How to Sneakily Get Your Kids To Eat More Healthily | AD

I adore my kids but they drive my mad with their food fussiness! I’m a dietitian and getting healthy food down their necks seems even more important to me and do I struggle? Of course I do. My eldest was a dream to wean; ate it all. They she hit around 14 months and decided fruit wasn’t for her and became generally fussy. My second daughter has been better and generally eats more but she still has her limits! My baby boy is a fruit lover but he certainly rejects a far amount of things. You need to sometimes sneakily get your kids to eat more healthily.

So many hate lumps and bits; those onion pieces in the bolognaise or the bits of fruit in a yoghurt. I know I did and I know I was a little fussy, so it is harder to get cross but I can still get frustrated!!

I knew I had to get a little creative with these kids and try and sneakily get some healthier choices into them, without them.

Get Your Kids to Eat More Healthily

Here are some of the things we try and do to get the kids to eat a little more healthy food. It’s a bit sneaky but it does work!

Serve Their Fave Veggies With Everything

I could be doing a BBQ and the kids will still have a side of peas and sweetcorn. My eldest adores a fish finger wrap but she will always have some peas and cucumber on the side. It’s all about giving them choices to still have the foods they love but always making sure they are getting some of their 5 a day at the same time.

Try Vogel’s Bread

I did a recent poll on my instagram stories and over half of the respondents could not get their kids to eat seedy bread, a healthier choice over white bread. With more fibre, filling protein and essential fats, seedy bread is the better choice but getting your kids to eat it? Tricky.

So what if you could have the best of both worlds? This is where Vogel’s bread can be a game-changer. Vogel’s No Bits Seeded White, is designed for parents with the kids in mind. Available in Waitrose and currently  RRPs at £1.55.

The bread is made of a unique blend of seed flours, so has the nutrition of a seeded bread but the soft, fluffy texture of a normal white loaf.

Keeping your kids full stops them reaching for unhealthy snacks and Vogel’s bread is made with buckwheat, golden linseed and fava bean flours. This keep the wheat content lower and the full-factor higher! My eldest loves with tuna and cucumber.

It’s also fab to make French Toast with – one of my little boy’s faves. The recipe is here!

Make your own Healthy Lollies

My kids love lollies and to be fair, they are a healthier option than an ice-cream in terms of calories and fat intake. However, they do still usually contain sugar and we should all be trying to cut down the sugar in our diets.

My friend introduced me to the idea of buying tinned mango (unsweetened), blitzing it up and freezing in lolly makers and voila, healthy lollies and one of their 5 a day! These taste amazing too and I remember at the time, my middley loved it!

You can also use other fruits and try this! Or freeze some banana and yoghurt mixed together. A healthy, cool treat.

Fruity Desserts

Sneak fruit into desserts. One of my fellow bloggers, who happens to be a dietitian has a great recipe for a banana flapjack. I used to make it for my eldest all the time. She doesn’t like bananas but she loves this!

The recipe does have honey in, so of course some sweetening but it is great way of getting some fruit into your child, if you struggle! Like me!

You may enjoy – My Top Filling Healthy Snacks

Try Greek Yoghurt

Yoghurts are a great way of getting some extra protein and calcium into your kids and sometimes needs must when your kids have refused all meals!! However, yoghurt and fromage frais does have added sugar too.

You can try and offer creamy Greek yogurt with fruit or pureed fruit. Natural yoghurt can be a bit sour and the taste is noticeble but Greek yogurt is amazing with fruit, thick and creamy. My girls love this and it is a healthier yoghurt choice. You can use this in lollies too.

Swap White Pasta for Wholemeal

We do this all the time and the girls never notice. You can pack in a little more filling fibre! My husband always laughs at me on this one, as says Italians never eat wholemeal pasta but it does have almost double the fibre content; something we should all be eating more off. It does have a slightly nuttier taste but my kids have never noticed, especially spaghetti.

If you want to learn more about eating more fibre – you may enjoy – Tips to get more fibre into your diet

Blend Vegetables into Sauces

This can be a real way of packing in the veggies to hit your kid’s 5 a day.

My girls are fussy about bits in bolognaise for example. You may want to add onion, pepper or carrots, so cook these, blend them and then add into your sauce. They will never know!

Use Passata instead of Chopped Tomatoes

My kids love meatballs but don’t like lumps of tomato in the sauce! So fussy! If your kids are fussy like mine, passata is a really good alternative. It’s smooth, has all the goodness of tomatoes and tastes really nice! Winner!

This is also great to use when making pizza. My kids loves Mexican Pizza and the recipe is really easy!

Add Fruit to Milkshakes

My eldest likes a milkshake but she’s fussy with fruit. I often add berries or banana to mine with milk. It’s a great way to top up the 5 a day and a really healthy choice. Also sometimes you can sneak it in without them knowing!!

Getting my kids to eat healthily has been one of the hardest things I have done as a parent. You want them to eat well and have a good relationship with food.

I find I am always talking about having a balance with my children and so far it seems to be working. I’m under no illusions my eldest will love having her own money and treating herself but for now, I’ll do my best with their diets. I’ll sneak the healthy foods in and hope they grow to love their food, love their bodies and keep eating healthily.

Hope this helps any other parents tearing their hair out with the fruit dodgers and can sneakily get their kids to eat more healthily.

Disclosure – We were sent some Vogel’s bread to trial and compensated for our time. All thoughts and opinions are our own.