Feeding little kids in a healthy way? Need help

I put out raw veggies and ranch dip for my boys (3 and 8) as an "appetizer" or as a side dish with our meal. They each have their favorites, and they can enjoy as much as they want!

try weelicious.com

Try skinnytaste.com for healthy versions of finger foods and such. She has a great one of chicken nuggets.

Also maybe try making frozen yogurt pops. You can buy the little trays to put yogurt in and then you put the handle on and freeze them. It's very yummy.

Also maybe try making things colorful and fun. Make the shape of a star out of blueberries or carrots.

Involve them in the process of picking out foods. I found my kids were more accepting of better choices if they got to have a hand in the decision process. For example, we go to the produce section, they can pick out whatever piece of fruit (or vegetable) they want.

Letting them help in the kitchen helps too. They will often try things you'd be surprised at because they got to see the things that went into the dish and are proud of what they helped make.

Ultimately, if the stuff isn't around and you won't cave and go get it, they will learn to eat what's available. With time, they can also learn to enjoy it.

Try the one-bite rule. When I make meals, I make sure to serve at least one thing I know they'll love (so they can have enough to eat), and then the rule is they get one serving of everything on the table. They can have as much of anything on the table as they like, but they can't have seconds until they try at least one GOOD bite of everything I'm serving. Even if they've not liked it before, they have to try it again.

^^^^^ This is the rule in my house too. I will never force my children to clean their plate, but they do have to try everything then they can just eat the things they like.

Have you tried asking your child to assist you in the kitchen? Sometimes getting them to put things together with you, like a simple salad or a snack, goes a long ways towards getting them to eat healthier. We instituted the one bite rule. Mom put something new on the table, and everyone had to take and swallow one bite. We then discussed if we liked or didn't like the food and why. All suggestions were taken into consideration, and adjustments, within reason, were made. My kids will eat anything these days, and it is really easier for me to tell you what we have NOT eaten versus what we have. By asking them to sample foods, work with me to combine these foods to create a meal, and as they got older, asking them to prepare meals worked for us. I have "forever kids" who are locked into the ages of 8 and 12. They love the fresh foods of any kind, and love to help me shop for foods. Just my take on it.

I raised 3 kids vegetarian...My older 2 are still vegetarians but my baby, now 14, eats meat now. Anyway one thing I learned from raising them is that kids will eat what you give them. Little kids have no money. They can't drive or walk very far so they have no way to get to the store. They can't use the stove. and so on.

Your son will eat what you give him. If you have raised him thus far on lots of junk and processed foods, sure, he's gonna balk at now having to eat healthy. So? give him time, he will come around. Because he's not going to starve himself, trust me on that.

Things my kids liked/like: FRUIT. keep lots of fresh fruit on hand. Apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, etc.

For veggies, sliced cucumber, baby carrots are great snacks. Also serve a green veggie with every lunch and dinner, like spinach, broccoli, peas, brussel sprouts, etc.

Don't buy pop/soda on a regular basis. There is no reason for a little kid to drink it. It should be a treat. Plus, the money you spend on pop/soda could be better spent on all the fruit you're going to buy

Other good food my kids saw/see as treats: air-popped popcorn, homemade fruit leather, home made granola, nuts.

Once a month bake him some cookies, let him have some pudding every once in a while, but overall keep his diet nice and healthy. You will set him up on a strong foundation for life, and it's likely he won't be an obese child if he eats this way. All of my kids are nice and slender. (I'm the only fatty in the house LOL)

I don't allow the words "ewe" or "that's gross" in my house from anyone. I have twin 4 yr olds who will practically eat most anything. Reagan has tried asparagus many times and she just doesn't like it so I won't make her eat that but 90% of the time they will eat what I give them. Yesterday they were snacking on fresh veggies and hummus with their daddy before dinner. They love sushi (raw and rolls) and really most all veggies including cabbage, broccoli, carrots, edamame........ect. The rule in my house is that you have to try it. If you truely and honestly don't like it, you don't have to eat it but you do have to try it. Most of the time they like it and finish it before they have realized it. Just keep trying new recipes incorporating the healthy foods and they will come around. You can always reward them by allowing one not so healthy item that they love once or twice a week for doing so well on eating healthy the rest of the days.

