We all know how hard it is to get your kids to eat healthy, especially in today’s age of fast (but often not healthy) foods and tight schedules. But starting to teach your children what is healthy and what is not, as well as trying to offer them a variety of foods, can have a dramatic impact on how well they eat overall, and into adulthood.
Variety!
Kids aren’t going to necessarily know if they like something unless they’ve tried it, even just a bite. It’s important to give your children a chance to try something, whether it’s a fruit, meat, vegetable, or starch, in order for them to have an opinion. Give them the chance to try it and then say yes or no, before trying to “sneak” these foods into their diet. It’s quite possible that your children may love broccoli, or carrots, and there’s no need to have to fit it into their diet some other way.
Giving them a varied diet can help them to stay interested in the food as well. They may dislike cauliflower but only because they have it three times a week. Make sure to give the foods one or two chances, and if they don’t like them, then you can cycle in a new food and try that out. It can become a challenge if every child has their own preferences on fruits and vegetables, but that can also help play into being able to offer a variety to try.
Circle Back
Your child may absolutely hate beets, and no amount of trying can make them eat it. Then one day they could try them as a teenager and absolutely love them! You may be scratching your head or thinking they just wanted to get under your skin, but everybody’s taste buds change over time. So it’s never a bad idea to circle back around to some of the foods your children may have disliked and give it a second round. You may be surprised to find that they changed their minds!
Texture can play a big part in what your child likes to eat. They may love strawberries, but can’t stand the seeds and texture when biting into them. You can try fruits and vegetables raw one week, then switch to cooked and see if that changes anyone’s opinions too. Don’t get discouraged if they ultimately don’t like it, though, as there are more and more recipes for incorporating fruits and vegetables into foods your child will never see coming. You can make noodles out of vegetables and cheese sauce out of cauliflower so your child will be eating healthy without even realizing it!
Katie Kyzivat