Share your tips for getting your children eating healthily with Little Yeos

[EllieMumsnet]

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Trying to get your children to eat healthily is a battle that many parents will inevitably face; from weaning onto solid foods, to dinner times through to pack lunches and beyond. There is a lot of information and recipes out there on what the best methods/techniques are to get your child to start eating healthily and how to incorporate nutritious food into their meals. With that being said Little Yeos would love to know any recommendations, recipes, techniques or experiences of getting your child to eat healthily.

Here’s what Little Yeos have to say: We’d love to hear your top tips for children’s healthy eating. Here are some examples to get you started:

Weaning:
What are your tips for weaning your child onto healthy food?
Do you find that your child prefers sweeter foods or more varied flavours?

Doing the weekly food shop:
Do you find it easy to find healthy snacks for your child?
Do you find nutrients labels on foods in supermarkets are clear?

Meal times:
Do you have any favourite healthy tips or recipes that work for your family?
What are your favourite healthy swaps?

Whatever your recommendations, thoughts or experiences when it comes to getting your child to eat healthily, share them on the thread below and you’ll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

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Cook together and encourage trying new recipes. We have sweets but they are limited and only for dessert, other than that there isn't much 'treat' food in so making healthy choices is their only option!

Try to avoid processed meals and make as much as you can from scratch

Gentle persuasion not bribery

We eat fairly healthy, a lot of fruit and veg and have a big variety of different foods, however making food fun is whats worked best for us, i bought plates with faces on so i could use the food to make faces on the plates and play a game where to see who had what plate the food had to be eaten. I also picked up various food cutters so i could make fruit and veg into certain shapes. I think by having a good variety of fresh foods from a young age moulds their taste buds to enjoy all different foods. We make time at weekends to all eat as a family and the kids really look forward to that.

We all eat the same, no salt added

Home made meals and snacks, so I know what’s in them. Get them to help plane meals and prepare food. Make it part of the homes routine. That way it just seems normal, no big issue.

I like to add plenty of extra chopped up vegetables into meals, ie. I add onions, tomatoes, celery, carrots and mushrooms in my bologneses

I often do a starter of carrot/cucumber sticks or chopped up fruit. I find if I offer it with the meal then the carbs go and these can get left but if I offer these first when they’re hungry then they get hoovered up as well as the main meal.

I think healthy eating for children has to start early. I don't buy pre packaged manufactured baby meals, but prepare my own with good healthy ingredients. The get used to vegetables and fruit and would ask for an apple over a sugary sweet. Fizzy canned drinks are off limits too.

Don't make a big fuss about 'healthy' food. Just make it a part of every day life and act like you love it. Also don't use dessert and sweets as treats and rewards. This just makes the child want them more often. We eat everything in moderation but overall have a very healthy diet. It's just always been part of my child's life. We also don't force her to eat things she really doesn't like. She HATES watermelon, ginger and cabbage. As long as she tries she isn't made to eat them. As an adult I have foods I don't like and wouldn't eat so why should I make her xx

I think its important to introduce your child to healthy options right from the start of weaning, if its all they 'know' then they don't get used to the 'wrong' choices. My son loves chocolate but he also enjoys fruit and veg, he's only allowed chocolate as a special treat. He only has water to drink, again he's never know anything else other than milk so he accepts it with no issues.

Variety is key. Get different tastes in early. Vegetable based weaning over fruit is best but my ones do prefer puréed fruit.

As they grow, it's the old fashioned involving them in cooking that works.

Fresh food, less processed. Don't offer lots of alternatives. Blended soups with lots of veg, beans etc.

With my toddler DS, I have very few “banned” foods- fizzy drinks, gummy sweets, adding sugar or salt to food at the table, and ready meals are all unknown to him though- just doesn’t know they exist.

He is very aware of cake and chocolate though!

Generally, my feeling is, that all things in moderation are fine. Oddly he prefers very salty foods (olives, halloumi, ham) to very sweet (although, see cake above!) - so those are the things I have to ration.