Honestly, this is one of the hardest things for me. I grew up on Mac N Cheese and hotdogs, the only veggies I ate were corn (not even a real veggie more of a grain) and green beans. When I was 10, and mom married a guy who tried to get me to eat better, but I was way more stubborn thatn they had the energy to deal with, and I really wish they hadn't given in. As I grew older I was often embarrassed of my eating habits and the fact that I was terrified to try new things. This went on for a really long time, and because I was less active I packed on the pounds quickly. I would tell my husband (who will try anything), "when we have kids, they WILL NOT be like this!", and they aren't. There were rough periods where they were stubborn, but we just had to be consistant. Once they realized this was the way it was they accepted it. My way may not work for you, but here is what we did & still do.

First thing was I had to model good eating, which you already do and I struggle with.

Secondly, we try to fix meals where there is at least one healthy item we know the kids like.

Thirdly, we go with the you have to give it a chance, which means more than one teeny bite. If they don't like it okay, eat they other stuff. They also had to learn that sometimes my husband and I don't particularly care for a certain food, but we still eat it because its good for us and its what is for dinner. If they are hungry later, they can have a piece of fruit, a yogurt, or a healthy snack, but no junk and they know this.

Here is the important part, even if they don't like it, don't quit serving it. Once they've tried it its no longer new. The next time they try it they still might not like it, but you usually don't have to argue. By the 4th time it shows up on their plate a lot of times they just eat it because its normal.

My kids have a few favorite sayings "It isn't my favorite food, but it's what we're having" and "It's not my favorite, but if somebody serves it to me I'd eat a little bit so they don't feel bad."

I'm not a fan of hiding the healthy stuff, but I do sometimes add nutrition to things by adding veggies in, but it isn't a secret, it's just how we cook. Chopped spinach in spaghetti/pizza sauce is a favorite, but the kids know its there. They'll need to learn how to cook someday too.

No, my kids still don't like everything, but they do give things a try without whining. Good Luck, this is important and you will find a way to work it out.

You are not alone at all. Once my kids came off of baby food I was at a loss and still am honestly. Outside of the few things they eat who knows. My oldest who is 4 is starting to not be as picky about what he eats and wants to try new things and loves veggies and fruit so he is quite easy to feed, but my 2 year old is a whole different story and refuses to try new things and will only eat a handful of foods such as pb&j, chicken strips and pizza (but he hates potatoes in any form.) Plus to top it all off, my husband is at work 21 days out of the month for 16 hours a day and comes home to sleep, shower and go again. So I only really cook when he is home because there really isn't a point to cooking a meal that is up in the air with the kids that could just go to waist. So I am stuck with little options, actually they tend to like to eat the same things all the time. So I take the those few things and rotate them through out the week as best I can.

But I make up for it where I can with what they do eat, I buy all our meat organic pasture raised, it is a little more expensive but after much reading so much better for you. I try to stick to staples that I know they like. If I do chicken strips for them I make them from scratch and coat them using almond flour and spices and then fry them lightly in non hydrogenated organic coconut oil (just baking them the flour gets mushy and not good) and then finish baking them in the oven and will pair them with the organic apple sauce pouches or yogurt. We actually do that more often than not because they both love them, I make a large batch and freeze leftovers that I can pull out and reheat in the oven. I am also starting to make my own breads that are "carb" friendly so that they have healthier pb&j sandwiches and I use pureed fruit chilled as their jelly. Pizza is pizza, I haven't found a recipe that even compares and we only do it every once in awhile since my 4 year old HATES pizza (what 4 year old hates pizza?) They do not get soda, juice on rare occasions and both LOVE water and Almond milk. They also do not get candy, I actually had a situation one time where my 2 year old was throwing a fit in the check out line at Awfulmart and the cashier asked me if he was throwing a fit because he couldn't have the soda or candy he wanted and I said no he is angry because he wants one of those applesauce packets and she actually said to me "wow... I have to say that is the first time I have ever seen a child throw a fit over not getting to have something good for them." We also don't eat fast food but again on rare occasions, so they know about Mcdonalds and the like but they couldn't care less about it.

What I hate though is that their "menu" is so limited, but I have started to look at it this way, until my kids are old enough to start enjoying the taste of new foods (remember their little taste buds are so new and haven't lost any from spicy foods, smoking (hopefully they never do), soda, age, etc.. that flavors of food we eat can be extremely over powering to them.) I will take the staples they love and do what I can to make them as healthy as possible. And if there are days that the choices aren't as great as I would like them to be, I forgive myself, we are parents, we aren't perfect and aren't given manuals on how to feed these little beings. We know what is "good" and "bad" for them so do what you can to get them to eat whats good for them until they are old enough to understand the differences of making the right choices food wise and enjoying what you put in front of them. And as long as you keep making the healthy choices for yourself chances are they will do the same because of the example set for them.