Trick Picky Eaters Into Eating Healthy Food
How to Get Kids Eating a Healthy Diet Without Knowing it
Sep 4, 2009
Kids may learn all about the benefits of healthy eating at school but this doesn't mean that they'll put what they've learned into practice when they eat at home. Parents can despair sometimes. Try as they might they might not be able to convince their kids to stop being picky about what they eat, to try new foods or to move away from processed meals. It make take some sneaky behaviour to put things right here!
How to Hide Healthy Food
Desperate times call for desperate measures and parents of some children, particularly picky eaters or those that refuse to eat fruit and vegetables, may have to be underhanded. The easiest way to get kids to eat a balanced diet is to hide healthy food in the meals, drinks and snacks that they will eat. Some ideas that may be worth a try include:
- Smoothies and milkshakes: Kids often like fruit flavoured smoothies and milkshakes so this can be a good way of boosting their fruit intake. The calcium they get from the milk or yogurt base will also be beneficial. It's a good tip here to use a fruit you know they like and then to sneak in some others when they aren't looking!
- Sauces: Many kids will eat a plain tomato sauce but won't touch it if it has vegetables in it. A lot of parents will cook up some vegetables, put them in a blender and then add them to the sauce. As far as the child is concerned he'll be eating tomato sauce with no "bits" in it.
- Soups: Vegetables can also be hidden in soups in much the same way that they can be hidden in a sauce.
- Cakes and muffins: There are plenty of recipes out there that can help parents to make cakes and muffins that contain vegetables. Like carrot cake these will often be eaten unnoticed by a child. Courgettes and beetroot can often be used in this way.
Remember there is little point letting a child see this happening. The key point is to get healthy food into their meals withoutthem noticing!
How to Get Kids to Eat Healthy Foods Willingly
Children will not be able to go through life being fed sneaky ingredients in their meals. Deceiving them in this way will at least make the parents feel better and give them a more balanced diet but this isn't the best long term solution. The long term aim should be to get a child to willingly eat healthy food and, hopefully, to enjoy doing so. Useful tips include:
- Keep trying: A child may hate apples but he may not hate them forever. Try to persuade him to try out foods he thinks he doesn't like regularly. Tell him that his tastes will change over time. Don't hassle him and make him stressed, however, as this could givehim problems with food later.
- Try new foods together: Try to encourage kids to try out new foods with the family. They may be willing to try something new if they see others doing it. Again, keep this low-key and stress-free.
- Eat together: Children learn from their parents. If they share a meal with them every day and see their parents eating and enjoying healthy foods then they will eventually pick up on the fact that this might be a good thing.
- Don't give in to pestering: Try not to have unhealthy snacks in the house. If a child is really hungry and wants a snack then she may be more inclined to try a healthy option. If she thinks that she can get what she wants simply by whining then she's won.
- Make eating fun: Eating shouldn't be a battle and parents can make things worse by stressing about what their children eat. This stress will be picked up on by the kids which is not a good thing. Try instead to make eating and cooking fun. Try spending some time together cooking recipes for kids, for example. Parents in the UK can also sign their family up to the Change4Life scheme which encourages all the family (especially kids) to lead healthier lifestyles via a fun interactive website.
Most kids will eventually come round to eating healthy foods but it may take some encouragement from their parents to get them to that stage.
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