Getting Picky Eaters to Eat Healthier Foods
Implementing Healthy Foods into Your Child`s Daily Diet
Jul 2, 2009
One of the most important things to remember when trying to get children to eat healthier foods, is that children learn by example. No child is going to want to eat a snack of carrots and celery sticks while his/her parents are munching cookies or potato chips. It is important not only to teach them the benefits of proper nutrition to them, but to lead them by setting a good example.
Try not to take the kids grocery shopping. No matter how good their eating habits are, not many children can resist the sugary snacks and cereals that they see on television commercials. If bringing them along is unavoidable, always be sure to stick to the outer isles of the store. This is where you will find the healthy fresh fruits and vegetables, cheeses, meats and dairy products.
Infancy
The simplest step to take in making sure that children start out on the right foot begins as soon as they are able to begin eating solids. By making your own baby food, you are in complete control of what your child eats and how it tastes. Name brand baby foods, although not unhealthy, can be very bland and taste nothing like what they are supposed to be. A baby that gets to know exactly how foods really taste right from the beginning is more apt to want to continue eating them later on. It is also important to keep in mind to limit the amount of salt and spices that you use during preparation.
*It is advisable to introduce babies to fruits and vegetables one at a time. This will help to identify any adverse or allergic reactions that they might have to any certain food.
Toddlers
It is not uncommon for toddlers who, even though they have been introduced to fruits and vegetables from infancy, to become stubborn and not want to eat certain foods. In most cases this is just a phase that will quickly be outgrown, but in the meantime, parents will have to be inventive. The more fun something is, the more kids will want to do it. And this includes eating. Sometimes something as simple as substituting a healthy multi-grain tortilla wrap instead of bread can entice a child to eat what he would not eat on a regular sandwich. Sometimes you need more imagination.
- Use animal shaped cookie cutters to cut sandwiches.
- Use small canape or cookie cutters and cut cold cuts and cheese into fun shapes and serve as finger foods.
- Instead of baking a large family size meatloaf, bake portion sized "doughnut" meatloaves in mini doughnut pans.
- Instead of a bowl of boring canned soup, make a pot of homemade soup and add in interesting shaped noodles like wagon wheels, goldfish or alphabets and numbers.
School Aged Children
If a child eats his/her lunch at school, it is inevitable that he will see others enjoying unhealthy, high sugar, floury foods. It is also inevitable that he will at some point ask to have them included in his own lunches. Simple slight of hand is the best way to deal with these requests.
- If sugary commercially made cupcakes are requested, bake low fat homemade carrot muffins with low fat cream cheese icing.
- If candy is asked for, try substituting a handful of real fruit gummies.
- When potato chips are in demand, give them flavorful vegetable chips instead.
Tips
- Let kids grow their own food. Things such as strawberries, cucumbers, beans and tomatoes all grow well in containers.
- Encourage kids to help with the cooking. They will be more inclined to devour a meal that they have helped to prepare, even if it is good for them.
- Children`s taste buds are still developing, so let them choose how they like things. If they turn down vegetables night after night, it might be the texture that they do not like. Try serving the vegetables raw with some dip or low fat dressing instead.
