Making dietary changes is hard work – and I’m just talking adults that desire that change. It’s a whole other ball game when we’re talking making changes for kids. I often hear about children that are “picky eaters” – what’s a parent to do when their kids want a bag of chips or some fast food nuggets over real foods?
A study published in the Eating Behaviors journal revealed that 8 – 50% of children (aged 2-11) are reluctant to try new ingredients, inflexible at mealtimes, and often unwilling to consume the recommended daily allowances of grains and produce.
There are gradual steps to take that can point children into a more balanced direction; and it is important for these children to eat better nutrition because eventually they become adults that realize later in life that clean eating is the best path to quality of life. To gently persuade your kids to a nutrilicious path, you’ll have to be creative and expansive. Create a habit for children to sit at the table and eat the item made for that meal – no special meals if a meal is not liked, and at least one bit must be explored of each meal. Incorporating good rules will allow children to become less picky.
Don’t forget to download the Metagenics Smoothie Recipes in #3!
- Engaging children at the market.
- Take them on a “field trip” to the market, and ask them to pick appealing produce. Vibrant options (rainbow carrots, purple cauliflower, red cabbage) might help them open up to new tastes.
- Discuss the benefits of various new ingredients to stimulate your kids’ interest; then at the market, ask them to list something new they’d like to try.
- Incorporate healthy ingredients into your kids’ favorite dishes.
- Tasty sauces with beets or carrots, muffins with apples, bananas, and zucchini.
- Add blueberries or oats to pancakes
- Add veggies or lentils to your spaghetti
- Serve fresh cabbage or other greens with tomato sauce
- Stir finely chopped broccoli into a bowl of macaroni and cheese
- Add a powdered probiotic to a drink to help support gastrointestinal health
- Blend fresh produce into a nutritious smoothie.
- Metakids Nutrition Powder – to add nutrition and immune support to any smoothie
- (ie Kale-Berry Smoothie) ½ cup apple juice, ½ cup kale, ½ cup blueberries, ½ banana, 1 tablespoon ground chia seeds
- Metagenics Smoothie Recipes
- Put your children in social situations with non-picky eaters.
- Children are more likely to sample new foods when they observe their peers eating nutritiously.
- Create a salad bar for supper.
- Get kids involved in the meal prep process. Creating a salad bar allows your children to put together colorful plates of healthy food.
- Lay out a spread of fresh “rainbow” ingredients. Red cherry tomatoes and kidney beans, Orange carrots, Yellow corn, Greens, Blueberries, and Indigo cabbage with every meal. Gradually your children will “create” a side they enjoy.
