We’ve all been told countless times by our children’s pediatrician that our kiddos need to eat healthy. They need a balanced diet. Limit juice and only give water throughout the day. While we know and completely understand that our children should have food from all 3 food groups—vegetables and fruit, whole grain products, and protein food. If your autistic child is anything like ours this concept is nearly impossible.Some days we are lucky if we can get him to eat two out of the three.
Most children on the spectrum are picky eaters so none of this should come as a surprise. Our kiddo doesn't eat any grains except graham crackers and oatmeal, he only eats blueberries, and don’t get me started on the veggies. The only way we can get him to eat vegetables is through a smoothie. Please believe me when I tell you that we throw in ALL the veggies when making smoothies for him! His idea of healthy snacking is Yum Earth Organic Gummy Bears and sometimes organic Cheetos (insert face palm). Although, I heard recently that he licked and possibly ate a Cheese Itz during snack time at preschool. I got so excited that I ran to the grocery store to buy him both the Organic Annies Cheese Cheddar Squares and the national brand Cheese Itz. Not that I think Cheese Itz are healthy snacking. I wasn’t sure which brand the preschool served and yes that matters to our very picky eater. Well, I guess he was feeling adventurous that particular day because he acted completely disinterested when I tried to give the crackers to him at home. What I realized is that P2 was probably just licking the salt off of the crackers. He seems to really like salt so I am going to use that to my advantage while also sneaking in a serving or two of vegetables.
We try to get the things he’s lacking in his diet with multi-vitamins, probiotics and a few other recommend supplements. I like to sprinkle Enof on his food but it also works if you sprinkle it into a drink. Enof is organic, gluten, free, and Non-GMO so I feel really good about giving it to him. According to simplyenof.com, it's packed with great nutrition—one serving contains up to 60% of your recommended daily allowance of Vitamins A, C, D, E and K. This product has been working for us, in fact, I give it to the whole family. We have to do what we have to do in order to keep our babies healthy. My motto is always do what you can but do what works for you!
