More Tips to Raise Healthy Eaters

We love posting ideas and tips to help parents raise kids with healthy eating habits. If you read our postings often, you've probably seen a bunch of great ideas from multiple sources. 

Redbook publication just released a list of tips to add to our collection! Here they are:

1. Get your kids into the kitchen.Giving kids a say in what they're eating — from letting them pick out items at the grocery store to enlisting their aid in the kitchen.

2. Play with produce.Don't fret if your child turns up her nose at the scrubby texture of broccoli or the slime factor of spinach — just give them to her in forms she'll find more appetizing.

3. Make any food "snack food."Limit traditional snack foods altogether and offer your kids smaller-size portions of regular mealtime foods.

4. Get sneaky.If you can't coax your kid to eat the good stuff, you might just have to slip it into his food without his knowing. 
5. Let food be fun.Mom was wrong: Playing with food is not only fun, but it also encourages kids to be more adventurous diners, nutritionists confirm. Try arranging food into smiley faces on your child's plate; cut meats, cheeses, and sandwiches into fun shapes with cookie cutters; or provide an assortment of dips, sauces, and toppings like sunflower seeds for salads, potatoes, and noodles. 

6. Try and try again...and again.Studies show that kids sometimes need to sample a food up to a dozen times before finally liking it. That means offering the food once or twice a week for up to six weeks.

For great healthy (and delicious) recipes that kids love, click here

Source: Redbook, Shine