When Dinner Doesn’t Go as Planned: How Intuitive Eating Saves the Day

Tonight’s dinner, a smorgasbord of leftover finger foods. A few new items and a few of “safe” foods for the boys.

On the menu:
A pork chop (eaten before)
Naan bread (safe)
Spring rolls (new)
Green peppers (eaten before)
Cucumber (eaten before)
With a side of tzatziki and plum sauce, and dill dip (safe)
And apple sauce (one of the boys all time favs)

As my hubby and I ate, I watched as my boys asked for not 1, not 2, but 3 helpings of applesauce. After their third, small bowl of applesauce I asked them if they wanted to try any of the other foods and named what was on the table, and offered them bites from my plate.

They refused at first.

A small part of me wondered if applesauce would be the only thing they ate tonight before bed. To my surprise, they both grabbed a few slices of naan bread, veggies and some dip and went munching away.

Was I relieved?

Of course!! But it wouldn’t have been a deal breaker for them to JUST eat applesauce for supper either.

Why, you ask?

Because they’ve shown me time and time again that they KNOW exactly what they’re doing when they eat. Some days they eat a lot, some days not so much. Some days it’s all protein and fat, other days it’s mostly carbs.

If you could take a moment and imagine zooming out instead of focusing in on every minute detail of each meal, you could maybe see that too.

Your child knows what they’re doing if you let them. The problem may be you’ve been in control too long and they don’t know HOW to tap back into their own intuition because they’ve always followed yours.

~ L

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