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Organic food and fitness has a great post about disguising nutrition for kids. There are lots of great ideas for parents of kids who won’t eat healthy foods. Many of the items are things I do automatically, like adding finely chopped vegetables to dishes that don’t usually call for them, like meatloaf. And I almost exclusively buy whole grain breads and pastas so they’re all that Sam’s used to eating at home. But if you’re having trouble getting your child to eat nutritious foods, give some of their tips a try.
Add finely chopped cooked organic vegetables to soups. Puree organic vegetables and add to chili or spaghetti sauce.
Hide organic veggies in casseroles, soups and main dishes.
Add grated carrots (or other veggies) to tuna or chicken salad.
Add freshly juiced carrot juice to store bought vegetable or tomato juice.
Put organic vegetables in a food processor and add to hamburger patties, meatballs or meatloaf.
Take the kids shopping with you and let THEM pick out a new fruit or vegetable to try.
Finely grate zucchini or carrots and add to pancake batter or muffin batter.
Serve raw organic vegetables with a favorite dip. Let the kids graze on these all day.
Mix organic peanut butter with freshly ground nuts and serve with celery, apples, carrots, etc.
Use whole grain bread for grilled cheese sandwiches; toasting hides the color of the bread.
Switch from white bread to 50% whole wheat bread for one month, and then introduce whole-grain bread. You can make a sandwich using one slice of the 50% bread and one slice of the whole-grain bread. Put the lighter bread on the top and try to “fool” your kids!
Most children will eat a meal that they helped to prepare, allow them to participate!
Let them make cookies with you. Use whole wheat and carob chips and they won’t know the difference, especially if they are the ones making the cookies. There aren’t many children who will not eat what they make.
Sneak some whole-grain cookies into a bag of favorite mixed cookies, and eventually switch them to 100% whole grain.
Use cookie cutters to make fun sandwiches with whole-grain bread.
Mix wholegrain noodles into regular spaghetti or macaroni and cheese dishes.
Mix soaked soy bits or crumbled tofu in the ground beef. Slowly increase the soy/ground beef ratio in meals over time and they won’t notice that they are eating soy bits instead of ground beef. This works well in chili, spaghetti sauce, sloppy joes, casseroles, soups, etc.
Trying to wean off of dairy-based milk? Try GRADUALLY adding soy/almond/rice milk to regular milk until one day, all of a sudden, without them realizing it, they are drinking a “dairy alternative!”
When you need food for the road, try fresh or dried fruit, olives, trail mix, granola, popcorn, crackers, applesauce cups, nuts and seeds, and homemade energy bars. For protein-rich snacks, try a variety of nut butters, hummus, and soy products.
disguising nutrition, getting kids to eat better, tips for parents of picky eaters, healthy children
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October 4th, 2007 at 6:33 pm
[...] you have a picky eater in your house? Check out some of the tips Jackie has posted over on Kids Dish. Did You Enjoy this Post? Subscribe to Earthly Eating. It’s Free! « Back Home Posted in [...]
October 19th, 2007 at 6:58 am
Apparently Jerry Seinfeld’s wife, Jessica, has written a whole book on this topic. Although I didn’t watch, I understand it was profiled on Oprah recently and now they can’t keep the book on the shelves. Here is the review from amazon: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0061251348/ref=pd_sl_aw_open-1_book_39818562_2
November 27th, 2007 at 6:07 am
Kids and their choice in food !! A BIG puzzle for parents this is a nice article for choosy kids and nutritional diet is really important for your kid to grow into healthy man or woman.
So that their own choice should not keep them unhealthy……
http://obesityweightlosssurgery.com/doctor_story.php?storyid=428&id=1549