Thanks @abasket! 
A trek to Costco on a Saturday afternoon when the food demos are there! It will let the kids try new things.
Hard-boiled eggs? Turkey “wraps”: cucumber wedges or bell pepper “strings” wrapped into slices of turkey.
Yep, I’m “thirding” the hummus suggestion - my teen loves it. She will also eat leftover veggies from dinner, plain popcorn, grapes & strawberries and lots of nuts.
Thanks for all of your suggestions! I’m sort of embarrassed to admit, my kiddos are pretty limited in the amount of veggies they will eat. Even as babies, they would refuse veggies even after countless tries (my youngest would literally regurgitate veggies - yuck). They don’t eat hard boiled eggs, either. I feel pretty guilty just writing this…they are such picky eaters! I guess in my defense they have both always had sensory issues (needed “soft” clothes, no loud noises, low light, etc.). I sort of fell into the trap of just feeding them what they would eat, even if it was too sugary or processed. Now comes the hard work of changing all that!
So going cold turkey probably won’t help and will just make them angry. Maybe small changes at a time. If not veggies, how about fruit PAIRED with something else like apples and pb or apples and cheese chunks. Or whole grain (not just plain old Home Pride “whole wheat”) bread/crackers/pita with cheese, nuts. Guacamole? You just need to watch the kind of dippers - a half a bag of tortilla chips is a no-go!!!
Modeling for them and having them see you make different choices and maybe reaping the benefits of feeling better, more energy, losing a pound or two might influence them to “try” new stuff.
Welcome, khmamma! I’m another fan of hummus with wheat crackers–I get woven wheats from Whole Foods. I like to cut up cheese and fruit for a snack–pears make a nice addition to apples and cut up carrots. I’ve been buying mandarins by the case (Halos, Cuties). They’re easy to peel and provide a nice portion size. Do you make smoothies? I make them from frozen bananas, strawberries, protein powder, a spoonful of peanut butter, a bit of vanilla, pie spice, and milk. Just blend everything up and it’s like a milk shake. We also like to make a portable snack of plain cheerios, roasted peanuts for when we hike.
khmamma, my mom’s trick was to have stuff ready for us when we came home from school. We were starved and would eat whatever she put out without thinking too much about what it was. She had peanut butter on crackers, peanut butter on celery, carrot sticks (you could buy baby carrots now), grapes, cut up watermelon (any cut up melon), cheese cubes, cut up apples.
I used the same trick on my kids when they were eating too many cookies and had available the above, plus hummus, yogurt, all kinds of nuts and dried fruits, washed berries, sugar snap peas, edamame. My kids were good eaters, so no problem with what they ate, but they would gravitate towards chips and cookies if those were the easiest foods to grab.
Some people are supertasters. No one said everyone has to like every single vegetable on the planet. That said, try to introduce some stuff but do not push them to try it. I would cut up cukes, bell peppers, carrots, etc. into slices and put a platter in the middle of the table at dinner. I was devoured quickly. I would also leave in plain view (on the counter or at the front of the fridge) easily available, ready to be eaten snacks like pre-cut apples and pre-washed strawberries with tops cut off, little yogurt containers, cuties, some granola bars that were not too sweet, dried mangoes, etc. It was eaten. Peanuts in shells… Can’t eat too many of those because they need to be shelled!
Disclaimer I have no idea how healthy these are but I find them very tasty. They have these nut thins, they are crackers that are gluten free and they have a cheddar cheese flavor. Yum!
I bought smart pop popcorn. Each serving is 120 calories per serving and 2 servings per bag. A bag is a big bowl. I will sometimes eat the entire bag. Takes a long time to each also.
Well, the company 5K was 2 1/2 miles. Last year was 2.8, and they promised it would be right this year- probably because they were sick of hearing from me about the wrong course! We turned at 1.2 miles and I proceeded to announce to everyone around me that the course was going to be way short. A few people actually cared- but not many. So- we had some world records (not really, but it sounds good). I ran 22:30- take THAT!! I was happy with how I ran for an afternoon race that is not exactly a goal event for me. I wasn’t that sorry to have it be short, but I had to run a little more afterwards. Turns out the police made them move the water stop a couple of blocks and it didn’t occur to some of the ladies in HR that the runners still needed to run on up to the “real” turnaround instead of turning around at the relocated water station. Oh well. It was a beautiful afternoon and a fun event.
The other funny thing was that I was the only one not in the event t-shirt. It was a giant red nylon shirt that doesn’t breathe, and I don’t wear the race shirts for the race anyway. I stood out in my bright pink St. Louis Half Marathon tech shirt, pink shoes and socks and flowered running skirt. I’m glad our company does this, though. It’s fun to be out there with everyone. My eye looks terrible…
Well, MOfWC, if someone complains about your outstanding race outfit or that you complained about the course being too short, give them the evil eye! 
Congrats. Running after an eye appointment takes dedication. Your company rocks.
Just a note about hummus from a picky eater. I didn’t like hummus for a long time until I ate fresh hummus from a restaurant. Now I love hummus but still can’t eat hummus from the grocery store.
Good news: I was able to get my infusion today. Bad news: I have to go to a cardiologist and wear a Holter monitor to figure out what’s going on with my heart/pulse.
Ok, Lupus, I know you attack many organs but this is getting ridiculous 
Good to hear about the injection, romani. Hope the monitor will let you figure out what is going on.
Good, Romani. I hope the heart thing is just an anomaly.
Thanks :). The heart racing and pulse thing has been going on for the last few weeks- ever since the infusions started. It’s actually what made me go to the urgent care after the first injection and the EKG they ran then was normal.
I’m assuming everything’s fine but when my pulse is being consistently recorded as 130+ BPM (especially as a young person) while just sitting in a chair doing nothing, medical people apparently start to get a little worried.
I’m not worried. I just figure my body’s having a freakout from so many abrupt changes- meds, weight, activity level, etc.
Hope the monitor helps figure out what’s going on with your pulse/BPM, Romani.
On the subject of snacks, WebMD has a good list of snacks for teens:
Not a bad list! The key is portion control.
Not going to make 20k steps tonight unless I do a BB. Still 3 hours - 17.5k
Well, did over 44,000 steps today. Grand Canyon day hike, 17.4 miles. About 20 min per mile that we were moving,though a tasty long stop at a Phantom Ranch for lemonade. This beer tastes great!
Bus driver - was that walking or on the mule!