Food food food

One of the many challenges of raising a child with autism is... Food.

Getting children to eat healthy is a challenge for any parent, just as it is challenge for me to eat healthy myself;  when dealing with autism, there is a third challenge and this could be described as a fear of the unfamiliar.

In my son's case, for years and years, he would not eat anything new at all.  We always had to make sure and by lots of Banquet Sausages.  I would cheer when I could get them at $10 for 10 at the local grocery store.  He wouldn't eat anything else for breakfast.  He was very OCD about this.  I tried to get him to try other brands or even other foods but usually the conversation went something like this.

• "Okay Josh, try this first, then you can have sausage."
• Josh would take a tiny little bite that barely touches his teeth and says, "Tried it. Don't like it!"

We have tried other means with some success and sometimes without success.  

Lately, he has stopped eating Banquet Sausage and is now insisting on meatballs.  That means almost every meal has meatballs for him and the other 3 of us have something else.

My daughter tends to find this rather annoying, particularly since she is actually a good cook(we are going to miss her terribly when she goes to college).

Oddly enough, she has cooked some dishes for all of us that Josh will actually eats. Its always a bit of a surprise.

This is a dish that my wife and my daughter worked on today while everyone was staying home due to the snow and ice.  Ham and cheese sandwiches made with some chopped peppers and onions and I believe some provolone cheese.  Josh liked them.

As far as eating healthy is concerned, I suppose the best way to do that for him is to change what we all eat on a regular basis.  I am currently searching recipes from various sources and trying to get back to www.myfitnesspal.com and search for solutions there as well.

Perhaps it is hard for everyone to change habits from the familiar.  In this way, we can all related to autism even in a small way.