Anxious Eaters, Anxious Mealtimes

Book excerpt: How can grasshoppers help parents and feeding professionals teach anxious eaters about new foods? Marsha Dunn Klein, an internationally-known feeding therapist, provides the answer in this book—highlighting that most anxious eaters do not enjoy the sensations and varibility of new foods. In seeking to help them, she asks what you’d need to do to help yourself try a worrisome new food, such as a grasshopper. Drawing on her own experience trying grasshoppers while learning Spanish in Mexico, she personalizes the struggle of children to find new food enjoyment, providing a goldmine of practical, proven, and compassionate strategies for parents and professionals who work with anxious eaters. Learn how to: • find peace and enjoyment during mealtimes; • find ways to help anxious eaters fearlessly try new foods; • navigate the sensory variations in food smells, tastes, textures looks, sounds: and • help anxious eaters (and their parents) develop a more positive relationship with food. Because parents are absolutely central to mealtime success, the author incorporates parent insights throughout the book. Using encouragement, novelty, and fun, she invites everyone back to the table with a sensitive and pressure-free approach.