Is getting your kids to eat healthy foods a battle in your home? If so, you’ll love these tips that will make your kids happy and give you the satisfaction of knowing you are feeding them foods that are good and healthy. Let’s take a look at fun and healthy eating throughout the day:
Start with Breakfast – Feed your kids a healthy breakfast by replacing those prepackaged cereals, pastries, and bars with something better. These processed foods contain lots of sugar and unidentifiable ingredients from biology class. That includes those so-called healthy breakfast or protein bars.
Replace these sugary foods with healthy foods like a whole-wheat, sun-dried tomato, or spinach tortilla burrito. Fill a tortilla with fruit, or scrambled eggs, cheese, and turkey bacon for a delicious and nutritious breakfast that your kids will have fun eating. Create a grab-and-go breakfast by wrapping the filled tortillas in parchment paper. Another quick and fun breakfast is whole grain pancakes with naturally sweet fruit toppings. To make breakfast time a little easier, make the pancakes the night before and warm them in the microwave in the morning.
Got to Have a Snack – Most kids prefer sweets when they’re looking for a snack. Give them sweets like applesauce and homemade oatmeal cookies so you control the sugar. When you make your cookies, substitute honey for sugar. Fruit snacks and Fruit Roll Ups that are made from 100% fruit juice are great ways to give your kids healthy snacks.
Fresh fruit juice is a delicious substitute for those sugary fruit punch drinks. You can even cut the expense by adding a little water to the fruit juice. Poured over ice and your kids will think they have a grownup drink and won’t even notice the lack of sugar. Say NO to all sodas by serving flavored tonic water with a pretty slice of fruit for garnish. This is a sparkly drink that your kids will grow quite attached to and never miss the soda again.
Lunch is Served – If your child is brown-bagging their lunch for school or if you need ideas for kids at home, you want foods that are healthy and fast. Your day is busy, and so is your kids’ day! Look at what your kids typically like to eat for lunch and see if you can make it better. These simple lunch box tricks will have your kids fed quickly and healthier.
Make a healthier batch of macaroni and cheese easily by using whole wheat pasta, skim milk, and low fat cheese. Your kids will fall in love with their new favorite mac and cheese; no boxes involved. If chicken nuggets are a favorite lunchtime treat, simply cut up chicken breasts into small pieces, roll in egg and milk, then crushed cornflakes, and bake in the oven on a cookie sheet until crispy.
Time for Dinner – It’s been a busy day and everyone is hungry. You can make a dinner that grownups will like, but if it doesn’t appeal to kids, they’ll pick and go hungry. Instead, cook foods that are fun and nutritious. One great way to make sure your kids eat right at dinnertime is to get them involved with the meal planning. Your kids know what appeals to them and with their ideas you’ll be able to create menus with all their favorite kid-tested meals tweaked by you for ultimate healthy food choices.
Homemade pizza is a great place to start. You choose the healthy toppings, but your kids have fun by creating their own arrangement. Tacos are another fun food that kids can “build” themselves to encourage healthy eating habits. Again, you provide the healthy choices; they provide the fun. Combine the fun of pizza with the fun of tacos by laying small tortillas out on a cookie sheet. Top them each like you would a pizza, bake until crisp, and each child has their own individual taco-pizza.
The secret to getting kids to eat healthy is in the fun presentation. Arrange an assortment of healthy foods in a fun way on your child’s plate, and you are most likely going to watch that food disappear. It’s not difficult to get kids to eat healthy foods when you use a little extra thought and planning. Start with these simple tips and you may be soon be surprised to see how healthy your child will eat.
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