Tips to Encourage Kids to Eat Healthy - Ask A Nutritionist

Transcript:

BRITNI: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition's “Ask a Nutritionist” podcast brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. I am Britni Vincent, a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, and we are thrilled to be celebrating 20 years on air discussing the connection between what you eat and how you feel while sharing practical, real life solutions for healthier living through balanced nutrition.

We want to thank you so much for your support and listenership over the years. Now let's get started on today's topic. On our show today, I will be answering a nutrition question we've received from a Dishing Up Nutrition listener. And I think this question is going to resonate with a lot of our listeners, so this will be a good one.

The question today is “How to strategically and successfully get children to develop a taste for good food instead of ultra processed non-food”. So, I am going to dive into this question because I get it. Feeding your children is so difficult sometimes. And I want to preface this show by saying, if you've been approaching food with your kids differently, please don't feel bad about that.

You've been doing the best that you can for your kids with the knowledge that you have. And that mom guilt is so real, or if you dads are listening, that dad guilt, that's real too. So I am not here to make anybody feel guilty about what they have been doing.

And with that said, I'm going to provide some tips that I have found beneficial for my three kids at home and also for clients that I've worked with. And of course, you don't need to incorporate all of these things and maybe a good approach could be just trying one or two of these tips at a time so it's not so overwhelming.

Tip #1: no pressure around food & meal time

My first tip is having no pressure around food and mealtime. This is so important. You know, try to keep meal time happy and positive because a stressed out kid is going to be a lot less likely to eat. And then that just adds so much more stress to us parents too. I know that intentions are good, but if you force kids to eat things that they don't want to eat, they're going to have a negative association with that food.

I've heard it this so many times from adult clients. “My parents would make me eat broccoli or whatever it was as a child, and I still don't like it to this day. So those memories really do stick. Instead, there shouldn't be any pressure to eat anything or to finish their plate. You offer the food and it's up to them what they choose to eat.

You know, when I was a kid, we played the clean plate club, and I was really often the president of the clean plate club. And my parents had great intentions, but to be real, this did affect my eating habits into adulthood. I would find myself overeating, finishing my entire plate of food, even though I wasn't hungry anymore. So I really had to be conscious about this for a long time and be more mindful about my eating and how I felt during my meal to overcome this.

Tip #2: Only make one meal for dinner

Let's move on to the next tip. This is also a big one. Only make one meal for dinner. And I, I can just hear some of you saying, well, my kids won't eat what I make for dinner. And I know that this can be a huge change, but if you start doing this, I promise you your children are not going to go hungry, and they are going to start to eat the food that you provide. Again, they don't have to eat the food that you provide, but you're not going to give them anything else.

If they know that you're going to make them a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or buttered noodles, of course, they're going to likely choose those options over whatever meal that you have made for them or made for the family. So again, it's their choice what to eat from their plate.

And if they want more of something and there's enough left, absolutely it to them. Again, children are not going to let themselves go hungry. Kids are born with this amazing ability to know when they are hungry and when it's time to stop eating because they're full. They have much better intuition about their hunger than generally adults do.

It's also not abnormal for kids, especially younger kids, to sometimes eat a small amount at a meal, and then maybe the next day they eat a lot at a meal. And that's okay. That's completely normal. With all of this being said, I would recommend including at least one thing on their plate that you know that they do like. If my kids complain about what I've provided for them, or they say that they don't like it, my comment back to them is you don't have to eat it if you don't want to but this is what's for dinner.

And I can't count how many times that after a few minutes of sitting there and complaining, all of the sudden they start to eat that food, and often they finish it. So I do think that your kids will surprise you with this.

Tip #3: offer choices

My next tip is offer choices. Just like we talk about on our other “Ask a Nutritionist” podcasts and Dishing Up Nutrition podcasts, we want to provide balanced meals. That means protein from an animal source, whether that's meat, fish, dairy, if tolerated, eggs, a real food carbohydrate; including vegetables as much as possible, fruits or beans, grains, if tolerated, and then healthy fats like avocados, nuts, seeds, olive oil, avocado oil, butter, heavy cream.