He loves veg and fruit- though it can be hard to persuade him to eat meat, and I worry about his iron levels.

In short- I follow his lead. Used baby led weaning techniques, say no foods are “bad” just talk about “healthy and less healthy”, and hope for the best.

Oh and telling him that his favourite cartoon characters eat whatever it is I want him to eat, can help get a plate clear!

I don't take mine food shopping, as they're always attracted to the brightly packaged unhealthy foods. We're starting to grow fruit and veg in the garden to encourage them to try these foods

We have stopped sweet things after most meals. Processed meats are another thing we have almost completely eliminated. If anything is eaten between meals just fruit or cucumber. Portions are smaller now too. Hopefully it will help as we are all looking a bit plump!

try not to make eating vegetables a big thing, making them sit at the table until they do, eat and enjoy them yourself and hid them in meals such as spag bol

We like to make trying new things exciting

I tried to avoid giving those healthy snacks (organic crispy type things in bags) from a young age (although wasn't always succesful) as they very closely resemble packets of crisps and I didn't want to get my DD in the habit of eating pre-packaged snacks out of bags too early. Found she loved almond butter on crispbreads so took those out with me instead.

Also only gave her brown bread from weaning age- she never had white bread til she went to pre-school so was used to it (and preferred brown) by then.

lead by example, make sure your eating healthily! Limit the amount of junk in the house as well - if its not there then it cant be eaten, also, tell family an friends that gifts of chocolate, cakes, sweets etc for birthdays, easter and christmas are a no go and you would prefer they got a book or arranged to take your kid to see a movie or similar

Make it normal. Everyone eats the same and treat food as fuel and not as something that should have emotion attached to it.

I introduced fruit and vegetables into my daughter's diet from as soon as I started weaning her so she still enjoys most fruit and veg, there are a couple she still wont eat, pear and cauliflower, not sure why but she just doesn't like them, other than that I think it is always good to try every fruit and veg you can from as early as possible so your children get used to them

My dd would eat fruit and vegetables all day every day (sprouts and broccoli are her favourite!) but dd 11 is a nightmare. At the moment we are trying to encourage him to try one new food a week; he actually tried cucumber last week which was a big step. We are trying the ‘not making a big deal’ approach at the moment rather than making a huge issue of it, but I am worried. Fingers crossed it works and he just starts eating he new foods offered without fuss.

I think food labels are very misleading and difficult to read and understand. Wherever possible try and avoid convenience ready made foods. When I weaned my children I offered the same food I ate but minus the salt and chilli.hide vegetables wherever you can. Make tomato sauces for pasta at home and blend peppers and courgettes and add them to the sauce. They give an added dimension and the child does not know there is veg in there. I also chop mushrooms/courgettes and add them to chicken mince so there are vegetables in my chicken burgers. Kids will always prefer sweet. I make oat cookies at home and decorate with some chocolate on top so that its sweet and filling. Organix products are great and my kids still love these.

It is really hard to not give junk but avoid introducing things. I have come across people who say their child only eats Macdonald's, but someone introduced it to them in the first place. We eat out but my children have not tasted Coke or had Macdonald's. Kids will follow in our footsteps . If eat rubbish and offer it then they will prefer junk.start early with a varied diet and introduce veg before fruits

Weaning:
What are your tips for weaning your child onto healthy food?
Encourage them try as many fruits and veg and meals as possible, cooking from scratch and batch cooking helps to ensure you know what is going in to the meals.

Do you find that your child prefers sweeter foods or more varied flavours? One of my children loved everything where as the other would only eat fruit

Doing the weekly food shop:
Do you find it easy to find healthy snacks for your child?
I find there are quite a few options for healthy snacks.
Do you find nutrients labels on foods in supermarkets are clear?
Not always

Meal times:
Do you have any favourite healthy tips or recipes that work for your family?
I encourage my children to help prepare the meals with me, try to pack as many vegetables as you can in.
What are your favourite healthy swaps?
Veg sticks, strawberries and soft fruit