> the dinner table until bedtime because I adamantly refused to eat the
>>> (read various expletives here!) canned peas
>>
>>
>> CANNED PEAS! I spent many hours lingering over uneaten peas at the
>> dinner table myself.
>>
>> Peas be with you Sistah
>>
>>
>I used to hide the canned peas in my napkin, then go to the bathroom and
>flush them down the toilet. I still don't eat peas.

I couldn't get away with doing that. Mom paid close attention to what
I did.

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On Sat, 26 May 2007 09:41:55 -0400, Sharon V
> wrote:

>sf wrote:
>> On Wed, 23 May 2007 08:13:06 -0400, Julia Altshuler
>> > wrote:
>>
>>> (Their scenario often involved wars or famines where
>>> I'd be the first to die because I was too picky to eat available food.)
>>
>> You mean they didn't tell you about all the people starving in (fill
>> in the blank: county)? For me, it was China.
>>
>my husband, as a kid of course, after being told that (Africa) scraped
>all the food off of his plate that he didn't want to eat, put it in a
>box, and put in by the mailbox with Africa written on it.

Good story, but it wouldn't have happened at my house.

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In article >,
Chatty Cathy > wrote:

> Been thinking about picky eaters again....
>
> I have two children (many years apart). DS was the first-born - and when
> he was a "toddler" we had little or no access to seafood or shellfish,
> with the result that he never had much of either. To this day, he
> dislikes anything remotely "fishy". He will eat almost anything else,
> tho'. OTOH, our younger one (3 y/o) has been exposed to many kinds of
> food, including seafood/shellfish and she seems to like it all.
>
> I have noticed it with a quite a few of my friends - both with them and
> their children as well - they seem to like what they grew up with and
> are not all that keen to try anything that could be termed "strange food".
>
> Anybody else think that if children are not "exposed" to certain foods,
> say between the ages of 2 and 6 y/o, that they will never really
> develop a taste for it, or that it will "take some doing" to get them to
> try something "new" when they are adults?

I think a lot depends on the kid's personality and tastebuds, as well as
the parent's attitude to food and trying new things.

Someone at lunch today referred to Agent Weasel (my daughter, who's just
turned nine) as "fussy", because she doesn't eat scones. I don't think
of her as fussy because she will try just about anything. I also think
it's important for me to be just as adventurous about my food as I
expect her to be. For instance, I didn't discover sushi until I was
into my 30s! The Agent sees me giving things a go, and she'll give them
a go too. She's made some wonderful discoveries that way.

Also, this is the child who likes strongly-flavoured food, has been into
curry since she was a pre-schooler and bought herself a treat of 72%
cocoa chocolate, with her saved-up pocket money. I've no worries about
her turning into a fussy eater, unless it's in the direction of holding
out for the good stuff!

Miche

--
In the monastery office --
Before enlightenment: fetch mail, shuffle paper
After enlightenment: fetch mail, shuffle paper

In article >,
blake murphy > wrote:

> On Wed, 23 May 2007 10:39:58 -0400, Dave Smith
> > wrote:
>
> >Virginia Tadrzynski wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> My father, God rest his soul, knew some 'interesting' people. One such
> >> person took my father on a bender with some 'homebrew'. Finest kind made
> >> in
> >> the bathtub. Father dear got deathly ill....swore until the day he died
> >> it
> >> was because he drank it out of a green bottle. Would eat or drink nothing
> >> from that day on that originated in a green bottle.
> >
> >:-)
> >
> >Lots of people won't drink certain liquors because it was the first thing
> >they ever got so drunk on that they puked their guts out, but they usually
> >blame the booze, not the colour of the bottle it came in.
>
> this is known as a learned food aversion. people have that mechanism,
> but not as strongly as, say, rats. i suppose you could call an
> aversion to the bottle color stimulus generalization.
>
> (my bête noire is scotch, due to an unfortunate experience as a
> college freshman, generalized to a certain extent to bourbon and rum.
> oddly, i've puked many times drinking beer, but the aversion never
> kicked in, thank god.)

Bacardi and I had an argument one New Year's Eve and it won. To this
day I can't look it in the face.

Miche

--
In the monastery office --
Before enlightenment: fetch mail, shuffle paper
After enlightenment: fetch mail, shuffle paper

On Sun, 27 May 2007 16:36:46 +1200, Miche > wrote:

>I've no worries about
>her turning into a fussy eater, unless it's in the direction of holding
>out for the good stuff!

I never thought of myself as "fussy" (I'm the one who eats *anything*
except cooked endives) until I found myself in the hospital for 10
days and confronted with awful food. Now I know I have one kind of
fussiness: I just can't eat bad food. I survived on whatever I could
find that was edible on those trays (not much, vegetables were few and
invariably overcooked, meat and fish were bland, fruit were canned and
syrupy - blech) plus what I asked my SO and friends to bring (fresh
fruit, cherry tomatoes, Italian crackers, plain yogurts, OJ, and small
dry sausages). I lost a ton of weight during those 10 days (can't say
how much exactly since I had a broken leg and could not climb on
scales, but from my clothes when I got out, I'd say at least 4 kgs,
which is a lot for such a short time), faced with bad food, I just
lost my appetite. Oh, and I found out *why* I was so fussy and hated
vegetables so much when I was a kid: I just hate boiled vegetables.

Nathalie in Switzerland