How do you raise a healthy eater?

[Anonymous]

I am a mom of two with an almost 3 year old who is becoming more social and exposed to foods we don’t regularly eat at home. DH and I eat really healthy and follow a 80/20 approach. We try to feed our 3 year a nutritious meals and limit ultrasound processed foods and excess sugar. We limit these foods to special occasions or a weekly treat, but he’s asking for them more often. We want to raise a healthy non-picky eater but do not want him to feel left out. So far we have said not now but it’s becoming a frequent request. How do you go about raising a healthy eater but also include more not so healthy foods?

[Anonymous]

I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

[Anonymous]

Don't make it a huge thing. Just eat normally. Don't get them a complex.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

We do involve him the kitchen because he enjoys helping us meal prep and bake. He is in daycare and tells us all the snacks his friends bring. I feel guilty at times like I’m depriving him of a fun childhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

We don’t eat out much either. We are also picky in the sense that neither DH or I eat fish, sushi, or seafood. We are also not pork people so we don’t feed that at our home.

[Anonymous]

Talk to a doctor or nutritionist. Kids at different ages have really different needs than adults. That's why they can eat goldfish crackers every day and not gain an ounce. It sounds like you have very regimented eating, and in my experience those are the kids that come in my home and down a sleeve of Oreos. I think it's better to take an "everything in moderation" approach than to say I'm eating 80/20 of anything. But that's just me.

These kind of posts always get crazy, fast, so that is why I suggested professional advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

We do involve him the kitchen because he enjoys helping us meal prep and bake. He is in daycare and tells us all the snacks his friends bring. I feel guilty at times like I’m depriving him of a fun childhood.

So make something equally great for him that is homemade and healthy. There are a lot of kids snacks where you can make a homemade version at home such as granola bars, muffins etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk to a doctor or nutritionist. Kids at different ages have really different needs than adults. That's why they can eat goldfish crackers every day and not gain an ounce. It sounds like you have very regimented eating, and in my experience those are the kids that come in my home and down a sleeve of Oreos. I think it's better to take an "everything in moderation" approach than to say I'm eating 80/20 of anything. But that's just me.

These kind of posts always get crazy, fast, so that is why I suggested professional advice.

I don’t think we are regimented. He will have a weekly treat like ice cream but I make homemade healthier versions of popsicles, muffins, fruit leather, etc. We just try to feed him healthy stuff and include lots of veggies and fruits each day. We don’t force him to eat anything but we still serve it and he has to at least try it.

[Anonymous]

It gets harder once they start K imo.
I would keep healthy eating at home, I do fruit or veggie with every meal. Protein with every meal, whole grains as much as possible.
I’ve given up when the kids are out though. They don’t want healthy when their friends have Doritos.
I feel like if most meals at his are good, I’m not going to fight over what they eat when they’re out.
When my kid was 3-6 ish though we said one treat a day. Helps keep it in moderation but still allows for treats.

[Anonymous]

[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

We do involve him the kitchen because he enjoys helping us meal prep and bake. He is in daycare and tells us all the snacks his friends bring. I feel guilty at times like I’m depriving him of a fun childhood.

So make something equally great for him that is homemade and healthy. There are a lot of kids snacks where you can make a homemade version at home such as granola bars, muffins etc.

We do but he’s been asking for fruit snacks ( we do fruit leather instead), goldfish ( we do almond flour crackers instead), store bought freeze pops, ice cream, and pizza often. We try to limit a lot of this stuff while he is growing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It gets harder once they start K imo.
I would keep healthy eating at home, I do fruit or veggie with every meal. Protein with every meal, whole grains as much as possible.
I’ve given up when the kids are out though. They don’t want healthy when their friends have Doritos.
I feel like if most meals at his are good, I’m not going to fight over what they eat when they’re out.
When my kid was 3-6 ish though we said one treat a day. Helps keep it in moderation but still allows for treats.

This is helpful. We follow the same meal setup. He goes to daycare and has been having some play dates with friends families who host or bring pastries, donuts, or freeze pops. We let him have it but limit what he can eat. Should we not limit it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

We do involve him the kitchen because he enjoys helping us meal prep and bake. He is in daycare and tells us all the snacks his friends bring. I feel guilty at times like I’m depriving him of a fun childhood.

So make something equally great for him that is homemade and healthy. There are a lot of kids snacks where you can make a homemade version at home such as granola bars, muffins etc.

We do but he’s been asking for fruit snacks ( we do fruit leather instead), goldfish ( we do almond flour crackers instead), store bought freeze pops, ice cream, and pizza often. We try to limit a lot of this stuff while he is growing.

You can make your own healthy fruit snacks out of fruit juice. And honestly lol at almond crackers as a sub for gold fish. Why don’t you make your own gold fish crackers? Plenty of recipes online. I say this as a mom who is pretty into healthy eating but be for real. Also if you are fine with store bought freeze pops and ice cream and pizza often, I’m not sure why you draw the line at gold fish??

[Anonymous]

You have to say no. We live in a toxic food environment. Be proud you aren't poisoning your kid. Raise him to be proud he doesn't eat junk himself.

[Anonymous]

When I am asked for ice cream when they've already had cookies or some other sweet too recently for me to give in, I say "Yes, on Monday" or "Yes, tomorrow."

The key is the word yes. At 3 they are satisfied with hearing yes and will accept they have something to look forward to.

Also, really small portions of sweets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[twitter]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think part of it is persistence and part - luck. For the first part, you eat the way you do at home and you tell your kid that other people might eat differently, but that’s what we do at home. Involve your kids in food shopping, planning and prep as early as possible, teach them how to cook basic stuff.

My two oldest are young adults and live on their own with their respective partners. Both cook a lot, both eat reasonably healthy - I’d like to think I had something to do with that.

Now to the luck part. I rarely eat out or order delivery, most food in my home is cooked from scratch. But there are certain things and foods that I just don’t eat, and that’s that. It’s mostly a texture thing for me, I am picky this way and I doubt anyone could do anything about it. My mom tried, it didn’t go well.

We do involve him the kitchen because he enjoys helping us meal prep and bake. He is in daycare and tells us all the snacks his friends bring. I feel guilty at times like I’m depriving him of a fun childhood.

So make something equally great for him that is homemade and healthy. There are a lot of kids snacks where you can make a homemade version at home such as granola bars, muffins etc.

We do but he’s been asking for fruit snacks ( we do fruit leather instead), goldfish ( we do almond flour crackers instead), store bought freeze pops, ice cream, and pizza often. We try to limit a lot of this stuff while he is growing.

You can make your own healthy fruit snacks out of fruit juice. And honestly lol at almond crackers as a sub for gold fish. Why don’t you make your own gold fish crackers? Plenty of recipes online. I say this as a mom who is pretty into healthy eating but be for real. Also if you are fine with store bought freeze pops and ice cream and pizza often, I’m not sure why you draw the line at gold fish??

The simple mills crackers are great ingredients and good. He likes them. I make homemade cheese crisps ( literally baked cheese) but he wants what the other kids have.

We don’t let him drink juice. Most of them have added sugar and are ultra processed.

I think you misread. I listed what he’s been asking for and what do as alternative. He asks for pizza, freeze pops, and ice cream often but we don’t let him eat it often. That’s the foods I said he’s been asking for more often.