by Marina Shemesh

Created on: March 20, 2009   Last Updated: July 24, 2009

It can sometimes be a challenge to introduce healthier food into your child's diet. Giving your child his first piece of chocolate can be the start of a life-long love affair. Presenting him with a piece of brocolli can give you a look that says, "You want me to eat that?"

It very important though to have children eat as healthy as possible. Their young bodies need a lot of protein, healthy carbs and vitamins to keep them healthy, growing and getting stronger.

Young children should be introduced to healthy food at as young an age as possible. The child that always see the grownups eating and enjoying vegetables and salads, is much more likely to learn to love vegetables himself. Likewise the child who is taught that fruit is a snack and a lollipop is only an occasional treat.

Still, is not always that easy. Some children are fussy eaters, insist too much on snacking in between meals or want to eat what all the other children want to eat. Of course the other children are eating pizza and hamburgers and not fish and pumpkin!

You can introduce healthier food in your children's diet by taking something that they like to eat and add vegetables to it. Sheppard's pie , spaghetti bolognaise and even sloppy Joes can have grated carrots, mashed peas and crushed tomatoes inside the meat sauce. The trick is not to have any identifiable "bits" in the food that the child can identity and then cause him to shriek, "I do NOT eat peas".

Children may be willing to try something if it does not taste too different from what they know. Make them fish cakes that consists of a little bit of fish and a lot of mashed potatoes. Slowly add more and more fish to the fish cake mixture and soon your children will be eating fish.

Pumpkin cakes can be a big treat and your child will not even notice that that they are eating something healthy. After you have cooked the pumpkin, mash it a little bit with a fork and add flour, a little bit of sugar and a teaspoon of baking powder. Shape the pumpkin mixture into small patties and fry in a pan with a little bit of oil. Children usually love the sweet taste of pumpkin. Sweet potato cakes can be made in the same way.

Sweet potatoes can be sliced into wedges, baked in the oven and served as orange French fries. It is also healthier for your children to eat French fries that were baked in the oven and not fried in oil.

Pizza can be part of a healthy diet. Make it from scratch and add as much tomatoes, peppers, tinned corn kernels and mushrooms as you can get away with. Be sure to buy a good quality cheese for the topping.

Children who refuse to eat fruit may love smoothies. Just blend any available fruit, yogurt and a bit of milk in a blender. Your child will love his milkshake and you will love serving it to him.

Good nutrition is very important to your child. Getting him used to eating healthier may been not be very easy, but you will get your thanks when he grows up to be a healthy grown-up with a normal weight and a good body image. Who knows, introducing healthier food into your child'd diet may just get you as parent to eat healthier too!

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