Kid Friend Healthy Eating Resources

Getting to Yum by Karen Le Billon might help you transition your kids away from junky "kid food" and towards more healthy foods.

I guess I got lucky. I refused to give my kids soda, french fries and other things of the like for the first two years. They grew up on healthy food (unlike what mom would eat) and as such they LOVE their veggies and meats now days. Even my autistic one will eat just about anything I make... now, I don't make asparagus or brussels sprout (much to my daughters dismay), because I don't like them and how do you know if you made it right when it always tastes bad to you, ya know? Don't get me wrong. They are kids and they have a mind of their own, so one day a meal is fine, but next week that isn't what they want so they get grumpy and refuse to eat it, but isn't that everyone at some point?

My recommendation is just to make some simple dinners that are on the edge of their comfort zone. Bake some chicken tenderloins rather than having fried chicken strips. Make some pasta roni noodles rather than mac n cheese (they are way less calories than kraft mac). I used to put butter on the veggies, but don't any longer. Zucchini is one of my kids favorites. Fried and dipped in ranch is their preference, but with a little salt I just cut them into spears and bake them now. Sudden drastic changes might cause a riot (aka tantrums from the kids) and loss of sanity (for you). :P

Do you eat the same food as your kids, and altogether? Kids often respond well to food if you're all eating the same thing at the same time.

I'm pretty strict. My daughter doesn't determine the menu, and there are no extra meals ("you get what you get, and you don't get upset"), but she's allowed to determine what she eats from the plate and it's perfectly OK for her not to like everything.

Depending on age, maybe include them in meal planning and you can figure out healthy eating together. Kids seem to find nutrition labels fascinating..

Weelicious is a website that has a lot of good recipes and suggestions for getting kids to eat "healthy". She is a big proponent of Family Meals - one meal for the whole family - which is something I still struggle with.

http://weelicious.com/family-meals/

My boys are 3 and 5. I was a very picky eater as a child and I didn't want them to go through that, because as I got older, I got more self conscious about the foods I didn't eat that everyone else was eating. However, as much as I have tried to get them to eat all the same things we eat, it just doesn't seem to work out that way most nights, and I also hate when every meal turns into me nagging them to eat their food.

I try to compromise by putting the food we are eating on their plate and asking them to at least try a bite, but I also put food that I know they will eat as well, so that they are comfortable with what's on their plate. My oldest is on the very small side for his age, so to be honest, I would rather him eat two chicken nuggets, a serving of mac n cheese, raw carrots, and half a banana then fight with him to get him to eat one bite of salmon, quinoa and asparagus.

It is a constant struggle so I am always interested to hear what works for others.

My son was a picky eater (he's now 4) my daughter, thank goodness, will try anything (almost 2). My sin from age 1-3 actually lost weight. thankfully, once he turned 3 things started to come around and this summer has been fantastic. In the beginning we saw a nutritionist to help him gain and give us tips. We started with foods he liked. For him it was fruit and yougurt smoothies. We gradually increased the variety of fruit in them so the texture didn't change but the taste did. We eventually added veggies and would tell him after his first sip. The reasoning was after his brain said "wow, this is good" then we told him it had carrot/spinach/beet/etc his brain would think happy thoughts on that food. We did that for a bit until he thought carrots or whatever was delicious then we served them raw or cooked at meal time. We only did one food at a time and did that food for a week. Now, after a year of doing this, he'll eat almost anything (he still has preferences but will willing eat every bite on his plate, no coaching, no bribery, nothing) . him and his sister fight over the peas and beans in the garden. We just tried the last veggie in the grocery store. It was eggplant and we served it with the "good" china and candle light as a celebration in trying everything. Turns out both my kids like eggplant but I am allergic...who knew.

Granted, he does not like food mixed together (like chilli or pizza or flavoured yogurt) and will not for the life of him eat pasta or white rice (which I am fine with, the less I serve it, the better for my weight loss)

Oh, and we did limit milk. We don't drink any juice or soda in our home (juice upsets his tummy and I have no Will power for soda) and if he didn't finish his plate, that was ok but meant no snacks until the next meal. Kids need to be a little hungry to try foods. Good luck! It's a lot of work but I am so proud of how he eats now,