Seriously, how do you get your child to eat healthy food? It’s a problem for the majority of parents: their child just won’t eat anything but junk food. If they frown at vegetables, fruits, and even great protein sources like cheese, nuts, or meat, and only accept crackers, cookies, and chips, then you should be concerned. This kind of eating can lead to serious health problems.
So how do you get your kids to eat healthily? It seems like an impossible task. Don’t worry; we have listed ten little known strategies for you that will make your kids eat better. Let’s dive in.
1. Plan All of Your Dinners
Look: you don’t have to plan for the whole week. Start with two or three days. Most importantly, make sure every meal is well balanced. Include pasta or rice, vegetables, and a source of protein (lean meat, beans, cheese). Serve it with some whole-grain bread and fruit for dessert.
Planning the meals gives you a good overview of them. The best part is that you do not have to make any fast last-minute decisions, which can lead to buying junk food. There are lots of healthy food recipes on the internet. So go ahead and pick a few for your family’s next meals.
2. Let Your Kids See Healthy Foods in the House
Even if your kids won’t eat fresh food, it’s important for them to see us buying it. You can even ask them to help you and pick out tomatoes or get the nicest bananas. Sounds like a waste of money if the kids won’t eat it? It isn’t.
You see, by helping you out and getting more familiar with the healthy foods, children become naturally curious about them. Soon enough, they will also be eating this immunity-boosting food.
The next tip is an obvious one but often forgotten.
3. Just Buy Less Junk Food
Once your kid is eating some healthy foods, start cutting back on junk food. The simple truth is that if it ain’t in your home, your child can’t eat it. A word of caution: if your child absolutely won’t eat anything else than junk food, you need to give it to them. It’s still better than leaving children hungry. The good news is that many brands duplicate children’s favorite snacks but without added preservatives or food dyes. It’s true, read the packages to find this healthy junk food.
Ready for the next tip? This one is the cornerstone of all good parenting.
4. Be a Role Model!
If your child is not eating healthy food, it doesn’t mean you should skip it as well. Children learn by imitating their parents. Be honest. Are you eating erratically? Kids see this behavior and grow up thinking it’s normal. Now lets look at the best ways to serve the healthy portions.
5. Serving the Healthy Food
Start serving your children some nice healthy options with fast food. But beware: don’t pressure them. Let them know that it’s okay if they don’t eat it.
Also, serve the food on an attractive plate, as this can make your kid more receptive to what’s offered. Find the best dinnerware set with a lovely design that will cheer up your child. You can use a plate or a small bowl to serve some everyday superfood like broccoli, berries, or nuts. But remember to avoid speeches about the benefits of these items.
6. Skip the Lecture
We know it’s hard to resist lecturing our children. We all do it. But while it’s obvious that children need healthy food to increase immunity to diseases, repeating it won’t get you far. Try to stay neutral, and your kids will eventually take a bite. They might even help you prepare the meals.
7. Get Your Kid Involved in Preparation
Preparing a meal together makes children interact with healthy foods. If they’re old enough, they can rinse the vegetables or chop them up. Get this: they will be naturally interested in what they’ve helped to create, and this interest will eventually lead to them eating it.
Our next tip involves the number one bad eating habit. What are we talking about?
8. Snacking: Cut It Off!
Did you know that junk food creates more craving for it? It’s a vicious never-ending circle. If you don’t look out, your kids might as well eat junk food all day. First off, there is no need for them to have anything but water between the meals. And if there are at least 2.5 hours between every meal your kids will be hungry once they sit down to eat. And guess what? If they’re hungry, they’re much more likely to touch the healthy food you serve on the side.
If that won’t get them to eat from the plate full of an everyday superfood, use the next trick.
9. Put the Green SuperFood in Their Meals, When They’re Not Looking!
What makes a food a superfood? It’s high nutrition density in foods like broccoli, quinoa, and nuts. If your children won’t touch any of these, sneak it in. That’s right. Let us give you an example. Say your child adores tomato sauce. Well, tomato sauce is the perfect place to hide fine-chopped vegetables in. You can then serve the sauce over meat or pasta.
And now, we’re going to leave you with our most important tip.
10. Don’t Let the Food Become a Source of Conflict
Never force your kids to eat everything on their plate. It will only teach them to ignore their natural feeling of fullness. It’s pretty obvious once you think about it.
Conclusion
The bottom line is this: if you want your kids to love new healthy foods, you need to be patient and persistent. Never give up. The tips in this article should give you a good starting point to get your kids hooked on the healthy options. Apply these strategies and see your kids crunching cucumbers in no time.
What do you think of these tips to get your child eating healthy, nutrient-rich foods? Do you have a tip of your own? Leave comments below, we’d love to know about your experiences. Your opinion is important to us!
Author’s Bio:
Catherine Wiley is an experienced copywriter and filmmaker with a master’s degree in film directing.
He helps his clients identify their brand identity and core message, and creates an engaging copy in English that attracts customers and sells services. Jaan works with startups, entrepreneurs, bloggers, and companies from all over the world.
