Thursday, August 15, 2013

Getting Kids to Eat Well in the Summer

Between the hot dogs at bar-b-ques and, the mid-summer day treats like ice cream and popsicles, your little ones (like mine) may not be eating healthy this summer. As parents, we have potential courses of action: do nothing, wait until September and let back to school momentum fix it all, or try a few quick food tricks to curb their poor summertime diets. As a mom, sure, doing nothing would be easiest but teaching kids how to make good food choices is a priceless lifelong lesson. So, let me make it easy for you - here are some tricks to getting your kid to eat better this summer:

Smoothies
Try introducing smoothies made with bananas and their favourite frozen fruit. This cool, fun, slurp-through-a-stray snack will keep your kids happy. And, you can hide all sorts of goodness in a smoothie including green powders, berry powders, fish oil and probiotics. You can even try adding in protein if you've got a picky(sticks-out-her-tongue at meat)-eater at home.

Skewer It
Fruit is always a great summer go-to snack. If your kids just aren't having it, try making bright, colourful fruit skewers. They are a hit at birthday parties, and may just get a few more servings of fruit into your kid's diet.

Dip, dip and more dip
Picky eaters can commonly be persuaded to eat a less desired food when dip is offered. In our house, we find showing our little ones which foods to dip (playing it up with lots of enthusiastic sounds and words) can help a lot. Try to keep the dips healthy; hummus, yogurt or guacamole are healthier dip choices, than ketchup and store-bought salad dressing.

Ensuring your kids are offered healthy food options throughout the day will help them learn what foods are good choices to best fuel their bodies. Try to keep snacks healthy (cheese, yogurt, fruit, vegetables) as much as possible so, you can breath easier at the end of the day, when dinner becomes yet another hot dog and ice cream cone.

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