{"id":14029,"date":"2013-01-10T07:46:56","date_gmt":"2013-01-10T12:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/?p=14029"},"modified":"2021-02-11T14:11:40","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T19:11:40","slug":"how-to-raise-a-healthy-eater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/how-to-raise-a-healthy-eater\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Raise a Healthy Eater in 10 Easy Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Take the frustration out of meal time by teaching your kids to love real food right from the start! These tips created two great eaters in my family, even through the toddler years, and I am so excited to share how to raise a healthy eater in 10 easy steps!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"raising<\/p>\n

Pretty bold title, right? I\u2019ve gotten a lot of requests to post my favorite tips for raising healthy eaters, but I\u2019ve put it off over and over again. Why? First of all, I\u2019m no pro. I am a mom.<\/p>\n

Further more, I\u2019m scared of Murphy (you know, Murphy\u2019s Law). I have the lingering fear that as soon as I type up all my \u201crules\u201d for raising a healthy eater that she\u2019ll decide she wants nothing more than crackers for every meal.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve posted my disclaimer, here we go. These are things that have worked for us and are tips that I hope help you with your kids!<\/p>\n

How to Raise a Healthy Eater in 10 Easy Steps<\/h2>\n

\"How<\/p>\n

1. Start in the Womb.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

While pregnant with Hailey, I remember reading that babies in utero start swallowing amniotic fluid around 12 weeks and that their taste buds develop around 21 weeks. There are multiple studies that suggest babies quickly learn and prefer the flavors they are exposed to via amniotic fluid. I remember taking this \u201ceating for two\u201d and keeping in mind I was \u201ctasting for two\u201d too.<\/p>\n

I made sure to load up with healthy foods, like and array of vegetables, beans and whole grains, as well as strong flavors I loved, like garlic and spicy foods like Indian cuisine. Additionally I limited my sweets to a handful of dark chocolate here and there in hopes that she wouldn\u2019t develop a strong preference for sweets. This wasn\u2019t too difficult since I don\u2019t have much of a sweet tooth, but poor Hailey will more than likely inherit my chips and salsa tooth.<\/p>\n

To this day, Hailey enjoys strong flavors, like salsa in her eggs and not-too-spicy Indian food. Coincidence? Maybe.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “How to Raise a Healthy Eater in 10 Easy Steps”]<\/p>\n

2. Begin with Vegetables. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Fruits are healthy foods and no doubt healthy for us, but they are much sweeter than vegetables. Hailey\u2019s first foods were avocado and sweet potatoes, and sweet potatoes were as sweet as we went for a while. I wanted her to learn to enjoy vegetables before deciding she preferred sweets, so she ate potatoes, avocado, peas, green beans, broccoli and beans all before I gave her many fruits to try. Of course she went on to love bananas, blueberries, pears and apples, but once we added those, she still did great eating her greens.<\/p>\n

3. Try Different Preparation Techniques. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Just because Hailey wasn\u2019t wild about a food on her first try didn\u2019t mean I retired it to the dislike list.  In the same way that I won\u2019t eat a boiled Brussels sprout, but I\u2019ll devour roasted ones, I try different preparation for foods. Try roasting instead of boiling, or pan frying instead of steaming. Maybe even solid state instead of puree, or vice versa.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “Before you give up on raising a healthy eater, try these alternatives for preparing veggies!”]<\/p>\n

4. Experiment with Seasonings.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When Hailey was really young, she would eat plain black beans like crazy, then one day she stopped. I tried one to make sure they hadn\u2019t gone bad and decided it was pretty bland. I threw a handful in a pan and added a little olive oil, lime juice, a sprinkle of garlic powder and salt. I gave them back to Hailey and she gobbled them up. I believe at a certain point babies and toddlers want a little flavor in their food too.<\/p>\n

