by Leann Zotis

Created on: July 08, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2010

It's never too soon to start kids on the road to healthy eating.  From that first spoon of baby food your child sprays back in your face during feeding time until the day they walk out the door to live life on their own, finding appropriate ways to nourish children is a major preoccupation of parents.  Snack time is a perfect place to start training kids to pick their snacks based on their nutritional value, as well as on the appeal of good taste. The key to getting kids to choose healthy snacks over the often preferred chocolate bar or ice cream cone is to get them involved in the preparation. It's never too early to begin giving basic explanations of the value of healthy food choices to children.

Kids love to help and like nothing better than to imitate the actions of the adults in their lives. The next time junior sounds the hunger alarm, prop him up in his booster chair at the table. Give him a plate and a few small bowls containing grapes, blueberries, orange slices, strawberries, kiwi slices or other in-season fruit. Give him free reign to play with his food by creating faces on the plate by assembling the fruit pieces as eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Show him some of the different effects he can create by exchanging a strawberry "nose" for a grape "nose", or switching out the orange slice "mouth" for a kiwi slice. As he becomes more familiar with the various types of fruits available, he will be less likely to turn up his nose at eating them.

Equally appealing to children, especially those just walking in the door after school, is a mixed veggie tray with either yogurt or ranch dressing to dip. Small, bite-size pieces of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots or even green beans are easy to pop in their mouths and, if they are readily available, can keep them away from the less desirable choices of chips and soda pop.

Graham crackers can make a good substitute for their more sugary cousin the cookie. Low fat cream cheese or a thin coat of peanut butter can give these lower fat and lower sugar crackers as much appeal as many cookies with less fat and fewer grams of sugar.

Older children generally have more sophisticated taste buds. Use snack time to help them expand their repertoire of vegetables. With careful supervision, help them to saute some chopped green and red bell peppers in a teaspoon of olive oil. Bell peppers are generally sweet enough to be enjoyable to children. Combine the sauted peppers with a couple of egg whites to make an egg white

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>