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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my experience is that the kids will eat healthily if they see us doing that, although many times they have refused a lovely meal that we have cooked! if it is offered a couple of times over a few months they tend to have a go at it and develop a taste for it. Getting them involved in the prep seems to be helpful too

my little girl is really good at eating veg but doesnt really eat any fruit other than apples, grapes and bananas . She will often ask for snacks during the day and its quite hard to steer her away from bad choices

as with most things you have to lead by example. show dont tell. no food is wrong but everything in moderation

I tend to find that if I prepare something healthy for myself then my DD wonders why I am having something different to her and she thinks she's missing out and wants the same. Luckily she also happily eat celery sticks with humus or similar without me even having to try to force it upon her!

Make healthy eating fun and get kids involved with growing and preparing their own foods, nothing tastes nicer than a strawberry that you have grown yourself :D Also that later you introduce sweet and salty processed foods into their lives the less chance they will become addicted to them when they get older

I try to show that the adults love to eat healthy foods too

Start them early with healthy snacks. Little one loves a Clementine and apples which is great.

I have always found that everything in moderation has worked, there are no good and no bad foods with a wide varied diet children will usually follow parents examples and try anything at least once.
If a child doesn't like a flavour or texture then offering it at a later date is always worth a try. And never use sweets as a reward.

I try to educate my children about food allowing them treats as rewards however limiting them. We often have fruit as snacks and I involve them in making dinner so they get an understanding of healthy living.

Two words: Roasted Broccoli!
It's a super food, and roasted with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper, and garlic granules it's a super delicious (as well as super healthy) side to any meal.

My kids are pretty good eaters and will eat most fruit and veg no problems, I do however still grate carrots and courgettes into most mince dishes to bulk them out and get extra veggies in them

I always find making the plates of healthy food look fun works a treat. Making a funny face or a cute animal with healthy ingredients seems to please children. Even more so when you get them to make their own!

Set a good example

Eat a healthy varied diet yourself - children will want what you havve.

I always make sure they try everything, if I'm really struggling I make my special vegetable soup where I just chuck everything in a pot. They love mummy's vegetable soup. I always buy the best quality chicken nuggets, fish goujons, burgers etc for the days I'm time poor, the rest of the time I try to cook meals from scratch so I know what is going in them.

I’m lucky that my kids love fruit so they tend to snack on that. I tend not to buy unhealthy snacks often as if they’re in the house the kids just want them. I offer a range of vegetables as well so they don’t get bored of the same things.

I make lots of veg dishes that are fun and tasty to eat, and also hide vegetables in the sauces

Make food look fun with interesting shapes and textures to encourage children to try new things.

Monkey see, monkey do. So set the example as best as possible but also let them have the occasional treat.

If they see you enjoying healthy food, kids want to eat it too. They won’t like it all, but they’ll like more than you expect, so let them try everything.

I cut veggies in fun shapes or make faces out of them :)

I also let the kids help making fruit salad!

Getting them involved in the growing... works every time. Oh and smoothie based homemade icelollys

Regardless of what stage or where you shop or what meal times, I am a great believer in letting them have a balance of everything. So G&G get to "treat" my son as I do, but I also treat him with fruit and veg. Seems to work so far as he approaches his 11th birthday

Dd can't have dairy, sweetener, potatoes or a few other things so I do find it hard to feed her

Despite this she is given lots of fresh fruit, soups, meals and packed healthy lunches every day for school.

It gets a bit limited as to what she can eat so it can be a bit of a challenge but I encourage her to try new things and always put out fruit before offering anything else.

She has a sweet tooth like most kids but we talk about the 20g sugar allowance for kids and if she has had one sweet thing in a day like a sugary cereal I say well you've have your allowance etc.

She totally respects that as does her brother. I think it's good to talk about food health and sugar so that they understand why the rules are there!

Pure fruit ice lollie and smoothies are just as good as an ice cream on a day out so she doesn't miss out!

Learn to cook well and offer variety, so the kids can enjoy healthy ingredients cooked creatively