Getting Your Kids To Eat Healthy Foods

If you're old enough to remember the following commercial, you're probably a grandmother or grandfather by now. And you have learned, with all the competition from McDonald's and other fast food restaurants, that getting kids to eat healthy foods can be (but doesn't have to be) a challenge.

Remember Mikey and the Life Cereal Commercial:

Brother One: What's this stuff?

Brother Two: Some cereal. S'posed to be good for you.

Brother One: You gonna try it?

Brother Two: I'm not gonna try it – you try it.

Brother One: Hey, let's get Mikey!

Brother Two: Yeah. He won't eat it – he hates everything.


But something mysterious happens.

Hey Mikey! He likes it!

Not all kids are fussy eaters, but in my experience, with four kids, ten grandkids, and two great-grandkids, I can attest to the fact that most children have finicky moments and some of them are very particular about their food ingestion habits.

One of my grandsons, for example, ate nothing but peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for months at a time. Another one of my grandsons currently ransacks the refrigerator for hot dogs, which he thinks are great for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack time.

Even today, one commercial on TV shows a mom shushing a woman in a grocery store for mentioning the nutritional value of the food she's offering as a sample.

When did something "good for you" become so distasteful? And when did we resort to sneaking healthy foods into our kids' diets just to get them to eat more nutritionally?

Whatever the reason, I think it's genius. As far as I know Jessica Seinfeld was the first person who mastered the art of food deception. And I know it works, because my daughter-in-law sneaks healthy foods into her children's diets much the same way Jerry Seinfeld's wife does, and they love it.

If you haven't read Jessica Seinfeld's book, Deceptively Delicious, I highly recommend purchasing it, reading it, and using it. She has some great recipes in there.

While you are waiting for your book to arrive, how about reading an article I came across today entitled, Healthy Foods Your Kids Will Love To Eat by Cheri Majors. Cheri offers some great ideas and if you click on the link, you can read about how to sneak vegetables like broccoli, zucchini, and eggplant into your family foods.

Cheri also provides a recipe for a very healthy frozen ice cream (yogurt) bar the kids can make themselves.

Just last week one of my grandsons searched my pantry and refrigerator after my other grandchildren had eaten all the bananas, apples, oranges, and other nutritious snacks and complained, "Don't you have ANYTHING healthy to eat?"

Kaden is only 5 and already health conscious. Raising healthy children who desire a healthy lifestyle can be done!