Your Biggest Questions About Dealing With Picky Eaters, Answered

To answer this and more pressing questions that parents of picky eaters commonly ask, we spoke with pediatric specialist Murray Clarke, D.Hom, N.D., whose 20 years of clinical experience in children's nutrition led him to found Childlife Essentials in 2000 and formulate the first complete line of nutritional supplements for infants and children.

Clarke puts it simply: "Eliminate sugar from their diet." A parent himself, he also knows that's much easier said than done and adds, "the best answer I can give is set an example and eat organic, clean, whole foods as much as possible, and try to avoid anything processed. The artificial colorings, flavors, sweeteners in processed foods are where their taste buds start going askew."

"Totally. As their parents, we're their role model for everything, including their eating habits," Clarke says, "and that goes for emotional eating and snacking, too. If you're not eating clean, your kid won't even know that clean food exists."

Being choosy with their snacks in between meals allows kids to build up an appetite for healthy foods. "If they want something sweet, avoid high-sugar or processed snacks, and try fruit instead. Or maybe it's cheese, turkey jerky, nuts, or some sort of protein," he adds. "That way it won't disrupt their blood sugar."

"If they start eating clean foods at 6, 7 months, then you're going to get a longer time period before they start getting picky," Clarke explains. "You see a lot of kids starting to get picky in their first year, but you can prevent that up until 4 years so that they're open to trying new foods regularly."

The essential vitamins, minerals, and fatty acids are the building blocks of everything, says Clarke, and experts agree that getting certain nutrients early on is important because the first few years of a child's life are critical for development: vitamin C, vitamins D, calcium, magnesium, iron, and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids such as omega-3 fish oils, which have DHA for the brain. "Based on the research we have now, it's very clear that over 50% of children and adults are deficient in vitamin D1." 

"Without extensive blood work, there's no easy way to tell," says Clarke. "It comes down to being aware of the essential vitamins and minerals, and where we get them in our food, and then monitoring that as closely as possible so we can gauge whether they're getting that full spectrum and a balanced, nutrient-dense diet. But it's tough to ensure your child is getting that full spectrum every day, and so that's when you start thinking about supplementing."

Supplementing can be a way to ensure that they're getting all the nutrients they need. Based on over two decades of pediatric nutrition research and clinical work, Clarke identified four key nutrients for growing children and formulated Childlife Essentials' Core 4, all of which are non-GMO; made without any artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners; and are free of the top eight allergens:

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.