Struggling with picky eaters? Looking for new ways to add variety, more nutrition, and kid-friendly flavors to every-day meals? Stuck in a snack rut? Curious how much added sugar is lurking in your family’s favorite foods? Wondering out how much fiber your family needs for optimal health?
This blog post is sponsored by Chobani Kids® Greek Yogurt Pouches and Tubes. I was compensated for my work, and as always all opinions are my own.
HOW TO MARKET GOOD NUTRITION TO KIDS
1. Make healthy foods highly accessible and attractive: Kids are more likely to eat fruits and vegetables when they’re cut into fun shapes and presented in playful ways. From fresh berries used as a “decoration” for a smoothie bowl topping to a Halloween Skeleton made with vegetables, a dash of creativity can really spark a child’s interest. And if you serve fruits and veggies at the start of the meal when kids are hungry, they’ll be more willing to take a few bites too.
2. Pair new items with old standbys to take the intimidation factor out of trying something new: For example, top a new soup recipe with whole grain Goldfish® crackers or crushed whole grain tortilla chips; offer hummus or another favorite dip with a crunchy new vegetable; or create a sandwich with one slice of white bread and one slice of whole wheat.
3. Eat together as a family and role model good eating habits: Children who eat meals with their family eat more fruits and vegetables than kids who eat alone. Eating together provides an opportunity for the adults at the table to role model good eating habits. Interestingly, peers can also have a positive impact on eating behaviors. In a new study, toddlers who watched a video of their tiny peers eating bell peppers were more likely to try and then eat the peppers themselves. (That’s the kind of screen time I appreciate.)
4. Self-serve meals versus pre-plating: When the dinner bell rings at your house, do you plate up everyone’s meal or do you serve dinner on platters and in bowls for everyone to serve themselves? Doing the latter gives kids more control over what and how much their tummies want to eat. And it offers an opportunity for role modeling too. When little Johnny sees his big sister serving herself spoonfuls of broccoli, he’s more likely to follow her lead.
5. Have kids help with meal planning and preparation: Every time I ask the moms and dads in my online community for their best tip for getting their kids to try new foods, “getting kids involved in meal prep” comes out on top. Children take more interest in mealtime when they’re part of the process, so enlist them to help with everything from picking out a recipe and grocery shopping to chopping veggies and adding herbs and spices to the recipe.
For more on marketing nutrition to kids, click through to Part 1 in my series.
Weave One (or more) Nutrient-Rich Ingredient Into Everything You Make
6. Weave in Pulses: Beans, chickpeas, lentils and other pulses add fiber, iron, potassium and zinc to everyday recipes. Add black beans to tacos, chickpeas to stews, and lentils to soups. Heck, you can even add beans to brownies! My Lentil Alphabet Soup has big-time kid appeal because the lentils blend right in with the alphabet pasta and the tiny bits of sautéed carrot.
7. Add a Shredded Carrot: Peel a carrot and then shred on the large holes of a box grater. It takes just a minute but brings a boatload of good nutrition when sautéed and added to ground beef or turkey for tacos or sloppy Joe’s or mixed into tuna or salmon cakes.
8. Bring on the Greek Yogurt: Greek yogurt is packed with calcium and protein and it delivers a creamy texture to smoothies and smoothie bowls. You can use it instead of cream cheese for cake and cupcake frostings or add to chicken, tuna, and egg salad in place of all of some of the mayo. My Gorgeous Green Smoothie Bowl gets thickened with Greek yogurt. I could eat this every day!
9. Make Cauliflower Rice: Shred cauliflower on the large holes of a box grater and what you’ll get is cauliflower “rice.” You can sauté and add to mac & cheese, and you can even use it for making a gluten-free pizza crust. You can now find pre-bagged cauliflower rice at some supermarkets. Look in the produce and freezer sections.
