Want Your Kids To Eat Healthy?

Want to get your kiddos to eat healthy? Yeah, me too. Here's a list of things that have worked for me. Give them a try and maybe they will work for you too!

• Persistence: Keep offering veggies even when they say the don't like them. I always just keep putting them on the plate at meal time. Eventually they eat it. It might take 2 days or 4 months but this has worked for us time and again.
• Stealth Mode: What they don't know can't hurt them. Sneak it in. I started with a smoothie that they loved. The ingredients were carrots, spinach, strawberries, blueberries, banana, and yogurt. They had no clue what was in it, just knew it tasted good.
• Snack Swap: I stopped buying fruit snacks and started offering fruit, or nuts, or carrots, etc. Apples, berries, and pistachios are favorites at my house!
•  Can It With The Soda!: We don't buy soda unless we are having people over. My 6 yr old never acquired a taste for it. My 4 yr old, however, would drink soda all day if he could. That's not an option at our house though. They have a choice between Chocolate Almond Milk, Almond Milk, and water. They know that if they've already had Chocolate Almond Milk that day then it's water only. This took some getting used to but it's just the way it is now and no one complains.
• Revamp Your List: Taking all junk food off of my grocery list was the easiest trick. If it's not in the house, we can't eat it! If we want a treat we might go out for ice cream or something but it's never on hand where we can just eat it whenever we want. 

This didn't all work out nearly as well with my oldest daughter who is almost 19. It's been great with the little ones though which just goes to show that healthy habits need to start early. Yesterday I took all 3 of my kids for lunch at Subway. I ordered a veggie sub for myself and my younger two. My oldest ordered a steak sandwich on white bread and I had to bite my tongue. I don't want to think she purposely orders the worst possible thing at Subway just to irritate me but let's be honest here. She's an 18 year old girl and I'm her mom, of course that's part of it. 

Moral of the story: Start your kids off right. Make healthy choices for them while you can and eventually they will make healthy choices for themselves. 

Peace, Love, Happiness!

~Bekah

Have some great tips or kid-friendly recipes? Tell us about them!