Those would all be great options. So offering a protein, fat, and carbohydrate at every single meal. Again, they may not choose to eat everything on their plate and that's okay. So maybe one day for lunch, the only thing they eat are the blueberries on their plate. That's all right. I wouldn't worry about that because they'll make up for the protein and the fat during the other times of the day.

So the main thing is offering that protein, fat, and carbohydrate, and then allowing them to choose what they do eat. Again, if they want more of something on their plate and there is some available to them, absolutely provide that for them and no pressure to eat anything on their plate.

It is time for me to take a quick break. When I come back, I'll share some more tips and then also some success stories.

​-----

Tip #4: expose kids to a variety of foods

Welcome back. My next tip about how to get children to eat more real food is to explore a variety of foods. And with this means exposure. Even if they don't like something, continue to expose them to it because they might surprise you one day. You know, children often need to be exposed to something 15 to 20 times before they decide to give it a try.

And the same can be true for adults too. You know, exposure is really key. I hear it often that I give my kids tomatoes and cucumbers because those are the only vegetables that they like. Which I totally get. You want them to eat their vegetables, so why not just provide them the ones that they like? Makes a lot of sense, right?

But if we never expose them to other vegetables, how are they going to begin to like other vegetables? And this has happened with my kids many, many times. They say they don't like it, but I keep offering it on their plate. And then all of a sudden one day, I'm surprised and they start eating it and all of a sudden ask for more.

And when you're providing a new food or one that they historically just don't like, put a very small amount on their plate, so it's not so overwhelming, and then be sure to serve one or two things on their plate that you know that they do like. It is really important to always provide that one or two things on their plate that you know that they historically will eat and enjoy.

Tip #5: prepare food in different ways

My next tip is prepare foods, especially vegetables, in different ways. Again, I think this can definitely be true for adults. Maybe you don't like raw broccoli, or maybe your kids don't like raw broccoli, but they might like it steamed with some butter, salt and pepper on it, or roasted broccoli; might be more appealing providing dips as an option.

I know for a lot of kids out there, dipping their vegetables in something is really yummy and they're much more likely to eat vegetables. So you could try guacamole, hummus. We have some great dip recipes on our website, weightandwellness.com.

Instead of using mayonnaise or sour cream as your base, you could use some Greek yogurt, full fat, plain or cottage cheese as the base if your child struggles to get protein in, because that Greek yogurt, cottage cheese would be a great source of protein. I’ve found that soups can be a great way to get different vegetables in and maybe consider coming up with some fun names for foods that might intrigue your kids a little bit more.

If I sauté cabbage at home, I will call them cabbage noodles because they are kind of a similar texture to noodles. And by calling them cabbage noodles, it's a lot more appealing to my kids than just saying, it's sautéed cabbage. So things like that might be helpful as well.

Tip #6: try not to allow a different snack soon after mealtime

My next tip is try not to allow a different snack soon after mealtime. If they don't finish their meal, you can make it clear if they're hungry again soon after, they can just eat the leftovers from their meal. I mean, kids are sneaky. They may figure out pretty quickly that they could choose not to eat their meal if they don't really want to, and then ask for a snack maybe a half an hour later.

And if that happens in my house, I say you can have your leftover breakfast or whatever meal it is if you're hungry right now, or if you don't want to eat that, you can wait until the next meal time or snack time. And again, more times than not, they will just choose to eat the rest of their meal that they didn't finish.

Tip #7: involve your children

My next tip is involve your children. This is so, so helpful. Get them involved in grocery shopping, go to the farmer's market with them. You know, they could help you cook. You can get kid-safe knives. They could help you chop vegetables. And when they are involved in this, they feel so proud and they're much more likely to eat that food or maybe try different foods.

I will always ask my kids when I'm making the grocery list if there's anything they want. And if I take them to the grocery store, I'll let them pick out a food, and oftentimes it's a new fruit or vegetable or maybe something that we haven't had in a while. And then they get so excited to eat it when we get home.

That is a big one. As much as you can involve your kids in the preparation, the decisions about what the meals and snacks are going to be, you're going to find that your kids are more likely to eat the foods provided.

