I need help with my kids nutrition.

kvansteen

It takes 7x for your taste buds to start liking something new. Have your kids take a "yes, no thank you bite" of everything on their plate. Yes I will try it but no thank I don't want any more. Also go on family walks. Choose a healthy restaurant and try a different one each week. Check out the sugar content of cereals; it's typically really high. Pick one you like with the lowest content. Try a couple new recipes a week and let your kids pick. Subscribe to a magazine like cooking light and let your kids find recipes they want to try. Take them shopping with you and have them find things on the list instead of looking at their phone the whole time. Explain why you want to do this with them.

And above all else tell them that you're doing this because you LOVE them.

Queenmunchy

This also may not work for older kids, but when my daughter was around 3 we made a chart of vegetables that she could choose from. Every week she told me what she wanted to try and we went from there and she marked it with a smiley face. Bok choy - frowny face, acorn squash 2 smiley faces, etc.
My daughter also knows that I don't consider cereal to be a breakfast, but a dessert. For breakfast she usually chooses a chia seed smoothie, a slice of BLT frittata, some turkey sausages, an egg, fruit, almonds, or scrambled egg white with cheese. Any combo of these is fine with me, but I keep an eye on portions.
Lunches consist of a main - most common are: veggie rich chili with baked tortilla chips, slices of cheese with grape tomatoes, 1/2 of turkey, light chicken salad, or pb sandwich, or a salad; a water; a juice product: usually a sugar free juice (the chemicals don't bother me in small portions); a fruit or low sugar yogurt; a salty snack - usually popcorn or baked cheese its; and a sweet snack: 100 calorie almond chocolate nuts, 100 calorie cookies, 100 calorie protein bar, etc. She almost never eats her entire meal, or she eats her snacks at after school care instead of what's offered.

Queenmunchy

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

Queenmunchy wrote: »

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.

Yep, I posted this earlier, but I make everything with half veggies, especially nuggets. I'll shred 2 large zucchini or squash, squeeze out the water, add to 1lb ground chicken and add an egg and seasoning. Cover with breadcrumbs of choice and bake at 425 for 17 or so minutes on a rack.
I freeze them for easy meals - when you're ready to eat thaw in the microwave and broil both sides until crisp.
My kid has never told me she hates zucchini or squash in the past 7 years I've made these. I keep them on hand at all times.

ETA: we make seasoned breadcrumbs out of chex cereal

Those are AWESOME looking!

They're awesome tasting! My husband is obsessed. He eats them in sandwich rolls for quick after work meals (he often skips breakfast and lunch).

quiltlovinlisa

Something we do at mealtimes, is offer multiple vegetable choices, prepared in various ways and then for seconds on protein or bread (or whatever the main meal is) you need to try something new, or eat a veggie you're familiar with. When transitioning children into more variety, having choices helped them be more positive and not feel like they were backed into a corner. It gave them power over what they ate and I think helped build a healthier attitude towards food.

We have several picky eaters in our crew.

purplemystra

Queenmunchy wrote: »

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.

Yep, I posted this earlier, but I make everything with half veggies, especially nuggets. I'll shred 2 large zucchini or squash, squeeze out the water, add to 1lb ground chicken and add an egg and seasoning. Cover with breadcrumbs of choice and bake at 425 for 17 or so minutes on a rack.
I freeze them for easy meals - when you're ready to eat thaw in the microwave and broil both sides until crisp.
My kid has never told me she hates zucchini or squash in the past 7 years I've made these. I keep them on hand at all times.
ETA: we make seasoned breadcrumbs out of chex cereal

Thanks so much. I will try this. My son's favorite food is hamburgers. I already blend half turkey half beef. The kids like it.

Queenmunchy

purplemystra wrote: »

Queenmunchy wrote: »

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.

Yep, I posted this earlier, but I make everything with half veggies, especially nuggets. I'll shred 2 large zucchini or squash, squeeze out the water, add to 1lb ground chicken and add an egg and seasoning. Cover with breadcrumbs of choice and bake at 425 for 17 or so minutes on a rack.
I freeze them for easy meals - when you're ready to eat thaw in the microwave and broil both sides until crisp.
My kid has never told me she hates zucchini or squash in the past 7 years I've made these. I keep them on hand at all times.
ETA: we make seasoned breadcrumbs out of chex cereal

Thanks so much. I will try this. My son's favorite food is hamburgers. I already blend half turkey half beef. The kids like it.

