Category — Health and Nutrition

Getting their kids to eat healthy is a priority for a lot of parents. Unfortunately, it’s not usually the #1 concern for the kids. Pizza and chocolate would be on the menu every day if we let them, but as parents, we need to make sure they’re eating healthy.

Developing healthy eating habits right from the start will ensure your child is developing and growing properly, plus it helps them maintain those healthy habits as they become more independent and start choosing their own foods.

Almost any parent knows that it can be difficult to get their kids to eat healthy, and I’m no exception. Thankfully, I’ve learned a few tips to help make it a bit easier.

BREAKFAST

Skipping breakfast is a problem a lot of busy parents go through. Sometimes there just isn’t enough time, other times their child is not hungry. However, an empty stomach can throw you and your child off for the entire day.

Won’t eat breakfast? Wake up earlier – It takes about 20 minutes for our hunger signals to kick in after we wake up in the morning, so I like to make sure my kids are up early enough that they want to eat breakfast before we head off to preschool.

Picky breakfast eaters? Establish routine – I feed my kids the same thing every morning for breakfast. This way they always expect it and don’t waste time by changing their minds 30 times until they finally decide what they want (like they do for lunch and dinner).

No time? Plan ahead – If I know my time is going to be limited in the mornings, I do as much as I can the night before, including setting the table for breakfast. It may not seem like much, but it really does save a lot of time and frustration in the morning when everyone is in a rush to get out the door.

FRUITS AND VEGGIES

Lots of kids shy away from fruit and especially vegetables. It’s not uncommon to find dinner plates cleaned up except for a pile of peas and carrots pushed off to the side. I’ve seen my daughter scoop the corn from her plate to her brother’s so she didn’t have to eat it.

Refuses veggies with supper? Sneak them in – There are lots of recipes that allow you to sneak in vegetables. (If you sign up for my free Baby Tips Newsletter, you can download an ebook full of mom-tested recipes instantly.) I also like to make dishes, especially casseroles, that have vegetables in them but are almost impossible to pick out. Thus, the kids are forced to eat them. Muahahaha!

Won’t try new fruits? Make smoothies – My kids squeal with excitement when I drag out the blender because they love smoothies. You can throw almost any kind of fruit in there with some yogurt and they’ll drink it, no questions asked.

Choosing junk food instead of healthy snacks? Make it fun – Serving fruits and veggies for snacks in a fun way is bound to capture your child’s interest. Snacks served in colorful containers and fresh fruit and veggies cut into shapes is much more fun to eat than just biting into a boring apple.

SHORT ON TIME AND MONEY?

It’s hard eating healthy when you’re limited by a small budget and hectic schedules. It costs money to keep the kitchen stocked with fresh food and it takes time (sometimes more than you have) to plan and prepare meals.

No idea what to make for supper? Plan a menu – Menu planning (mapping out your meals for a week in advance) will prevent you from making last minute trips to your favorite fast food restaurant. It also saves time since you won’t be searching through your fridge and pantry trying to figure out what to make.

Tight budget? Plan a menu – Yep, planning a menu will also help for those of us who don’t have money trees growing in our backyards. Again, it saves going through drive-thrus which saves a bundle plus you can make one trip a week to the store. That will keep food from going to waste and saves mid-week trips (and gas) to pick up one or two ingredients at a time.

Time not on your side? Guess what? Plan a menu! – I’ve saved hours each week by planning my menus. I have my menu, I have my shopping list, I go grocery shopping, and I cook whatever is on the list for each meal. There’s no wondering what to make for supper, there’s no wandering through aisles in the store figuring out what to buy, and there’s no searching for hours through recipes to find something that includes ingredients I have on hand.

With those obstacles out of the way, it’s much easier to plan healthy meals for the family.

Instilling healthy eating habits as soon as your child has their first solid food is the best way to get them to eat healthy when they start to get older. But for those times when they refuse to be anything but picky and unwilling, you may need to whip out a little creativity. The important thing is to stick with it!

My kids love to eat fruits and raw vegetables, but I usually have trouble getting them to eat salads. However, I’ve discovered that they’ll eat waldorf salad until the cow’s come home so I try and make it fairly often. It’s easy to make and very versatile. Here’s the recipe I use:

Kid-Friendly Waldorf Salad

1/2 cup celery, diced very thin
1/2 cup red seedless grapes (I chop these in half to prevent choking)
2 apples, cored and diced (I use gala apples but any will do)
1 cup raisins
3 cups lettuce (I always use iceberg)
3 tbsp mayonnaise or Miracle Whip
1 tbsp lemon juice (fresh is best)

I like to dice my celery really thin or it just doesn’t seem right eating a huge crunchy thing while everything else is soft and juicy. Sometimes I leave the celery out completely. Next, I chop up the grapes. It’s easier to eat when they’re cut in half, plus I feel safer knowing my kids won’t choke on a whole grape. In the meantime, I let a cup of raisins soak in some water, then squeeze them dry with paper tower. I leave the apples until last to keep them from browning before they’re mixed in.

I mix up the mayo and lemon juice in a measuring cup and let it sit in the fridge until I’m ready to complete the salad. Next up is the lettuce. Iceberg lettuce works great as it’s nice and crispy.

Sidenote: I was reading a magazine and saw this Prepara Salad Prep Set. Kitchen utensils rock my world (and I know that cutting lettuce with a metal blade will brown the leaves) so I rushed to see if it was on Amazon. The price in the magazine was $15 for the set, but it’s $9.95 at Amazon. Yay! Don’t they look fun? It makes me want to chop lettuce and veggies all day.

Anyhoo, I always prepare all the ingredients beforehand and then throw them all together right before it’s time to eat to keep the salad from getting too soggy. There usually isn’t anything left over but if there is, it keeps well for about a day.

It’s a great way for your kids to get a healthy dose of fruits and veggies without all the complaining. When I make this, my daughter always says, “Mommy, you’re the bestest cook in the whole world!”.

Don’t forget: You’ll get lots more recipes like this when you sign up for my free Baby Tips Newsletter – plus you’ll receive exclusive baby tips delivered right to your inbox.

One of my most popular articles I’ve written is about feeding juice to your baby. Since my own children were babies, I’ve been very careful not to give them juice too often.

I was reminded of that this morning when my son asked me for some water even though we have juice in the fridge. When I got up to fill up his cup, he jumped around yelling “Water, water, water”. He was excited about drinking water!

I use juice for two reasons when it comes to my kids. I either give it to them as a treat (but I always dilute it with water) or I give them juice when they’re sick.

So far, my plan has worked. They regularly request water even when there is juice or pop (soda) around and I never have problems getting them to eat.