Get 'Em Eating Healthy

When you mention eating healthy kids may roll their eyes, make a face or groan. But turning some of their favorite foods into healthy fare isn't that hard to do.

Prevent Objections
To avoid objections enlist your child's help at the grocery store. Let him hold your grocery list. Ask would you like bananas or pears? Ask what flavor of yogurt he wants peach or strawberry and which vegetable: green peas or green beans? Make sure different nutritional foods are on hand. This practice educates your child about healthy food choices and gives him some control of what he eats, which may make them more likely to eat it.

Make It Fun
Try making mealtime a happy event. Have a picnic in the den. Use fun plates with animals, robots or try face plates to get your toddler more excited about the healthy foods. Use cookie or cheese cutters to create fun shapes with food such as fruits, sandwiches, and healthy cookies.

Fruit and Vegetable Juices
Juices that contain all fruit are best. Avoid fruit punches. Too much processed fruit juice makes your toddler's calorie intake high, with obvious negative outcomes. Six ounces of fruit juice is the daily maximum. Vegetable juice is also another healthy choice to be considered. Many fresh vegetable juices are packed with vitamins and antioxidants, making it the perfect juice snack for children.

Pasta
Kids usually like spaghetti. It’s messy and can get on everything. An item that I had never heard of until recently is Konjaku Noodles. I tried them mainly because they’re a surprisingly healthy pasta noodle substitution. They’re low in carb, calorie free, gluten free, and are full of fiber. They don’t taste exactly like the traditional noodles we’re used to because they’re made differently, but they have certainly grown on me. Changing the type of noodle won’t help with the mess, though!

Veggies
How do you stop your kids from retreating when they face vegetables? Try broccoli, carrots or celery served with a dip. Their sensitive taste buds will react better to veggies when they are flavored with a low-fat dressing. Try steaming some broccoli and stir it with two or three tablespoons of orange juice, one tablespoon olive oil, and some salt and pepper. You can arrange the veggie on the plate with some mandarin orange slices.

These fun tips should encourage and are intended to get your kids to eat healthier with a smile. They could also be great tips for some adults who may have wanted to change their eating habits, but are overwhelmed by all the possibilities. These are great starting points for branching out from. Some recipes were even pulled from cancer treatment facilities’ diet plans created by nurses. Patients enjoyed these changes and found the foods to be a better alternative to traditional food served when going through treatments for Pericardial Mesothelioma.

Kristin Wells is a recent college graduate from The University of Georgia and an aspiring writer. She wants to make a difference in people's lives through her writing. Kristin also likes competitive cycling, running, and traveling as much as possible. Kristin also contributes frequently on Curious Mind Musings.