Children tend to be very picky eaters and it can be very tough to get them to eat healthily if they start on a bad foundation. This is why you need to teach your children healthy eating habits from an early age. If they have a bad diet already and it’s ingrained in them, it will be harder to get them to start eating healthy foods, but it’s not impossible. Sometimes, all it takes is for you to change your idea of what healthy eating is and start preaching by example. You can then start making changes to your grocery list and plan your life to make it easier for everyone in the house to make healthy food choices. