5 Tips For Making Healthy Foods Appeal To Kids.

Teach Your Children That Healthy Foods Are Delicious!

Are you finding it challenging to integrate healthy foods into your child’s diet? We get it. Two children from the same family can have wildly different opinions about what is good and tasty. Here are some of our favorite tips to help you conquer those obstacles:

• Get Them Cooking: Studies show that one of the best ways to entice children to broaden their palette and eat their dinner is to have them help cook it. A Canadian study found that children who cooked with vegetables were 10% more likely to eat them. In fact, scientists with the Journal of Nutrition, Education and Behavior followed teens for ten years and determined that those who grew up cooking, made better food choices as adults.
• Watch A Cooking Show: A 2020 study in the Journal of Nutrition, Education and Behavior found that kids who watched healthy cooking shows were twice as likely to choose nutritious foods than children who watched a similar program cooking less healthy food. This study seems to reaffirm our first bullet point that being around and cooking healthy foods makes a lasting difference in children and adults. Check out Waffles & Mochi on Netflix for a fun food program perfect for kids, or skip the show and get them cooking!
• Make It Fun: We’re all told not to play with our food, but sometimes that can make all the difference! We’ve been successful at serving country ham sandwiches with lettuce and tomato cut into the shape of a heart with a cookie cutter. You can do the same thing with our Pizza Snacks, which children and adults both enjoy!
• Add Honey: You’ll be amazed by how much your child will love the savory/sweet combination of our local honey on almost anything. Drizzle it over cheese, pork, brussel sprouts and butternut squash. A little bit goes a long way so you won’t be adding too much sugar to get your kids to eat their vegetables. Check out our recipe for Honey Baked Chicken for inspiration!
• Integrate Fruit: Kids love fruit! We add fresh pineapple to roast ham, raisins to chicken salad and oranges for an Asian twist on meatballs. This adds that touch of sweetness, like honey, that can excite the taste buds and soothe even the pickiest eater.