A Healthy You: Healthy Snacks for Kids

By Cindy GatesHow do you get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables when they only want fries and chicken Mcnuggets?It helps starting early, offering toddlers lots of different types of foods and letting them see you eat a wide a variety of foods -- especially fruits and veggies.What you as parents eat is going to have a big influence on what your kids like to eat. Children need repeated opportunities to sample new foods before they are accepted.This may mean you might have to try 10-15 times before your child will like it. An exposure could be anything from seeing the vegetable grow in the garden, picking it out in the grocery store, helping prepare and cook the food item and of course just trying bites of it.Kids are turned off by trying new foods if the smell, flavor, or color is not appealing to them. Try feeding different textures to your child.Some children prefer smooth foods where as some like lumpy and some like crisp where others like soft. Offer new fruits and veggies in combinations of old favorites to show your child a variety of smells, textures, and color.Smoothies are a great way to incorporate fruits and veggies into their diet. Also adding veggies to casseroles, soups, pizzas etc maybe helpful.Keep a bowl of fresh fruit on the counter and tell them fruit is the original fast food. Challenge family members to reach their daily fruit and veggie goal and award with a prize.So start kids off early trying new foods, be a good role model and never force your kids to eat things they don’t want.For more information go to www.ChooseMyPlate.govA Healthy You is a regular column about nutrition, healthy living and cancer care. It is written by Cindy Gates, RD and LD and the Cancer Center’s Oncology dietitian, herbalist and Certified Wellness Coach.