Healthy Cooking For Kids: Tips To Get Them To Eat Well

By Kiera S. Campbell

We, as parents, always want to prepare delicious and healthy meals for kids. Unfortunately, some kids turn out to be very picky eaters, and having them eat something good for them can be a challenging, if not a thought-provoking task.

Cooking the food and eating them should be always be an enjoyable activity for the one making the food and the one eating them. To make sure that your kids stay in tip-top shape, here are some pointers to remember.

Eat what you want your kids to eat

You are what you eat. And your kids see that. As parents, we should become models for our children. If we don’t want them to eat junk food, then they shouldn’t see us gobbling up portions of that.

Eating your own cooking will encourage them to eat it too – they won’t feel like you’re overfeeding them with veggies (which they probably see as a poison anyway).

Have regular family meals

It is said that children who participate in family meals are more likely to eat their fruits and vegetables, less likely to smoke, use marijuana or drink alcohol, and eat unhealthy, too-salty snacks.

It’s also the time when the parents catch up on their kids’ lives and reconnect with each other. Bonding and closeness – now what parent wouldn’t want that?

Serve a variety of foods and healthy snacks

Your children may love pasta, but if you feed them that everyday, then they would eventually get bored and disinterested, even if it is a variety of pasta. Try to make something new everyday, or make a menu.

Say like, have some soup today, make some pie tomorrow, or a casserole the next day. Kids get tired of what they see easily. Let your creativity run wild.

Serve a variety of foods and healthy snacks

Allow kids to help you in your mealtime preparations

Kids can actually learn to like healthy food if they learn to cook or at least help prepare healthy food. I let my eldest daughter help out in the kitchen from time to time – you know, tearing off the salad greens, or washing carrots or cucumbers.

Then when her daddy comes home, she’ll beam proudly and say, “I helped make that.” And then she’ll eat everything on her plate – vegetables, yes, broccoli included. Remember that healthy cooking isn’t just for kids but for the whole family as well.

Invest a little time in preparing your family’s food, and I’m sure, you will be richly rewarded via the smiles, the conversation, the banter and the laughter that you will forever keep as part of a very good memory.

Healthy eating is the best weapon we can leave our children with that will help them live longer and healthier lives free from diseases like obesity, diabetes, cancer and heart attacks. Start now while your kids are still young!

© Kiera S. Campbell

Kiera S. Campbell is the author of “Yummy Healthy Tummy: The Secrets of Raising Healthy Kids Every Parent Needs to Know!” She can teach you how you can help your children grow up to love and choose healthy eating for life.

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Additional resources:

Free Ebook: 120 Fun Recipes for Kids – Download it free when you optin to our newsletter and confirm your subscription.
Free Report: The Seven Deadly Childhood Nutrition Myths – Protect your children from the 7 deadly nutrition myths that are robbing them of vibrant health. Do away with heartless corporate nutrition recommendations. Download this free report and learn the three questions you Must ask when grocery shopping for your children.
Healthy Recipes for Kids – Make proper eating an adventure that children will actively enjoy. Cook healthy meals that are not only nutritious, but which appeal to a child’s palate and sense of fun at the same time.
Yummy Healthy Tummy: Kids Healthy Eating Guide – Fast, easy and cheap recipes for busy moms to get your children eating healthy food and cut out all the junk. Get more tips and information not only on how you can serve healthy food to your kids, but more importantly, on how you can get your kids to LOVE eating healthy.