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Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer.
It’s a battle every mother faces: getting the children to eat – and enjoy – healthy food.
“Start from the very beginning” – so much advice says. And while that’s true, it doesn’t guarantee success. As they grow and taste new things, see new things, and are in situations that give them opportunities to eat stuff that is downright bad for their bodies, a little creativity is needed to keep them on track.
My family still has plenty of room to improve, but I have found a few ways through the years to get my children in the habit of enjoying healthy food.
How I Teach My Children to Enjoy Healthy Food:
Make if fun:
This works especially well with the younger ones. If food is cute and fun, they’ll tend to eat it. And after they eat it several times, they usually find that they enjoy it.
Ideas:
- One of my favorite snacks to make for my oldest son when he was small was celery carts. A rib of celery filled with natural peanut butter with raisin passengers and carrot wheels was his very favorite snack.
- Try making a cuddly slice of toast by topping whole wheat bread with natural peanut butter and using bananas and raisins to make a cute bear face and ears.
- Teach your children anatomy while they get a healthy dose of veggies with a human skeleton tray.
- Serve cut fruit or veggies in colorful paper cupcake liners, or if your children are old enough, thread them onto plastic skewers.
Make it different:
Getting my children to enjoy fresh fruit has never been a problem, but even with a favorite food, it can sometimes get a little boring. A small change in presentation can make a big difference.
Try:
- As long as they were old enough to handle them, my gang has loved frozen grapes.
- Simply slicing an apple in a different way or using a spiral peeler/corer to slice apples makes things fun and prevents boredom.
- And who says watermelon has to be served in chunks? How about sticks or balls?
- When we have leftover smoothie from breakfast, I pour it into popsicle molds and they have a sweet – and healthy – afternoon treat.
- Our basic homemade pancake batter gets rave reviews with the younger set when a pancake is poured in each child’s initial.
- Make a boring sandwich special simply by using cookie cutters to cut the bread into favorite shapes.
Offer a healthy dip:
If they can dip it, they’ll eat it! One of the older boys discovered that they enjoyed sliced cucumbers dipped in red wine vinegar. Guess what? All the little children now eat cucumbers that way – and plenty of them.
Recipes:
- Homemade hummus is so easy to makes and is a fun dip for veggies or crackers, or a smooth spread for sandwiches.
- Find a few new homemade salad dressing to try, and offer them for dipping veggies or meat instead of commercial dressings and sauces.
Make it attractive:
If it looks inviting, it will attract their interest and attention. Yogurt parfaits are a fun and pretty way to get some health food into their bodies. Homemade yogurt and granola, along with some fresh fruit is not only good for them, but the varied textures and colors provide plenty of eye appeal as well.
Let them choose:
I have one son who gets totally excited when he finds out we’re having homemade instant oatmeal for breakfast. Off he goes to pull out all the jars of dried fruit, variety of nuts, cream, maple syrup, raw honey, and homemade vanilla extract. Having a buffet of healthy options to choose from gives them plenty of choices and they love the variety spread before them.
We do this with pasta salad and taco bars too. When all of their options are healthy, I don’t mind them picking and choosing what they’ll include on their plates.
With a little imagination, it’s easy to make healthier food choices appealing. Before you know it, your children will be creating their own healthy spins on mealtime and treats.
If you’d like more ideas, visit my Pinterest boards: Good Food, Snacks and Fun Foods.
What tips do you have for teaching your children to enjoy healthy food?
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Written by Christy @ Fresh Mix Momma, Contributing Writer
Many people are looking to eat healthier these days. It seems like there is a common misconception that it is hard to eat healthy or too expensive.
When I look at how my husband use to eat compared to now, I am shocked. Over the past few years we have pretty much completely changed our eating habits for the better. The best part about this change is, for us, it really wasn’t a hard change.
Over the past few years we have just taken different tips for eating healthy and incorporated it in our lives. Over time these tips became habits.
If you are looking to eat healthier here are some of my tips for eating healthy:
Shop the perimeter of the store
This tips could quite possibly be one of the most important and life changing tips. When you shop the perimeter of the store you are buying more fresh food. This can also save you a lot of time, since you aren’t wandering up and down all the isles. Of course there will be times when you need something down an isle, but just try to stick to the outside.
Meal Plan
Take time to sit down and make up a meal plan. This will help out with your shopping, keep you on track and probably save you some money (you are less likely to impulse buy junk food.) There are plenty of healthy meals available on Pinterest that can make meal planning a cinch. You can check out my Healthy Meals boards on Pinterest, if you are looking for a place to start.
Meal Prep
Once you have all your food together, try to take a day or so to meal prep for the week. This will help you stay on track and not fall into the “I don’t feel like cooking, let’s just eat out.”
Use smaller plates
One of my problems in the past wasn’t because I didn’t eat somewhat healthy foods, it was that my proportions were way out of control! Using smaller plates can help control your proportions.
Eat Real Foods
I think one mistake many people make is that they eat what they believe are healthy foods, but might not be as healthy as they realize. Try your best to stick with real foods. Real Foods are not processed, they are natural and quite delicious and filling. You will find that the more whole foods that you eat, the less you crave all the processed, sugary foods.
Treat yourself
That’s right, I said Treat yourself! Eating healthy is great, but we all need treats every once in awhile. You can even make your treats a little healthier as well. Fruits are delicious and packed with natural sugars for your sweet tooth. If you are a chocolate lover, try some dark chocolate! Treats every now and then are sometime essential, just be sure to keep the treats under control.
If you are looking for a healthier diet, try to follow these simple tips in your life and you will see change over time. Eating healthy doesn’t have to be hard, but it can take some time. Make it a lifestyle change and before you know it these simple tips will be habits in your day to day life!
What healthy tips have helped you? Do you have any to add to this list?
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