Food is hard, because kids get their own ideas, especially when they’re older, and fighting against them can be counterproductive. When he was an early teen, the boy I raised decided he only wanted to eat white food. Chicken breast, white fish, rice, tofu, white cheese.

Probably sounds fairly healthy, but you’ll notice there are no green vegetables in that list. Or really any vegetables at all! I didn’t try to force him, because he was already a picky eater and I worried he didn’t get enough food.

I did the best I could by keeping fruits and things around that I knew he would occasionally eat. Oh, and fruit juice, even if it was sugary, because I didn’t want him to die of scurvy. 🤣

He was a late bloomer, so for most of that white food period, he did not need a lot of calories, being fairly small and not growing much.

The white food period ended when he began to shoot up in height. He started devouring everything in sight, and if it happened to be the wrong color, he overlooked it. Instead of picking carrots and turnips and other healthy things out of stews and casseroles, he didn’t even look at what was on his fork.

Basically, I felt like I was along for the ride. I would do my best to encourage him and make healthy food available, but ultimately he made his own choices.

We won’t even talk about the McDonald’s phase that came later. He lived through his adolescence, though, so I guess it turned out okay in the end.

I wish you much success with your daughter and her body image and healthy eating habits!