Tip #8: talk about food in a way to motivate them

Another helpful tip is you can talk about food in a way to motivate them. And this is more helpful for older kids or teenagers. Let's say they're motivated by athletic performance, or they complain about being tired during the day at school, but you can talk about food in a way that these are the foods that are going to fuel you to give you better energy during your practice and your games.

Or have you noticed that when you eat the lunch that I pack for you, you have better energy at school versus eating the school lunch? And just asking those questions, talking about food in that way, whatever is going to motivate your child or teenager, that can also be super helpful. And then once they're able to make those connections of how food makes them feel, that's going to make a big difference in the foods that they choose.

You know, when I speak about this, I try to avoid saying “bad foods”, but I might phrase something like pizza is not going to provide you as much energy as eating meat and a sweet potato. Explaining the why behind some of this for some kids just makes it click a little bit more and is motivating to make some different choices.

The beauty of this approach is that you're feeding your kids what you're eating more or less. So it really simplifies meal planning, cooking, and this will set your kids up for healthier eating habits into adulthood.

Success stories

Now, I want to provide just a couple success stories with this. I've talked about my own kids and how well this approach has worked for them, but I've also had a lot of clients who have brought these practices into their home after being a client at Nutritional Weight & Wellness with their kids.

And especially older kids, they might complain at first because this is maybe different than what you have done at home historically. But over time, the parents tell me they start to eat foods that they historically wouldn't eat. And then they again, start to make connections to how food is making them feel.

Kids are so intuitive with their bodies. So I think that you will be surprised at the connections that they make on their own. You know, I will never forget this client that I had years ago. He was five years old. And when I first met with him, he was only eating mostly pureed foods. He had sensory processing disorders. So textures were a really big struggle with food.

And he also had a lot of digestive symptoms like constipation and stomach aches. So his mom took on some of these tips that I've shared with you today. And honestly, I was so shocked by how quickly he started to eat more real foods, less processed foods. And then he was eating foods in their original state without pureeing them.

He also started to on his own tell his mom what foods would give him stomach aches and what wouldn't. So he was eating a lot more real foods in the end, much less processed food, and his gut health was improving dramatically. So that was a huge success story. I was so happy to hear that feedback from his mom and him too. He would tell me about all the new foods that he started to like.

Recap

Let's do a little recap. Again, the original question was how to strategically and successfully get children to develop a taste for good food instead of ultra processed non-food.

And here are some of the tips that I provided today: Having no pressure at the dinner table. You know, trying to only make one meal for dinner instead of making maybe two or three different meals to try to appease everybody. I talked about the importance of offering choices and always trying to provide a protein, carbohydrate, and fat at their meals.

Trying to explore a variety of foods is really important and remembering that children need to be exposed to something 15 to 20 times often before they decide to give something a try. Preparing foods, especially vegetables, in different ways, and involving your kids. That is such an important one. Any way that you can get them involved in this, things are going to be more successful.

And you can start to maybe just try one or two of these tips, like I mentioned earlier, so it's not such a huge change in your household, and it's not so overwhelming for you as well. I know that all of this can be really overwhelming and just feeding your kids in general can be overwhelming.

So if you are struggling with this, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can schedule a one on one appointment with us. Call at 651-699-3438. Now, I also want to share a wonderful recent podcast episode we had about kids from July, 2024. On this episode, Leah interviewed Dr. Struble, who is a pediatrician. And the title is Kids’ Digestion & Mental Health with guest Dr. Kristin Struble. I would highly encourage you to check this one out too.

I want to thank you so much for listening to Dishing Up Nutrition's “Ask a Nutritionist” today. If you found this episode helpful, please be sure to leave us a rating or review on your favorite podcast app, so we can help even more people discover the connection between what they eat and how they feel.

If you have a nutrition question you would like us to answer, we invite you to join our private Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook community by searching Dishing Up Nutrition on Facebook.

Join Our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook Group

So once you're a member, you can join the conversation and if you have a question, you can just ask us or call us at 952-641-5233 to leave your question in our Dishing Up Nutrition voicemail box. Either way, please don't be shy. If you have a question, just let us know and we look forward to hearing from you.

​