How Do I get My Son Who Has ADHD To Eat Vegetables? He Hates Them!

Q: I am having a hard time trying to get my son to eat vegetables. I’ve tried cooking broccoli and topping it with cheese, but he still will not eat them. He doesn’t like to eat vegetables or salads and I’m worn out everyday trying to coax him into eating them. However, he doesn’t fight me to eat fruit if I peel and cut it up for him. Do you have any suggestions to help with my situation? I understand how important it is for ADHD to eat organic vegetables but he simply won’t eat them.

Cindy

A: I’m so excited to get this question! For Christmas I got a Vitamix (Blender/food processor) and Excalibur (Dehydrator). I’m not really a fan of juicers because I believe it’s equally important to not only drink the juice you extract from the juicer but you should eat the pulp(skin) as well. That can be kinda of gross to eat  especially for kids if ya know what I mean. The pulp contains all the fiber and since ADD/ADHD children are too young for colon cleanses, it’s vital that they get the proper amount of fiber in their diet each day. Remember ADD/ADHD DO NOT detoxify well so it’s important that they get fiber each day to help them have regular bowel movement (1-3 times a day)!!!This means they need to EAT fruits and vegetables and not juice them. 

The Vitamix is the MOST wonderful durable machine of all time!!!!!!! The blades are so powerful that you can drop fruits, veggies, starches, etc…. and it will completely puree it with no chucks of food. You can make healthy soy fruit ice creams, hot soups (yes, the blades if you run them more than 4 mins will make the soup hot), bread (we now make our own flour b/c of this machine), and not to mention tons of recipes for your dehydrator such as fruit roll ups, energy bars, crackers, etc…. I have talk to customers who have had this machine for over 15 years that still use it everyday. They all rave about how durable it still is, how easy it is to use everyday, and how simple it is to clean. Children will have an easier time drinking these vegetable cocktails rather than eating all of the different types of veggies they need each day. Also keep in mind, fruit should only make up 15% of your diet each day and no more than that!! Fruit is high in sugars. Even though it’s a good sugar (time released) ADD/ADHD already have problems with improper digestion due to food allergies and are highly mineral deficit (magnesium/calcium) causing an overgrowth of yeast. Sugar feeds disease, yeast, fungi, and mold. Your diet must have 60% of veggies each day. You also want color as well, such as bell peppers, onions, spinach, squash, etc….. and not just green veggies. BTW: The darker the greens the better!

The dehydrator cooks food at low temperatures so the enzymes of fruits and veggies are not compromised. So many times veggies are over cooked leaving no vital nutrients left. So basically the broccoli that you cooked for your son didn’t have any nutrients in it once you cooked them. At this point the only purpose to eat the broccoli is for the fiber. And stay away from milk (cheese you put on top of the broccoli), verry bad for ADHD!

I have made Charlie apple, sweet potatoes, zucchini, cucumber, and pineapple chips to take to school and munch on his way to his basketball games. This week I made him every flavor of fruit roll ups you can imagine. I haven’t tried to make the energy bars or boco burgers yet but I’m working on it.

These two machines are pricey but are the Cadillac of their breed and will last you a LIFE TIME. Look at this as an investment that will not only benefit your child but your entire family. Charlie told me the day after I got my Vitamix and Excalibur that he felt that theses were gifts for him. He loves to operate this machine and has made us ice cream everyday. He even makes it for his friends when they come over. He loves it!

Click on the links below.

Vitamix: http://www.vita-mix.com/ Check out all the videos for the Vitamix! This machine is a life savior for ADD/ADHD children and adult!

Excalibur: http://www.excaliburdehydrator.com/ If you desire healthy snacks than a dehydrator is the way to go! If you purchase this product, you should also get “Preserve it Naturally” Third Edition book, the Paraflex sheets (for the fruit roll ups), and the Pre-treatment (Sodium Bifsufite).

Enthusiastically yours,

This entry was posted on 5. January 2009 at 20:19 and is filed under Charlie's Personal Experiences, Questions From My ADD/ADHD Website, Proper Nutrition for ADD/ADHD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.