5. Don\u2019t Make Them Finish. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

When you think of feeding toddlers do you always think of the parent begging \u201cjust one more bite?!?\u201d I know I always think of that and have found myself doing it once or twice. It is important to me to not make meal time stressful and I wanted Hailey to learn to listen to her internal cues. If she wasn\u2019t hungry, I didn’t force her to eat. I offered her food two or three times and if she insisted that she was all done, then I let her go play. She would usually eat more at the next meal and it all evened itself out.<\/p>\n

[Tweet “Take the frustration out of meal time with these tips for raising a healthy eater!”]<\/p>\n

6. Don\u2019t Use Reward Foods. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

It\u2019s my belief that if a child only eats vegetables so she can get to the \u201cgood stuff\u201d then she\u2019ll grow up with the understanding that vegetables are a necessary evil. Instead, I wanted Hailey to enjoy healthy foods. Around here, dinner is dinner. There is no 4 bite minimum if she wanted desserts because we don\u2019t have dessert. (Oh, that sounds like deprivation, right? Trust me, she\u2019s ok. David and I don\u2019t have dessert nightly either. It\u2019s a sometimes thing and when we all went to go get ice cream, Hailey got some, too.)
\nIt\u2019s true some nights she would eat all of her tomatoes and only a few of her green beans, and that was ok with me.<\/p>\n

7. Give (healthy) Choices. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Toddlers seem to be on a power trip sometimes, don\u2019t they? I thought that was a teenage thing, but no, it starts at age 1! Hailey liked to assert her opinion and I liked to give her some control over her food choices. I\u2019d show her peas and broccoli and let her choose between the two. I\u2019d put out yogurt and a cheese stick, then she\u2019d pick which one she\u2019d prefer. I hoped to let her feel in control with decision making and was happy to do so, as long as the choices she had to choose from are all winners.<\/p>\n

8. Lead by Example.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

When kids are little, they mimic our actions, our words and our eating habits. If I was standing at the counter eating peppers and hummus, she wanted some, too. If I was chowing down on pizza, she wanted that, too. I ate both and Hailey ate both, too. I wanted her to eat what I was eating, so I tried to make my choices wholesome and varied. I know we\u2019ll eventually hit an age when she wants to do everything opposite of what I do, so I\u2019ll take advantage of the mimicking while I have it.<\/p>\n

9. Don\u2019t Stick to Traditional Foods.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Young children don\u2019t know what traditional breakfast foods are, so don\u2019t feel obligated to stick with them. It\u2019s true we usually have eggs, yogurt, oatmeal or fruit for breakfast around here, but there have been times when I gave Hailey frozen peas, leftover pasta and tomato sauce (we were low on groceries). She happily downed it. When Hailey had a cold, I put warm chicken broth in her sippy cup. After a strange look, she sucked it down. Kids don\u2019t know what normal is because you\u2019re creating their normal, so let them think that smoothies are supposed to be green and stuff as much spinach in them as you like!<\/p>\n

10. Don\u2019t Stress.<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Is your child slow in warming up to solid foods? Does she throw food at you (I know Hailey didthis)? Absolutely despise broccoli? Don\u2019t let it stress you out. Meal times should be fun times that create a positive correlation with healthy foods. Furthermore, as with everything, each child\u2019s experience is unique.  If they only want to eat a bite or two at one meal, go with it. Won\u2019t eat cauliflower no matter what you do? Pick a different veggie. If you have any real concerns about weight gain, talk to your doctor, but otherwise, just roll with it. They\u2019ll be fine and they\u2019ll eat when they\u2019re hungry.<\/p>\n

Ok, I\u2019m done. If Murphy\u2019s Law comes to bite me, my next post will be all about how to sneak vegetables in to innocuous foods. \"Winking<\/p>\n

What tips do you have for raising healthy eaters?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It’s not easy to raise healthy eaters, and no matter what you do, your kid will have her own preferences and tastes….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14026,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2243,2244],"tags":[350,660,662,661,395,759,842,1040],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14029"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14029"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14029\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ahealthysliceoflife.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}