Family Joins Medical City Children's Hospital's 21-Day Challenge

NBC 5 has partnered with Tami Bern and her family, including her 10-year-old son Brodie, as they take part in Medical City Children's Hospital's 21-Day Challenge. From time to time through the challenge, Bern will blog for NBC 5 and share some of the successes and challenges her family has faced along the way. For more information from Medical City on the challenge, click here.

Day 7

Tami Bern
After battling the flu, Brodie eases back into healthy snacking with some seedless grapes.

Today when I came home, after our first real day of us all feeling somewhat better and past the birthday celebrations, we kept it simple.

Brodie was hungry but we didn't want to venture too crazy as to cause an upset stomach after a week of weakness, so we decided on an easy snack.

Seedless grapes. And. He. Loves. Them. :)

Day 6

The last several days have had its challenges, and in saying that, we have dropped the ball in staying on top of our snack game. One major challenge is the influenza virus has hit our household, making appetites diminish and leaving us too weak to prepare several meals, too tired to eat, etc.

We have succumbed to eating something fast and quick and unhealthy when we felt unhealthy.

Another challenge was Brodie turned 11 this week. With that came, "I don't want a snack today mom, I want to save room for my cake" or "I need to save room for dessert" after we've taken him to celebratory dinners with family.

Our healthy snacking is back. Stay tuned!

Day 5

Tami Bern
Brodie prepares cucumbers with chili powder, black pepper and cinnamon/sugar.

Decided to switch gears and try something a lot different than Brodie is used to. I feel like I failed a bit here as a parent, but my child had never tried a cucumber!

I convinced him to try one as part of the challenge and told him he may even like them enough to include them in his "journal of approved foods."

I decided to make it simple and start lightly here with a few seasonings; I didn't want to introduce too much flavor at once or overwhelm him.

I supervised as he cut the cucumber (which he did surprisingly well) and separated three sections with two slices each.

We used three seasonings: chili powder, black pepper and cinnamon/sugar (the last one was his choice). To both our amazement, he really liked them! He likes cucumbers! Now my failure has been success :) Cucumbers are now approved!

(A challenge in this specific snack was Brodie's hesitance in trying a cucumber with anything; he just had a strong idea that it had a bold taste and realized it's actually very light.)

Day 4

Tami Bern
Blueberries and Greek yogurt.

Snack: Blueberries and Greek yogurt.

Brodie was not big on trying this snack. He recalls the last time he tried blueberries and he was NOT a fan, hence he refused to eat them for a long time.

HOWEVER, I reminded him that he agreed to try every snack throughout the challenge so he took a chance. I was surprised with his response. He enjoyed the blueberries but wasn't much of a fan about the yogurt.

He did eat all of it though.

He said, "It was nice to try blueberries again because I was worried I wouldn't like them. I remember not liking them the first time I ate them."

I think the smile on his face says it all :)

Day 2

Tami Bern
Spiced Apples

I decided to utilize the North Texas Recipe Book for 2017 and chose Birdville Center of Technology & Advanced Learning's recipe: Spice Pears.

I was a bit skeptical at first because Brodie, remember picky, doesn't venture far from an apple, orange or banana. I took a shot and made the pears and it was -- A SUCCESS!

He ate nearly the whole plate of them before getting full (it made more than I realized and was obviously very filling).

The honey combined with the cinnamon and nutmeg made the glaze taste even better, amazing!

When Brodie first looked at the cinnamon and nutmeg, I was worried I was going to have a challenge on my hands.

"Mom, what is nutmeg?!"

I explained it is a spice that is used in a lot of foods he's tried and to "just try it and you will like it" and he did. :)

Day 1

Tami Bern
Brodie, presenting his Day 1 snack.

Now, Day 1 of the challenge was met with very much anticipation and excitement. Brodie was ready to try a new snack so we started a little easy and finally introduced him to one he’s been inquisitive about for weeks -- the almond butter.

The snack included: a medium red apple, cut into approximately six equal slices, almond butter smeared on each slice and topped with a few pieces of granola and voila! HE LOVED IT!

He asked immediately after if he could make a sandwich with the almond butter. This was a great reaction to a great tasting snack.

Day 1 in the books with an "A."

Day 0

My 10-year-old, Brodie, is a very picky eater. That being said, I have been very excited and very curious as to how he would respond to the various types of healthy snack choices and variety involved, including types of fruits, vegetables, seasonings, additives, colors and textures of food. His normal choices for snacks are foods such as popcorn, a peanut butter sandwich, an apple or banana here and there, “Taki’s” (whatever those are!), and other various chips and/or cookies.

He tends to have a sweet tooth as well so I know how important it is to give him balance and a healthy, but appealing, variety.

I had talked to him about different fruits and vegetables we would be trying and that even if it didn’t look appealing or he didn’t particularly like the name of something, he would give it a try.

He LOVES peanut butter -- eats it on sandwiches, crackers, fruits or even by itself. But, I talked to him about “almond butter” and that I would be wanting him to try it on some snacks and give it a shot. He was a little skeptical but agreed to try it when the time came.

I went grocery shopping over the weekend specifically for this challenge and I was met with challenges. I looked over the recipe book provided to the students and chose several recipes I wanted Brodie to try this week. One of the recipes included "chia seeds." I had never heard of a chia seed and no clue where to find them, what they looked like or how they tasted. Low and behold I stumbled across them as an ingredient in a salad pack that came with everything packaged separately. So I bought the salad kit, knowing I would eat the salad, but mainly so I could get those chia seeds for that recipe.

Another challenge was pricing. WOW! I had to choose which nutmeg I would buy -- the $4.44 name brand or the $2.25 generic brand. After reading the information, there was no difference other than the packaging and name on the label. Needless to say, I bought the $2.25 nutmeg.

MORE: Kids Teaching Kids 2017 North Texas Recipe Box

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