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How to Hide Nutrition in Your Children’s Meals
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Children can be fussy eaters and often the highly nutritious foods such as fruit and vegetables fall by the wayside. So just how can you as parents entice and encourage the greens, purples and reds to be eaten?
From the age of about one, your child should be included in eating and enjoying family meal times. This may make it more enjoyable for them being surrounded by other members of the family. Prepare finger food meals that make it easier for your child to feed her/himself such as cut up meat, vegetables, pasta. Very often you may feel at loss as the meals you prepare are not being eaten but rather binned. It is important to remember that toddlers little stomachs need three age appropriately sized meals plus three age appropriately sized snacks per day.
Your child should be eating from a variety of foods every day. These being fruit, vegetables, meat, poultry, dairy, fish, legumes. Processed foods should be avoided or kept at a bare minimum. Easier said than done? Here’s how:
David Grotto, a registered dietician nutritionist says that he is not a fan of tricking kids to eat certain things. He goes on to say that it is very important for children to know what vegetables look, feel and taste like so that they can make an informed decision. For example, your child may find that they prefer sweet potatoes when they are baked into French fries rather than when they are mashed.
The following proven tricks do not hide food but rather make it more fun for your child to eat. This therefore makes is more appealing with a higher success rate when it comes to consumption:
Redesign Their Food
By making your child’s food look more fun, they may be more likely to eat it. Reshape fruit and vegetables using cook cutters and creating shapes that your child will love. Do the plate face where you can use different fruits and vegetables to create eyes, mouth nose etc. You can also create entire figures by just using the food on their plate. Blend, Blend and Blend
Blend the nutrient dense food that your child will usually brushoff into a delicious smoothie or ice lollies. Get your child involved in the process. This may increase the chance that the food will end up in their mouth.
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Children’s Health Nutrition
