Great photo Chris, and its an honor to be the first commenter!

my 6 yo boy is getting more and more picky about food. He basically only eats macaroni and cheese. Is that acceptable? I'm just worried he is going to get sick of that and then we'll be really hosed.

anyway, happy to contribute to this project Chris!

Chris,

Seems like my adopted daughter, (she's from asia) only likes HOT stuff! Flamin Hot Cheetos, Kung Pao Chicken to name a couple. Good things like fruit, veggies, etc go unopened at school. I think its a phase all kids go through. They will eat only one thing at a time. Sure makes it tough though! I guess we are paying for our raising as my mom likes to say!

I think diet and nutrition are best observed through the long lens of moderation. Kids definitely go through stages that cause you to feel like you're raising either the future host of a whole foods cooking show or a junk food junkie. But as they grow they will take cues from you and the diet and nutritional habits you demonstrate. When my son was still in the high chair and using a bib he loved steamed carrots; now (he's 11) he won't even eat them raw, which is okay with me, because he loves other veggies and a variety of fruits. At that time, he ate Cheerios, drank apple juice, ate cheese, apples, and bananas.

Because I've seen his tastes change - and not necessarily for the better or worse, his tastes have just changed as he's grown - I've become less worried about his overall nutritional health.

We talk about natural foods, cooking, processed foods, ingredients, etc. to give our kids perspective on the choices they have and we encourage them to cook. We encourage them to try new things to give themselves a chance to decide whether they like them or not. For example, my son is a popcorn nut. He'd eat popcorn nonstop if we'd let him. Last Christmas I got him a stovetop popcorn maker. He insisted that microwave popcorn was better. Then he tried the popcorn maker and discovered he liked the fresh popped variety. Next I encouraged him to try using real butter on his popcorn instead of margarine. He didn't like the taste. He had been eating margarine his whole life and calling it "butter", but didn't know the real taste it was supposed to be replacing. Now he rarely eats margarine at all and really doesn't eat butter that often either.

Most of all, don't fret over the latest advice, recommendations, guidelines, hooha, whatever from experts. As Michael Pollan points out in In Defense of Food, human beings have somehow survived for thousands of years without anyone telling us what we should eat.

Give your kids good choices and let them experience for themselves the variety of tastes that are available to them. There are things they just won't eat; don't worry, that will probably change. Most times, they'll surprise you.