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Raising healthy eaters can be tricky especially when convenience and snack foods are being advertised very heavily to our children on television, radio and internet, but it can be done and here are some ideas that can help:

Feed your baby a variety of foods - Be sure to introduce your baby to a large variety of foods. If they don't like something one day, try again another day, don't just assume that they won't like that food forever. Babies taste buds can change daily.

Talk to your children at an early age - Two years is an ideal age to begin talking to your children about healthy food choices. Trips to the supermarket are an ideal time to start teaching them about which foods are healthy and which foods are not.

Let the kids help prepare meals - By letting your children help with the preparation of meals they are more likely to try new foods.

Have good snacks accessible - To encourage your children to eat healthy snacks make them accessible and appealing. Cut your child's apple into slices or use a spiral tool to make apple swirls. Carrot and celery can be washed and cut into sticks and stored in an airtight container in the fridge, beside a small container of low fat dip.

Expose your children to a variety of foods - children need to be exposed to a new food between 10 and 15 times before they will accept it. But many parents give up long before they get to that point. Keep offering that food to your child. But don't go overboard and try to introduce to many new foods all in one go, one or two new foods a week is a good rule to follow.

Beware of Over-Snacking - Often the problem isn't that your child is a picky eater, but that they are already full from eating snacks and drinking milk and juice.

Set Limits - Setting limits can help parents provide consistency. For instance, some parents may require that kids eat healthy foods before snack food or that they must at least try a new food before rejecting it. Do make sure that you set sensible limits though. Banning junk food makes it all the more appealing to children and they are more likely to binge when they have the opportunity.

Only buy junk food in limited quantities - Tell your children that when the snacks run out, they run out. Don't restock during every grocery run.

Limit where snacks can be eaten - Only let your children eat if they are sitting at the dining table. This will stop the mindless snacking while watching tv etc.

Be a good role model - Make sure you aren't asking kids to "do as I say, not as I

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