10. Use 50/50 Whole Wheat Flour: Whenever you’re baking cookies, quick breads, or muffins or making pancakes or waffles, swap out half of the white flour for whole wheat. You can use regular whole wheat flour or try whole wheat pastry flour or even white whole wheat flour. My Pumpkin Maple Pancakes call for 3/4 cup whole wheat and 3/4 cup white.
For more on weaving in super nutritious ingredients, click through to Part 2 in my series.
Give Snacks a Healthy Makeover
11. Choose Convenience Snacks Wisely: Get away from heavily processed snack foods made with ingredients that bring sodium, saturated fat, and little to no nutrition to the diet, and instead, look for grab-and-go snacks brimming with good nutrition. Some of my go-to recommendations include unsweetened mini applesauce and fruit cups, whole grain popcorn (for kids 5 years or older), baby carrots and celery sticks with dip, mini hummus cups, sweet potato chips, and mini yogurts like Chobani Kids® Greek Yogurt Pouches and Tubes. They’re made with only natural ingredients blended with low-fat milk, and they have 25% less sugar and twice the amount of protein compared to the leading kids’ yogurt.
You can freeze the yogurt tubes and then pack ’em in a lunchbox or serve up after school.
12. Add Kid Appeal to Fruits and Vegetables: Bring fun and whimsy to fruits and veggies to entice kids to eat them. Serve up a veggie platter filled with bell pepper strips, baby carrots, and cucumber wheels with a delicious yogurt-based dip, guacamole, or hummus for dipping. Get silly with fruit by serving berries, melon, and grape halves kebab style on frilly toothpicks or make my Peanut Butter Smiley Faces with whole wheat English muffins, peanut butter, and cut up fruit.
13. Be a Smart Slurper: Avoid sugar-sweetened juice “drinks,” soft drinks, and sports drinks. They’re filled with added sugar and bring little to no nutritional value to the diet. Stick to water, low-fat milk, and 100% fruit juice. But keep juice to a minimum. The Academy of Pediatrics recommends a limit of 4 to 6 ounces for children ages 1 to 6 and 8 to 12 ounces for older kids, ages 7 to 18.
14. Fill in Nutrient Gaps with Healthy Snacks: Take a look at your child’s diet and identify what’s missing. Not getting enough calcium? Turn to yogurt snacks like Chobani Kids® Greek Yogurt Pouches and Tubes. Does your child need more fiber to help promote regular bowel habits? Choose fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, nuts, and seeds.
15. Watch Portion Sizes: Serve kid-size snack portions to stave off hunger without ruining your child’s appetite for their next meal. Bear in mind that serving sizes have increased over the years. For example, 20 years ago a bagel was 3 inches in diameter and provided 140 calories. Now, the standard is a 6-inch bagel with 350 calories. For young ones it may be that a quarter or a half of a whole wheat bagel or a mini whole wheat bagel is an appropriate portion.
For more on marketing nutrition to kids, click through to Part 3 in my series.
Slash Added Sugar from the Diet
16. Be a Label Sleuth: Read labels and comparison shop. Chobani Tots® Pouches, for example, are sweetened with only natural ingredients—apple, mango, spinach, banana, and cane juice. The Tots also contain 12 milligrams of DHA omega-3 fat and probiotics, which are thought to be helpful in promoting digestive health. Chobani Kids® Greek Yogurt Pouches and Tubes are also sweetened naturally with ingredients like banana puree, so they have 25% less sugar and twice the amount of protein of other kids’ brands.
17. Hydrate with Water: Parents often ask me about the best hydration for kids when they’re playing sports. When my boys were young and played town soccer on the weekends, there was a tendency for parents to pack along sports drinks for their kids. Here in New England, it’s often chilly outside, so young kids don’t sweat a lot. Therefore, there’s really no need to hydrate with a sugary sports drink since few electrolytes are lost during a chilly morning on the soccer field.
The second ingredient in this sports drink is sugar, and those 21 grams of added sugar (per 8-ounce serving) is equal to over 5 teaspoons.
