Fast food and other convenience foods are a big
part of modern life these days. This makes it harder
for families to instill healthy eating into their meal
plans.
The cheapest and easiest foods are those that
are normally the least healthy. If you give your child
the choice between healthy food and junk food, you
probably won’t like the results.
Even though it isn’t possible to get a child to like
all healthy foods, there are some ways to get your child to try them.
Hopefully, they will like at least a few of them.Getting kids to eat healthy
can be a daily challenge.
– Call fruits and vegetables by funny names. You
can refer to broccoli as “trees”, making them
more fun to eat. Spinach makes big and strong
muscles, according to Popeye. There are many
different names you can call fruits and vegetables,
even making up your own if you prefer. Most kids
prefer to eat foods that sound fun.
– Enhance the flavor of foods. Ranch dressing is
great for broccoli, while peanut butter is a great
topping for celery. There are several combinations
for vegetables that can make them taste more
acceptable. You can let your young child pick a
topping for a vegetable, even if it’s something
you wouldn’t normally like yourself.
– Dress the vegetables up. Just as much as calling
them names help kids eat healthy foods, making them
look funny also helps.You can do this by making
funny designs on the plate, or setting them up to
look like people, such as a stick person with little
carrots for a body. Although some parents don’t like
their kids playing with their food, sometimes it helps
to get them to eat healthier.
– You might even be able to include foods that
are not their favorites into different dishes. If
soups with ‘not so favorite’ vegetables are being
prepared, by pureeing the soup, who knows what
vegetables are there? Spinach can go on top of
pizza. Apples and bananas can go into muffins,
undetected.
There are several ways to help your kids eat
healthier, but to make them enjoy it also has to
be fun as well. This isn’t always an easy task.
It can however, be done with a bit of creativity.
Hopefully, doing this will help your child develop
a love of healthy foods for the rest of their lives.
To your health and that of your family’s,
Lee Jackson
Child Nutrition Advocate, author
http://www.HealthyKidsEatingTips.com
