Forbidden foods become extra tempting.

Forcing always introduces confusion, extra layers of problems to solve, or both.

There is nothing wrong with exposing a child to your preferences. Quite the opposite. The key is allowing them to reject your preferences. If they aren’t allowed to opt out, then your preference necessarily disrupts their understanding of the world. If vegetables are unwanted, then being forced to eat them would cause resentment toward the person

I know foodies who will travel internationally just to eat exotic dishes, and I know people who consume mostly meal replacement drinks in a bottle so they can minimize the time spent preparing and consuming food. Each of these suits their particular lifestyles, which they’ve developed over years of exploring the world—and that exploration begins in

A crucial guard against risk is to have a trusted and knowledgeable person available for questions. This lifeline can only work if this person has the child’s best interests at heart, and only if the child believes this.

Not being overweight because your parents forbid you from overeating is worlds apart from understanding your own desires and cravings and tailoring them to suit your other preferences for how to live your life, including body size and appearance.

First, like every other understandable concern, identifying the problem is not the same as identifying the solution.

It is hard to imagine something more damaging to a life well lived than anxiety around eating.

The reason kids should have free rein with regard to food is that they are building an understanding of how to eat in the same way that they are building an understanding of everything else in life: by exploration, discovery, and trial and error.