Chicken Nugget Diet

This one hits close to Home.

Hey folks,

This one goes out to all the Parents out there. Are your kids Picky Eaters? My 6 year old Son Joshua is. He likes three things. Pizza, Fish, Chicken Nuggets. Trying to get him to eat anything else is quite the chore.

Well in today's Health and Science Segment, I want to tell you a story of a Girl named Stacey Irvine. Stacey, like many other kids, is a VERY Picky Eater. What is her Diet? Chicken Nuggets. That's it. Well, perhaps some Fries. She even says flat out she "can't eat anything else." So? What do you get from a Diet of nothing but Chicken Nuggets? If you are like, now 17 year old Stacey, you get Hospitalized.

According to Take Part - Child Abuse? 17-Year-Old Drops After Eating Only Chicken Nuggets Since Age 2 Sarah Fuss posted on Feb 3, 2012

Stacey Irvine looks surprisingly well for a 17-year-old who's eaten only chicken nuggets since she was 2. But when she recently went to the hospital after passing out from struggling to breathe, doctors told her that she absolutely had to eat more healthily.

"She's been told in no uncertain terms that she will die if she carries on like this, but Stacey says she can't eat anything else," her mom, Evonne, told U.K.'s Daily Mail. "It breaks my heart to see her eating those damned nuggets. I am at my wit's end. I'm praying she can be helped before it's too late."

Stacey claims never to have tasted fruits or vegetables, but admits to sometimes eating fries and toast. "McDonald's chicken nuggets are my favorite," said Stacey. "I share 20 with my boyfriend, with [fries]." She also enjoys nuggets from KFC and the supermarket.

Evonne says her two younger children eat normally, and that she's tried depriving Stacey of food to force her to expand her repertoire.

My other Son Eli, will eat ANYTHING. Sweet, Sour, Spicy, anything we are eating, he wants to try it. We have found ONE thing he does not like. Green Beans.

In the hospital, Stacey was injected with much-needed vitamins and doctors found that she suffered from anaemia and inflamed veins on her tongue due to her obsessive diet.

It's hard to imagine that in the 15 years since Stacey tasted her first nugget at McDonald's, her mom has been unable to influence her to eat the minimal level of nutrients necessary to sustain a human being. Do you think this level of leniency qualifies as abuse? How have you gotten your kids to expand beyond their comfort foods?

Now the Author of this Piece, Sarah Fuss, seems to think that this IS Child Abuse and the Mother should be, what? Held accountable? So I did what I do not do all that often. I checked out the Comments. This one is great.. According to someone named Randy Scott posted on Feb 3, 2012

If her mother has tried everything she can to get her to eat other foods how can it be abuse? Also, if her mother has to force feed her, at what point would people start calling THAT abuse? You can't have everything, and you can't save everybody.

I tend to agree with him on this. But it also brought to mind THIS. Remember this?

"Never force feed, bribe, or plead with your child to eat. Guilt doesn't work either. Saying, "There are thousands of starving children in the world, and you should be grateful to have something to eat," is just not going to register with a young child. Force feeding is really a form of abuse. Stop and think of someone doing that to you. Bribing only teaches a child how to be manipulative. For example, "If you eat all your supper, I'll take you to the movie." If you're not careful, your child could be demanding a new car before too long! Pleading is just downright humiliating for the parent, and for the child, quite amusing as she sees how much control she has over her parents. All of these behaviours teach a child that there are always conditions attached to food, and eating becomes a very negative experience for her."

Yup. In the world of Psychobabble, "Force feeding is really a form of abuse." That's right Mom. Telling your kid to eat healthier food could be considered Child Abuse. So what is a Mom to do? If your kid is Obese, or someone deems him / her that, they can now come and take them right out of the house. If you allow your kid to only eat Chicken Nuggets, and they collapse, you are accused of Child Abuse. We won't even get into the Spanking thing. If you ask them what they want, what do you think they will say? They'll tell you what they want. SO?

At least my Son likes Pizza and Fish. We've recently started to add more Fish to his diet. I don't know, Stacey Irvine looks pretty healthy to me. But then again, I wasn't there. Is it possible that there was / is something else going on with her? Child Abuse, I think not. Good for her? I think not. But in a year she will be an Adult, and she will eat whatever she wants. Just like me.
Peter

Sources:
Take Part - Child Abuse? 17-Year-Old Drops After Eating Only Chicken Nuggets Since Age 2