Elevate Your Health Colorado Kids in the kitchen: early involvement leads to lifetime of good nutrition

Juice boxes, “fruit” chews, and snack crackers captivate the minds of kids. As parents, we can do more than complain about the artificial colors and empty calories and cater to their cravings.

Getting your kids to eat healthy foods may seem like an uphill battle. But with several cups of meal-planning, a few shakes of shopping, and a dash of math, your kids soon will be begging for the keys to the kitchen.

Start ’em Young

Healthy habits form early. “Children develop food preferences at a very early age,” says Sandy Stenmark, MD, Kaiser Permanente physician lead for pediatric cardiovascular health.

Parents can foster these healthy habits by serving foods rich in nutrients and limiting foods high in calories and low in nutrients. Dr. Stenmark advises that when transitioning to table foods, serve fruits and vegetables at every meal. Avoid juice drinks, soda pop, and other sweetened beverages as these contribute to dental cavities and do not promote healthy bodies.

Try, Try Again

You serve broccoli to your four-year-old, a dramatic protest ensues, and you vow never to serve it again. Don’t cry “uncle” so fast.

“It takes up to 10 times of introducing a new food for a child to develop a taste for it,” Dr. Stenmark says. Have your child help prepare the broccoli a different way. Dip it in hummus. Serve the tops, but not the stems. Whatever you do, serve it again.

Encourage Involvement

Engaging your child at the dinner table starts with engaging your child in meal planning and shopping, says Michele Gilson, RD, the lead for Pediatric Nutrition Services at Kaiser Permanente. “Go through colorful recipes online (she recommends family.go.com). At the store ask, “What vegetable do you want for dinner tonight?”

Then involve children in food preparation. Ask them to help you double the onions and green peppers in your chili recipe and cut the ground beef in half. “You can teach them an appreciation of healthy food—why you’re altering the recipe—and sharpen their math skills all at the same time,” she says.

And one of the best ways to encourage fruits and vegetables is to eat them yourself. Role modeling healthy, enjoyable foods and making them a part of your daily diet is the best way for a child to follow suit.

No Short-Order Cooking

Memorize this mealtime mantra: Parents provide and kids decide.To avoid nagging and multiple meal preparations, Dr. Stenmark instructs parents to simply offer one meal with fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and whole grains for the entire family and allow the child to decide what and how much to eat. To increase vegetable consumption, consider offering the vegetable before the rest of the meal.

Avoid the Lunchbox Blues

While you can’t always monitor your kids’ midday meal, you can help make it healthy with these tips:

• Pack fruit—cut up a peach or strawberries—rather than fruit chews.
• Choose whole-grain snack crackers over potato chips.
• Try turkey roll-ups, black beans, cheese sticks, or yogurt for variety.
• Pack raw vegetables or a small salad with dressing on the side.
• Use an ice pack to keep perishable items cool.
   

Eat Together

Finally, Dr. Stenmark cites science that suggests the simplicity of eating together without the television can foster better food choices and better conversations. “If families eat dinner together, it tends to lead to better dietary quality. Plus, eating together and playing together as a family builds relationships,” she says.

Thus, the family that eats together eats better together. And that’s worth the battle.

Better Health by the Numbers

When it comes to keeping families healthy, the Childhood Action Plan to Promote Healthy and Fit Families uses the “5-2-1-None” approach. You can follow it, too, and help improve your family’s health. Aim for these numbers daily:

• 5 servings of fruits and vegetables. Add colorful choices to snacks and meals.
• 2 hours of screen time, or less. This applies to both TVs and computers.
• 1 or more hours of physical activity. Take up a team sport
  or just walk solo.
• 0 sweetened beverages. Reach for nonfat milk or water instead.

It’s OK, Play with Your Food

Kids will love our interactive online game The Incredible Adventures of the Amazing Food Detective, an entertaining way to educate children about healthy food choices and being active. To play the game, visit kp.org/amazingfooddetective.