For years Josiah was a very picky eater.  He had a few favorite foods we rotated throughout his day to make up each meal.

His most favorite was peanut butter and fluff sandwiches.  Fluff, for those of you who are wondering, is marshmallow creme. Every day at lunch, Josiah would devour peanut butter and fluff.  Some days he would eat 3 or 4 sandwiches.

He ate oatmeal for breakfast.  He ate oatmeal for dinner. He drank only milk or water. Eventually, he ventured out and tried some other foods which gradually were added to his diet. Pancakes became a favorite and replaced oatmeal in the morning. Occasionally, pancakes became dinner for Josiah too. He discovered macaroni and cheese at one point and actually chose that over peanut butter and fluff some days.

Josiah would not eat fruit of any kind, except apple sauce, if that counts. He refused vegetables completely. He did love pudding however.  He got some nearly every day.  Oh and ice cream. What kid doesn’t love ice cream? Wait, forgot about the eggs.  He adored scrambled eggs too.

So there you have it. Josiah’s diet consisted of oatmeal, peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, pancakes, scrambled eggs, macaroni and cheese, apple sauce, pudding and ice cream, milk or water.  That’s it.

For parents of children who self limit their food intake, this may seem like a vast assortment of choices. However, it got old rather quickly for us. Over the years, we tried introducing many new foods in various different ways to Josiah.

He wanted nothing to do with any of it.

There was a time when Josiah was quite young, we took him to a D.A.N. physician (Defeat Autism Now), had many tests run and were given a very strict diet for him called the Specific Carbohydrate diet.

I couldn’t tell you much about it now, other than this.  Everything Josiah consumed had to be fresh, made from scratch with organic ingredients. No cans, no boxes, no prepackaged anything. Even yogurt needed to be made from scratch. It was all very labor intensive.

Josiah also needed to consume something like 14 different vitamin supplements per day in various forms. Some of it hidden in his food.

At the time, all 5 children were living at home.  We had only one income.  The supplements were extremely expensive.  The food was extremely expensive.  It took a very long time to prepare Josiah’s meals.  In addition, there were ‘normal’ meals for the rest of the family. It wasn’t easy, but we gave it our best effort.  We were determined to do whatever it took to help our little guy.

Unfortunately, Josiah did not like the fresh fruit and vegetables now gracing his table.  He refused much of what was offered.  He got sick (an upper respiratory infection), ended up hospitalized for dehydration and lost quite a bit of weight. When he was released from the hospital, we let that kid eat whatever he wanted.

So much for the Specific Carbohydrate Diet.  We were done with it.

Then, one day when Josiah went to the very first birthday party he was ever invited to (still chokes me up to know someone actually wanted Josiah at their child’s party), he tried pizza.He loved it.  He ate the whole piece.  Maybe even 2 pieces at that party. We couldn’t believe it.

Last summer I stumbled upon a website with ‘clean eating’ recipes.   Clean eating means avoiding processed and refined food and basing your diet on whole foods, like lots of fruit and vegetables.  For my own dietary reasons, I began creating many of the recipes.  On a whim, I offered some to Josiah. He devoured them.  Almost daily, Josiah would welcome new tastes and textures.  It was astounding.

In a very short time, Josiah was eating quinoa with black beans and grape tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, spinach, cauliflower, Greek yogurt with blueberries or pomogranates, portobello mushrooms with tomatoes, avocado and broccoli salad, and zucchini to name just a few.

I’m not sure why the sudden interest in new flavors.  I’m not sure what it was Josiah liked about these new foods.  Could it be he was just tired of the same old options, day in and day out for so many years?  Who knows?

When given the option at breakfast between just about anything else and broccoli.  Josiah now chooses broccoli every single time. He passes up the sweet tasting (processed, prepackaged) cereal bar  he loves, for broccoli.  And, he eats a second helping.

For the past 12 years we’ve never been quite sure how to celebrate Josiah’s birthday. Would a busy, noisy party with people he really wouldn’t pay attention to be best, or just a quiet celebration at home (which wouldn’t really feel much like a celebration) without the noise and the people?

In January, when Josiah turns 13, we’ve got it figured out.  Finally!  We will go to Jumping World for Josiah to bounce to his hearts content and serve up brimming bowls of broccoli.

Quite honestly, I don’t think anything would make the boy happier.