18. Swap Sugary Soft Drinks for Milk: Here’s a statistic that’s sure to make your head spin: Adolescent boys and girls drink more soft drinks each day than milk. On average, males ages 12 to 19 drink 22 ounces of full-calorie soda per day but only 10 ounces of milk. As for girls, they consume 14 ounces of soda versus just 6 ounces for milk. So our message here is to drink milk instead of soft drinks. A 12-ounce can of soda has 39 grams of sugar, or about 10 teaspoons.
19. Stick to Real Fruit vs. Fruit Snacks: Real fruit—things like berries, apples, oranges, pears, bananas, and mango—are the ultimate grab-and-go convenience food and provide health-promoting fiber, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. And fruit is naturally sweet. Heavily processed fruit “snacks” on the other hand, often contain little to no real fruit and lots of added sugar.
20. Avoid Early Introduction of Sugary Foods: The longer you can hold off on the sweet stuff the better. Once you expose a child’s taste buds to lots (and lots) of sugar, it’s hard to turn back. Turn to a variety of flavors and textures from fruits and vegetables, yogurt, whole grains, and lean protein foods and reserve sweet treats for special occasions.
For more on marketing nutrition to kids, click through to Part 4 in my series.
Add 5 Extra Grams of Fiber to Your Diet
21. Black Beans: Your gut is home to more than 100 trillion bacteria, and they thrive on a fiber-rich diet. So turn to beans for an excellent source. Incorporating just a third of a cup of black beans (or any bean variety for that matter!) into your meals and snacks brings you 5 grams closer to meeting your daily fiber goals. Toss beans into your family’s favorite soup, use as a filling in my black bean enchiladas, add to an omelet, or incorporate into a favorite salad. {Give our Bean Enchiladas with Pumpkin Sauce a try.}
22. Almonds: Crunchy, versatile, and delicious, almonds are a fiber-lover’s dream with 5 grams of fiber in just a third of a cup. Nibble on almonds as a snack, layer into a breakfast parfait with Greek yogurt, fresh berries, and whole grain cereal, stir into a grain salad, or use as an ingredient in trail mix. {Give my Quinoa with Almonds and Apricots a try.}
23. Broccoli: This bright green cruciferous vegetable is popular with families. Even picky eaters seem to love it, especially the florets (AKA “trees”). One cup is all it takes to get those 5 extra grams of fiber. Steam broccoli florets and serve with a drizzle of olive oil, toss into stir fries, add to casseroles, serve raw florets with a yogurt-based dip, add to soups, or adorn with a delicious dressing. {Give my Broccoli Crunch Salad a try.}
24. Pears: One small pear has an impressive 5 grams of fiber. (By comparison, 1 small apple has 2.5 grams.) Naturally sweet and juicy, you can add a pear to a fruit smoothie, nibble on one at snack time, use in a healthy dessert crisp, use as an ingredient in homemade applesauce, or dice into a fresh fruit salad. {Give my Apple Pear Sauce a try.}
25. Avocados: Did you know that avocados are technically a fruit and that they’re rich in healthy monounsaturated fat and fiber? Eating half a medium-size avocado brings 5 grams of fiber to the table along with a luscious flavor and texture that’s hard to resist. Mash avocados for guacamole, slice and add to omelets, wraps, or a sandwich, blend into a green smoothie bowl, or use as a topping for a chef salad. Heck, you can even make a creamy chocolate pudding or frosty with avocados. {Give my Avocado and Banana Frosty a try.}
For more on marketing nutrition to kids, click through to Part 5 in my series.
Teaching your family to try new and nutritious foods and to eventually learn to love those foods, is no different than teaching your kids how to ride a bike without training wheels or how to read! It takes time and patience, but it can be fun and rewarding. That’s the intent of my 25 tips.
I hope you’ve enjoyed the series!
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