Eat More Meat!

The summer that AJ was born (2008) the Summer Olympics were held in Beijing, China.  The General Mills Cheerios box we bought featured an Olympic hero, Adam van Koeverden on the kayak with his arms up in a victory pose.  Anyway, he was Maggie's hero and she recognized his face and I had to keep that same box for her while refilling it with a new bag of Cheerios for months. For whatever reason, she actually thought he was saying "Eat more meat" and that was the motto we used to convince her to eat more meat. Anyway the box is long gone and I don't think she remembers about Adam anymore, but we still use that motto from time to time on little AJ too.

Sometimes I wonder if they really eat enough meat. Actually it's Maggie I'm more concerned about though I've come to realize that I can't count the calories or the proper food group servings in a 24 hour period; instead I really have to look at a three day average. She only likes fish sticks and occasionally steak. There was a time when Maggie would only eat roast duck and bacon. Then it was hot dogs, Pogo's and chicken nuggets until dad tried to ban (or limit) the processed food. But she'll eat four egg (whites) for breakfast, scrambled or hard boiled. AJ is a meat eater for sure, though there could be a day when he eats three slices of turkey bacon for breakfast, just plain pasta with Parmesan cheese for lunch, and then two mini Angus beef slider burgers for dinner and then not a speck of meat for days. Lincoln on the other hand will eat a very balanced meal from all food groups, on top of nearly 5-8 cups of milk or formula a day. Not sure if this is normal but if he can climb a two-story "rock" climbing wall on the bouncy castle and take the long slide down on his own at 21 months, I am  not worried about him!

I think the secret is to introduce food in a different presentation and at the same time just take it easy and not force them to eat. They like BBQ steak, BBQ pork (Chinese), fish sticks and AJ's favorite is "baked salmon fish".  We have to buy those at Costco. One time we were shopping at the Country Grocer and he saw lean turkey slices and asked if we could have that for dinner. I rolled them into little turkey rolls and he ate half the pack. Turkey is turkey and I think the tryptophan effect is no myth!

They love the Costco chicken but only on the first meal. If they see leftovers the next day, they refuse to eat it. Well I made those into chicken salad sandwich with mayo for my dinner; lo and behold AJ actually wanted to try it and he had it for breakfast too!

I might have to reintroduce Maggie's hero Adam to her again to remind her to eat more meat; her brothers seem to have no problem with that advice.