HAPPY HEALTHY EATING FOR KIDS

Healthy dinners don't have to be complicated. I want to show you that even if you have to feel lots of hungry mouths who all have different tastes (including a couple of picky eaters), it's still possible to create easy and healthy dinners. 

The aim of this post isn't to give you recipes, but to inspire you with easy and healthy dinner ideas.

Busy Week Day Dinner

Tuesday night is one of our "after school activities" nights. Everyone seems to be doing a different activity so not everyone eats at the same time.

I get in from swimming late and have a few minutes to cook before Celeste and Sebastian (5) come home (and often need attention!)

Tonight I presented several "dishes". I often present things separately because if there's something someone doesn't like it doesn't "contaminate" the other food. (You know what I'm talking about right?)

Related: Healthy and Easy Dinner Idea with Crepes

Easy Dinner Idea Plate 1

Pan fried trout. Frustratingly only one of my kids eats fish but I'm...

If you have a fussy eater or picky toddler, or just a "normal vegetable resistant" child, you'll understand the frustration of getting them to eat vegetables.

We know that pressuring kids to eat doesn't work, so what should we do?

I am all for a simple life! 

"Fun and easy" is my motto.

Dips are a fantastic way to introduce your picky eater to new vegetables. Or to make it fun for kids who have just forgotten how tasty carrot sticks are.

Introducing New Foods Using Food Pairing.

Here's how this works. You find a dip that your kid loves, that is their all time favourite.

You have a cheese-eating monster, choose a cheese dip.

Your child has a sweet tooth, then choose a fruity sweet dip.

Love avocado? They hate it? OK, stay clear of the guacamole.

The dip isn't the "food you want them to eat". The dip is already loved.

Then present it with lots of new and exciting vegetable sticks or cut up fruit.

Think carrot sticks, celery, peppers (capsicums), broccoli, peas, cauliflow...

There’s no doubt that many people find teaching their kids about healthy eating frustrating and stressful.

It’s SO easy to worry about what your kids are not eating.

Here’s what one of my readers, Rachel said to me:

“I am a full time working mom and cooking is not my favorite thing to do, nor am I good at it. When I do cook it is also frustrating because my child will usually not eat new things so then I feel that I wasted my time cooking.”

I totally get it.

I dislike cooking every single day and you know what, I have had many times when I’ve wanted to scream at my kids, pick up the food and tip it down their throats. (Ahem, I didn’t though!)

Most of Healthy Eating Benefits are in the Long Term

Of course there are short term benefits of eating healthily:

• Grow Healthily. Getting all the nutrients you need to grow properly and not have a nutrient deficiency such as anaemia or vitamin D deficiency.
• Lack of Illness. Not being constipated because you eat enough fibre in the
...

We all want our kids to eat healthy food without any fuss. We want our kids to naturally pick out the healthy foods rather than constantly demanding junk and treats.

It is perfectly possible to teach children healthy eating habits in easy and fun ways BUT it doesn’t happen overnight.

Teaching your kids healthy eating is like teaching them to ride a bike. It is a skill that they need to learn.

Most children’s default setting is to ask for cake, cake and more cake.

Our job as parents is to gently steer them towards healthy foods and teach them that cake is a fantastic and delicious treat that can be eaten in moderation.

How Do You Change Your Family Eating Habits?

The thing about habits is that once you’re in a habit, you do it without thinking.

For healthy eating, that might be your kids asking for some fruit or nuts for a snack instead of stamping their feet for chocolate. (Yes, it totally can happen!)

Or it might be them eating some vegetables without being asked.

The pro...

Having a picky or fussy eater can be very frustrating. You want to feed your child a healthy diet but they’re really selective and refuse to eat fruit or vegetables. It may feel that you’re powerless to help them, but there are lots of things that you can do to help your picky eater.

Clearly you need to feed them a healthy diet but beyond that, the number one rule is to allow them to be in control of what goes into their mouths.

The First Thing Children Learn to Control is Feeding

Let me elaborate a little bit.

If we have a look at children when they are babies, when they're tiny and very small, the first thing that they get control of is obviously their mouth.

They get control of feeding.

Next they get control of their hands and they start to see their hands, work out that their hands belong to them and gradually realise they can actually control their hands.

What is the first thing babies do with their hands?

They bring them to their mouth and they put anything they can i...

I happily declare 2018 to be the YEAR of Happy Healthy Eating for Kids! I want to show you how healthy eating can be fun and easy. I want to show you how you can build simple and fun habits into your family routine that will add up to lasting healthy eating habits.

Changing Your Family Eating Habits

The thing about habits is that once you’re in a habit, it’s really easy to stay there. No matter whether the habit is a good one or a bad one, you simply do things out of habit, without paying any attention to what you’re doing.

In contrast, changing habits can be challenging because we do need to really focus on what we’re doing until we’ve done it so many times that we stop thinking about it and just do it.

Healthy eating habits are just the same!

We want to change all those “not great habits” into “healthy and happy eating habits”.

Sound too difficult?

Don’t worry! I’m here to help.

Start By Making A Small Healthy Eating Change

You’re more likely to stick to doing something ...