How to Get Kids to Eat Healthy
Tips to Make Nutritious Snacks and Meals Fun for Children
Find it difficult to get your child to eat healthy? Being creative with food is key to getting your child to eat healthier foods.
Getting kids to eat healthy foods is a struggle for many parents. Try these fun and simple ways to get your kids to eat healthier.
Offer Healthy and Convenient Snacks
Instead of stocking cupboards with sugary and processed foods, fill the fridge with a variety of fresh fruits and veggies and deli meat free of nitrites and nitrates. Make snack packs made from cut up fruits and vegetables instead of buying pre-packaged chips or candy. Keep fruit in a bowl where it's easy to see and easily accessible for kids.
Create Colorful Meals and Snacks
Kids love colors, so make snacks and meals colorful. A colorful snack can be a fruit salad filled with strawberries, grapes, and bananas or a tortilla stuffed with veggies and cheese. Meals can be made more colorful by mixing up steamed or roasted vegetables.
Make a Healthy Dip for Fruits and Vegetables
Kids love to dip, so a healthy dip makes fruits and veggies more enticing. Try using yogurt as a dip for fruit and a light ranch dressing for veggies.
Create Fun Shapes and Sizes with Food
Cookie cutters can be used for more than just cutting cookies. Kids love to have their sandwiches cut into different shapes and sizes. Let your child choose which shape to use for his lunch or snacks.
Let Kids Help in the Kitchen
Most kids love helping out in the kitchen and are more apt to eat something they have helped prepare. Buy them their own aprons and let them start out by making their own snacks. They may even teach you a thing or two since children can be very creative when it comes to making their own snacks. Also, let your child pick what's for dinner a couple nights per week, but set the condition that there has to be at least one vegetable served with dinner and some type of fruit served as dessert.
Teach Kids to Eat Healthy
Kids learn many of their behaviors from their parents. Teach healthy eating habits to your children by eating healthy yourself. If you make healthy food choices, it's more likely your children will as well.
Try this yummy and healthy snack kids love:
Frozen Banana Pops
Peel a banana and cut it in half crosswise. Insert a wooden craft stick or chopstick into the end of each half. Spread each banana half with peanut butter. Wrap in wax paper and freeze for 4 hours.
