10 Ways To Get My Child To Eat Healthy Food
Nutritionist and World Around Us Child Care in-house cook Linda gives insight into her daily work and how she gets kids to eat vegetables, drink healthy juices and try new foods.
Every single day I deal with my picky eaters both big and small. Whether it is at home or here at work in my World Around Us Child Care kitchen, the complaints about freshly cooked colorful veggies never seem to stop.
Being a mother to three beautiful daughters and a grandmother to 4 adorable grandchildren I know what I am talking about when it comes to serving food that everyone likes. For the past 35 years I have been teaching my kids how good trying new foods can feel like.
Mothers constantly tell me how guilty they feel about their children's diets; they know how important it is to feed their kids healthy foods but they just don't know how to do it.
Today I want to share a few tips of how you can convince your little ones to eat what you so thoroughly prepared.
1. Make a Meal Plan
Being well organized and prepared when it comes to food is key to success. Stressing out about what to make for dinner results in chaos.
Children need three full meals, two snacks and lots of fluids throughout the day. Plan for that by having carrots, pretzels, yoghurt and water handy at all times so you don't rely on fast food.
When you go on trips bring a cooler stocked with a healthy balance of snacks.
2. Introduce New Foods Slowly
Don't worry if your first try to introduce some new stuff does not succeed right away. Children are new-food-phobics by nature. I tell all the kids that sometimes their taste buds first have to get used to new food before they like it. A little hero worship works wonders, too.
Let them know that their favorite athletes eat certain food to stay strong and healthy or that their comic hero eats something to activate superpowers.
3. Dip It
If your kids don't eat veggies experiment with dips and condiments. Serving some hummus, yoghurt-dressing or salsa along with thinly cut carrots and celery works miracles.
Make sure you use dips and condiments with real ingredients.
4. Sit Down For Dinners As A Family
If it isn't a tradition yet, make it one. Research shows that kids that sit down for family meals are less likely to get in serious trouble later on in life.