Top Secrets to make your kids eat a Clean Plate
Let’s Make your Kids Plate fun
It is so common for children to be “picky eaters” it is considered a normal childhood phase. There are special menus at restaurants and at social events shaping this whole “children’s food” culture—offering primarily chicken nuggets, french fries and mac and cheese. Despite parents’ best efforts, getting them to eat healthier foods can appear like an impossible task. But is it? Can picky eaters be “fixed”?
These days food is a hot topic among parents but we can plan ahead to make the transition smooth as we navigate from picky to healthy eater.
Tips & Tricks of the “Icky” Trade:
- Getting kids of any age to consume foods that offer stellar nutrition can be a challenge. Here are some ideas to make it happen.
- Involve the kids : Involve them with planning, shopping, and mealtime preparations. Experiencing the activity of preparing nourishing meals gives a different perspective to children about what they are putting into their mouths. They can tear lettuce, wash veggies, grate cheese, shake a bag of muffin ingredients, and measure out ingredients. Don’t forget cleanup participation!
- Visit the Source : Try to establish a relationship among children. between the food growing process - sunshine, rich soil, water, time, care, planting, and harvesting and how it comes into their plate. When children witness this process in action, they are more motivated to consume the end product. Start a garden, grow sprouts, herbs on the kitchen counter, visit an orchard, berry farm, or organic raw milk dairy, or take them fishing.
- Be creative, but don’t go overboard: Make fun meals and snacks. Arrange carrot stick and cheese hair, olive-slice eyes, cherry tomato ears, bell pepper mustaches, and mushroom noses to look like a face.
- Play with different textures: The mouthfeel of food can influence your child’s acceptance. If a food is rejected in a certain form, try it another way! Instead of scrambling an egg, put it in a smoothie. Instead of chunky soup, blend it up. Be inventive!
- Dips and spreads : Kids love to be active with their food. Try yogurt for fruit slices, nut butter for carrots, or avocado dip for homemade corn chips. An easy dip idea is to blend together some sour cream, a little steamed spinach with the moisture removed, and a dash of homemade tomato sauce.
- Drink it : Smoothies are a nice way to get in extra nutrients and calories. Start with a base of almond milk and add either yogurt or kefir for the probiotics. Try adding a raw egg yolk and a?ai berry (available in the frozen food section of most health food stores) for an antioxidant boost. Include one or more of these nutrient-dense extras: coconut oil, milk, or cream, nut butters, avocado, spirulina, or cocoa powder.
- Add broths wherever possible : Broth is one of the most nourishing foods to feed your family. “Bone broths and Vegetable broths are nutrient-dense foods. Make sure to always have broth on hand–chicken is usually well-liked, but any homemade variety will do. Use it as the base for soups, make gravy regularly, serve it as a hot beverage with salt and seasonings, and use it in place of water to cook grains.
- Find a compromise and stick with it : Take a six-section container and fill each section with something different, such as crispy nuts, fresh or dried fruit, and veggies. Fill one section with a sweet treat, Piece of jaggery, dates, homemade candies. Allow the kids to snack out of this container during the day and refill the sweet section only once the entire thing is empty.
