The questions I am asked the most are regarding children and food. How to get them to eat vegetables? How do I know they are getting enough nutrients? What supplements to feed them? What foods do I give them to make them poop? I work with my clients on these very concerns in my one on one sessions. Here’s a sneak peak at just a few of my tips! If you are really struggling to get your littles to eat their veggies, I’d love to help out! I offer free health consultations if you’d like to learn more about my programs. Just shoot me an email to schedule a time!
1) DON’T FORCE THEM TO EAT SOMETHING THEY DON’T LIKE – Yes, for real. I’m willing to bet most of you still don’t eat the vegetables your parents force fed you. Battling with your children about food is counterproductive. Find vegetables they like and if they are old enough let them pick new veggies out at the market and help prepare them.
2) CHANGE IT UP – I can’t tell you how helpful this is. It doesn’t take much effort but goes a long way. Kids get bored, I mean so do we! Let’s be honest, would you want to eat the same thing for dinner every single day? Carrots… did you know there are more than just orange carrots? I buy a colorful mix of carrots at Wegmans and some days my 2 year old likes only orange or only yellow or only purple. Not only that, some days he likes “circles”, other days “sticks”, and other days a whole giant carrot and other days roasted carrots. Sweet potatoes… there’s not just orange, there’s purple and white too! My 2 year also goes through phases of eating only one color of sweet potato. Toddlers especially like options, try “do you want orange or purple?” not “do you want carrots?”. Point is, little changes in colors and shapes and even means by which it enters their mouth (hands vs fork) can work wonders!
3) SMOOTHIES – There’s pretty much nothing you can’t hide in a smoothie. Your kid won’t eat kale? Add it to a smoothie. Beans? Throw a couple tablespoons in. Cauliflower or zucchini? When frozen, both make for a really creamy smoothie. Avocado, coconut meat and seed/nut butters are perfect to add healthy fats and protein and help with absorption of greens, as well as keeping blood sugar stable! You can even put mushroom powder in! If they refuse to drink something green, use berries to mask the color (berry powders are great too like acai, goji, maqui and pomegranate). Now don’t go adding 5 bananas to a smoothie! You don’t need much fruit to make a smoothie sweet! Berries are especially great because they are low glycemic and packed with antioxidants and cancer fighting nutrients!
