My husband wrote this article (in his personal blog – daddyandthecity.com) when Gab was just 3 years old. We are happy that he has developed preference on healthy food rather than junk food. Sharing these tips and hopefully, it will work for your kids too!
With a lot of options for junk foods, it is easy for kids and toddlers to be eating them more often. That is why, we tried our best to make healthy food more enjoyable for Gab. There was even a time when we were surprised that he finish off a garlic bread even if there is a chocolate rocky road donut right in front of him.
Gab doesn’t nag when there is no chocolate or ice cream left. But he gets disappointed when there is no more papaya or watermelon on the ref.
When we are in the grocery store, he points to the shelves for milk, yogurt drink, bread and fruits. The lane for chocolates, potato chips and ice cream does not attract him at all. Well, at least not for the moment.
These habits took a while to develop but here are the things we did to get Gab to eat more healthy food.
1. Eat Healthy. For kids to eat healthy, it should start with the adults. If adults eat healthy, there is a big chance that the kids will eat healthy too. As much as possible, we limit meals from processed food, cold cuts, canned food and the like. We cook out own meals more often from fresh produce in the market. Keep more fresh fruits at home than potato chips.
2. Introduce fruits and vegetables early. A nutritionist once told me that babies don’t have taste preference. That is why they can just eat anything including paper. ? Take this opportunity to familiarize them with healthy food.
3. Make healthy food attractive. Presentation counts big when giving healthy food. Make it fun and attractive even if it will be time consuming. Look for food art ideas in the internet.
This caterpillar inspired food art was a hit for Gab (made from watermelon, pears, corn kernel, a small carrot stick and rolled scrambled eggs)
4. Sneak and Mix. An old trick in the book but nonetheless effective. Add fruits and vegetables in the food. It’s easy to sneak in carrots and spinach in pasta dishes or in fried lumpia. Add green leaves in the kids favorite soup too. If possible, don’t be too sneaky but try to describe what the kid is really eating.
5. Delay exposure to junk food. Sugar is very addicting. Once you taste it, you get hooked. Thus, the longer kids stays away from sugar, salt, MSG and other junk foods, the better they can adopt healthy eating. Hide chocolates and ice cream while they are young. We started giving chocolates and ice cream at around 3 years old. But he still prefers fresh fruits like papaya and mangoes.
6. Don’t show the packaging. Most junk foods comes in attractive packaging. Don’t give the junk food together with the packaging. Just give the contents. The less familiar they are with the packaging, the less cravings they have especially inside the grocery store.
7. Call junk foods by their brands. This is a neat trick we use with Gab. We call them M&Ms and not as candy or chocolate. He knows ice cream as Pistachio only. As a result, he doesn’t eat just any chocolate or ice cream you offer. Knowing a specific brand lessens his exposure and limits the amount he takes in. Of course by know he knows better since he can read the labels.
8. Control intake of junk foods. Gab’s favorite is M&M’s. But we don’t give the whole pack to him. Instead, we just give a few after a meal. One pack can last 3-4 meals and he is used to getting small servings but in longer frequency. Unless, it is his lola who gives him a whole pack to finish in one sitting. Grrrr….
9. Meal time at the table. Offer meal time and snacks in the table and not on the TV. Being in the table establishes good and healthy relationship with food. For some reasons, eating in front of the TV promotes unhealthy habits.
10. No food fights. We just don’t think it’s worth it to fight about food. We let Gab decide if he is full even if he only ate two spoons of his meal. He’d usually catch up with a bigger serving in the next meal. And while we prefer eating together as a family, if he says he is not hungry yet, we sometimes let it pass and eat ahead. We don’t force him to eat with us but we do have tricks to make him excited to eat.
While we limit junk foods from Gab, we don’t deny them from him. By now, he loves eating chocolates and ice cream too. It’s part of being a child and we don’t want to take that away from him. I think the best approach is moderation and it is working out well for us.
