It’s no form of newsflash, kids in general just don’t eat healthy enough.
This has been talked about umpteen times, and in some countries celebrity chefs have even tried to tackle the problem head-on by attempting to overhaul school dinners. The fact that they were unsuccessful highlights just how enormous, and perhaps impossible, this task is.
As such, a blog post isn’t going to solve the problem. However, we might just be able to point you in the right direction, if you are frantically trying to find ways to help your own kids eat more healthily.
Disguise the taste of foods
In their raw form, vegetables don’t tend to be much fun for anyone. However, add them to a stew, and suddenly they become all the more tasty.
This is one of the easiest ways to get kids to turn to healthier foods. Whether it’s through meat juices, or even adding something like a vinegar dressing to salad, you’ll be amazed at how you can transform perceptions of these once ‘urgh’-foods.
Make shopping a family affair
They might hate it at first, but getting the kids involved in the weekly shop is one of the easiest ways to change their mindset when it comes to healthy eating.
After all, we all know about the perils of food labels nowadays. Many of us have been brought up buying into the hype of ‘no added sugar’ and other similar labels that just paint a completely false dietary picture.
If you can head to the store with your little one, it becomes easier to educate them based on all of this information. Not only that, but they can become involved in picking their own (healthy) options and in turn, this should mean that they are more likely to eat better.
Make foods fun again
The easiest example is cutting foods in a specific shape, or even arranging the plate in such a way that it mimics a face or something else that can crack up a smile.
Particularly nowadays, there are no excuses for food not being fun either. For example, while Harry Potter candy might not be the definition of healthy – you can hopefully understand the point that a lot of foods are arriving packaged in a fun way and this makes your job a lot easier.
Forget the ‘clear your plate philosophy’
For years, we were all told to clear our plate. Now, a lot of people are regretting said advice.
Put simply, you shouldn’t be trying to reward kids to clear their plate. If they’re not hungry, there’s no harm in them not eating. Of course, if they are just clearing the tasty parts and leaving goodness like vegetables – this is another conversation.
Instead, you should be looking to manage portion sizes accordingly and sometimes, this might mean placing less on the plate than what you may have once thought.