Awesome! Try lean beef and 8oz of finely chopped mushrooms. It's an awesome way to get in some veggies. A little 2% cheese and a 100 calorie hamburger bun, some baked fries on the side - done!

dubird

Something just occurred to me, though. If all you ever do is hide the veggies in their food, they're not going to learn to eat them like they should. I'm not saying don't sneak some in, but they also need to learn to eat veggies themselves. They have to learn how to balance their own diet so when they go out on their own, they'll do it right.

The suggestion for giving them a choice of veggies and how they're prepped is a good one. Giving them a list of choices and having them choose one lets them feel a bit more in control of what they eat and says that while you are putting your foot down about the veggies, you do still value their opinion. That's really important to kids of all ages, not just teens and pre-teens. One thing I learned babysitting is that even toddlers want to be able to make decisions, even if you only give them two or three options.

iLoveMyPitbull1225

They hate fruit and vegetables but they grew up surrounded by bad eating habits that probably didn't include these things very much. Try new things, look up healthy recipes and try veggies and fruits in a variety of different ways. They are bound to find some things they enjoy. They are also at ages where if they don't like what you're cooking, I would suggest they fend for themselves.

Queenmunchy

dubird wrote: »

Something just occurred to me, though. If all you ever do is hide the veggies in their food, they're not going to learn to eat them like they should. I'm not saying don't sneak some in, but they also need to learn to eat veggies themselves. They have to learn how to balance their own diet so when they go out on their own, they'll do it right.

The suggestion for giving them a choice of veggies and how they're prepped is a good one. Giving them a list of choices and having them choose one lets them feel a bit more in control of what they eat and says that while you are putting your foot down about the veggies, you do still value their opinion. That's really important to kids of all ages, not just teens and pre-teens. One thing I learned babysitting is that even toddlers want to be able to make decisions, even if you only give them two or three options.

This is all so true. Although I bulk up most dishes with vegetables (helps me with calories!), everyone is well aware that they're in there - I don't "hide" them.

My daughter almost always chooses the vegetables in her dinner. Most of the time it's the same old - corn, peas, tomato salad, roasted broccoli, roasted cauliflower, but it's okay if she's eating a lot of other vegetables in other ways.

bkerr30

Kalikel wrote: »

Don't buy junk food. If it's not in the house, they cannot eat it...unless your son has a job and goes and buys his own.

You may not be able to undo their ideas of how to eat, but you can still give them a good example and steer them in the right direction before they go off to live their own lives. Your daughter, especially, has time to learn to eat healthy.

I'd be honest with them and say that I wanted all of us,especially me because I'm older, to get healthier, but I've done a piss-poor job so far and I wasn't sure how to go about it.

Get their help. Have them help you pick stuff for you all to eat. Ask them to chop some veggies. Kids are much more likely to want to try food they helped to make. Adults, too. We all like trying what we've made. They'll probably be more likely to go along with it if they know you're trying to do it to make yourself healthier, too.

They'll be learning about healthy eating in school. Check out their books and find the sections on it. Discuss it.

That's my advice. But I know kids. There may be resistance, lol.

This video sums up teens and their resistance to eating healthy food in 24 seconds. "Eat. It."

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=elnG1QynqsY

All of this. Yes!

coco_bee

When my kids were little and very hungry at dinnertime I would give them small serving of meat n carbs and usually they wanted more but I wouldn't give them a 2nd helping until they eat veges first and dont give them veg they will gag on like boiled carrots. They might enjoy a nice salad w walnut dressing, heaps o recipes in google. Now as teens they like their balanced meals and also junkfood like mcds but not everyday, good luck

Annr

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

Queenmunchy wrote: »

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.

Yep, I posted this earlier, but I make everything with half veggies, especially nuggets. I'll shred 2 large zucchini or squash, squeeze out the water, add to 1lb ground chicken and add an egg and seasoning. Cover with breadcrumbs of choice and bake at 425 for 17 or so minutes on a rack.
I freeze them for easy meals - when you're ready to eat thaw in the microwave and broil both sides until crisp.
My kid has never told me she hates zucchini or squash in the past 7 years I've made these. I keep them on hand at all times.

