The Vegetable of Last Resort

By Grandma Kathleen, homeschooling grandmother of an 11-year-old with an Autism Spectrum Disorder

From the first time that Tom (then two years, six months and newly returned with his parents from a western state) came to a family Thanksgiving dinner, severe food aversions have been an issue in our family. My mother (his great-grandmother) and I (his grandmother) had 98 years of mothering between us, and we were sure that if we just gave him a plate with small amounts of food, and did not look at him, put no particular expectations on him, he surely would eat something.

Wrong! Instead he screamed and acted as if we had intentionally put a plate of live worms in front of him, and peace was not restored until he was allowed to leave the table and run around in the living room.

I tried everything, but he was growing rapidly on a diet which consisted primarily of French fries (overcooked crispy) and corn chips. He and I grew a vegetable garden. He proudly served the produce to his visiting aunt and uncle, but would not even taste it. His occupational therapist had him play with food; I brought him fresh strawberries and showed him how to dip them in sugar. He wouldn't taste them. We made things with marshmallows and did finger painting with chocolate pudding. He proudly learned to cook and make gluten-free brownies. His diet remained constant.

I found in the library a book entitled Can't Eat, Won't Eat by Brenda Legge. That at least reassured me that this was not an uncommon problem, even though to me it seemed extreme. When Tom was almost five, he was diagnosed serologically with celiac disease and gluten ataxia. That was a big help, but unfortunately he had already learned to distrust food, and his oral sensory issues made it difficult for him to eat anything that was not crunchy and hard. I read books about sneaking vegetables into stews and muffins, but how do you sneak anything into a corn or potato chip? We bought veggie chips of various kinds and brands. He would take one bite, look betrayed, and spit it out.

Yes, I knew this was not good for his health. I had worked for six years in the Nutrition Division at Cornell as a Research Associate, and was a denizen of health food stores and farmer's markets for years before that. But nothing was helping. I read Just Take A Bite  and even bought his family a table for family meals. That didn't help, because Tom could not stand to smell meals with onions or cabbage-family vegetables and would ask us to leave the room if we were eating something like that in his presence! Mixed foods were “disgusting!” Once, he told me, his parents had purchased a cauliflower with intent to cook it! Tom asked me, as his grandmother, if there wasn't anything I could do to stop them. Apparently he thought that in those circumstances I should be able to call Child Protective or something. The odor would overpower him, probably do him in, he thought.

We took him to the Feeding Aversions Center at the local Regional Medical Center. The team assessed him and said we were doing very well (you could have fooled us), that with “these kids” we take what we can get. Of course, we were supplementing his diet, but the only thing that they were worried about was whether he was getting sufficient protein. He visited a psychologist for a couple of months. He tasted a pea and gagged and nearly vomited. He happily drank a vegetable-fruit juice combination and promptly had projectile vomiting.

This past year or two we have made three great leaps forward in Tom's diet. First, I took him to Longhorn Steakhouse where he discovered that he likes the top sirloin steak they have on the children's menu—even medium! He eats every bit of this every time. (He won't eat steak at home yet, but we are hopeful.) Since he is homeschooled I consider this visit Social Skills and Nutrition 301. Secondly, he got braces, which meant that he could no longer eat extremely hard and crunchy food, and so his beloved overcooked French fries could be normally prepared. And third, there is the Vegetable of Last Resort.

THE VEGETABLE OF LAST RESORT

This is a recipe I developed myself. To make it, you use ½ cup pre-cooked white corn masa and 1 small jar of pureed sweet potatoes, a little water, and ¼ tsp. salt. (Yes, I am talking about baby food sweet potatoes, but I do not say that around Tom.) Mix the corn masa with the salt. Pour the sweet potatoes into a ½ cup measure, then make up the difference with a small amount of water, so that the total, sweet potatoes and water, equals ½ cup. Mix, divide into four equal balls, press in a tortilla press, and fry in a deep fat fryer at 375 degrees. This makes four sweet potato/corn tortillas which can be cut with scissors into 24 to 32 chips. Tom actually likes these better than regular corn chips.

What usually happens with children with sensory issues (usually, boys) is that when they reach their adolescent growth spurt either they develop severe nutrient deficiencies which must be medically addressed, or their new hunger prompts them to expand their diets. Sometimes you need to get a little creative to make sure that your child gets the nutrition they need. We are hopeful for Thomas who is now 11-years old.

For more reading, try the following:

Brenda Legge, Can't Eat, Won't Eat:Dietary Difficulties and Autism Spectrum Disorders, 2008. This book is especially good at describing the severity of the problems involved.

Lori Ernsperger et al, Just Take aBite: Easy, Effective Answers to Food Aversions and Eating Challenges!, 2004. These methods didn't really work for us, but they might for some people. It seems to require some good professional support.

Cheri Fraker et al, FoodChaining: The Proven 6-Step Plan to Stop Picky Eating, Solve Feeding Problems, and Expand Your Child’s Diet, 2007. This concept has helped us more than the others.