Feeding Children

Our Youngest Client

This is 1-year-old Gabriel. We found out that he was allergic to milk and started giving him green smoothies. He always asks for more. Gabriel loves fruits and vegetables. When a Zizania coach enters his home, Gabriel always grabs a fruit for sharing.

Michele Obama is the talk of nation with her program “Let's Move.” We applaud the First Lady for taking this initiative and develop programs to serve healthier foods in schools. But school lunches will not make children healthier if the same children go home to processed food and fast food restaurants.

At Zizania, we like to tackle the problem at the root. We start by teaching the parents about the benefits of good nutrition: we coach them in their own home on how to create nutritious meals the whole family will love. Then we get the children involved. Dominique, the Zizania founder, comes from a family of 5 and also worked as an au-pair. She knows all too well what challenges the parents face when it comes to feeding children.

The Zizania team is experienced in handling all types of children from 4 to 17. After talking to the child and finding out what they like, what they don't like and why, we can create a personalized menu and slowly train the child to start taking small risks and tasting foods that may not yet appeal to them.

Sensory integration is another problem many children have when it comes to food. We start by conducting an in-depth interview of the child by observation and small feeding steps.  Some children are challenged by sight, smell, and textures, others don't know how chew or prefer to eat only certain shapes or colors.  Once we understand exactly what the problem is, we start by establishing an eating routine that slowly familiarizes the child with different smells, textures and shapes.  Later we introduce new foods with “safe” foods until the child is comfortable. Then slowly move him to experiment with new foods.

Our method is safe, effective, and delivers results.