ETA: we make seasoned breadcrumbs out of chex cereal

Those are AWESOME looking!

How cool....I did spy with my little eye...a piece of chex cereal :-)

half12345

Would your kids be interested in helping to cook a meal? Make it something fun like homemade pizza and baked wings or whatever but try to use some healthy ingredients and substitutions for higher calorie ingredients. I feel like kids are more open to trying foods that they had a hand in making.

Lizzy622

Another thing to try is raw or lightly steamed veggies with dripping sauces. Ranch is a bit heavy but hummus or greek yogurt based sauces or salsa may help to get them to try different things.

rhtexasgal

For some reason, many cooked veggies almost makes both my teenage boys gag. Therefore, we eat a LOT of salads, colorful ones using raw veggies. Purple cabbage, red/yellow/green/orange peppers, red and purple leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, green and purple onions, carrots, parsnips, grated zucchini, etc. I make most of our salad dressings (there are great, healthy recipes that taste close to ranch, italian, etc. without all those preservatives) ... I have also been teaching my boys about spices - how certain ones amp up flavor or complement others. I almost hoard spices but they never go bad because we experiment a lot. I got them to eat zucchini with a special blend of garlic, shallots and smoky black pepper. Sometimes, we will have taste test "parties" and have created some great new recipes and ways of eating stuff. Heck, if I can get my boys to eat massaged kale salad and LIKE it, then there is hope for almost anyone!

JenMc14

Get them involved in some sort of physical activity if they are able, and interested.

Ask them to help prepare meals. Ask them to find a recipe that interests them, and help them make it. I agree that it's really easy to sneak veggies in to things like sauces and quiches, but maybe get some non-standard veggies as a side. Roast or grill for a great flavor. Make your own pizza can be fun, with flatbread crust and all kinds of toppings. You could use turkey sausage and pepperoni and Canadian bacon to keep calories lower. They might also like a good stir-fry. Experiment with different veggies, proteins and sauces. Make it fun, like you're trying new things, not taking away old favorites. Allow some fun treats, don't make them off limits, but quantity limited.

Queenmunchy

Annr wrote: »

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

Queenmunchy wrote: »

quiltlovinlisa wrote: »

On the theme of cooking with veggies, finely shredded zucchini blends into everything with nary a trace. And when I say everything, I mean soups, stews, meatloaf, baked casseroles, cookies, cakes.... It's amazing.

Yep, I posted this earlier, but I make everything with half veggies, especially nuggets. I'll shred 2 large zucchini or squash, squeeze out the water, add to 1lb ground chicken and add an egg and seasoning. Cover with breadcrumbs of choice and bake at 425 for 17 or so minutes on a rack.
I freeze them for easy meals - when you're ready to eat thaw in the microwave and broil both sides until crisp.
My kid has never told me she hates zucchini or squash in the past 7 years I've made these. I keep them on hand at all times.

ETA: we make seasoned breadcrumbs out of chex cereal

Those are AWESOME looking!

How cool....I did spy with my little eye...a piece of chex cereal :-)

Lol. My best friend asked me if it was dinosaur cereal and if it's even made anymore. I assume it isn't, but it still cracked me up.
The magic bullet doesn't necessarily get every piece before I have to remove so it's not pulverized

coco_bee

Honestly, the "you wont get more meat and carbs trick unless you eat veges first" really does work

MissElectricEyeliner

I was a picky eater growing up. My mom however fed me whatever I wanted most of the time. The only way I can can eat vegetables even as an adult is in stir fry with chicken.

coco_bee

MissElectricEyeliner wrote: »

I was a picky eater growing up. My mom however fed me whatever I wanted most of the time. The only way I can can eat vegetables even as an adult is in stir fry with chicken.

Stir fries are great! I didnt force my kids to eat veges, I gave them a choice and if a certain veg eg boiled carrots made them gag, I would then make something more "child friendly" like carrot salad w raisins, walnuts, shredded lettuce, a little mayo mixed in for taste. They grew to love these foods which they at first rejected.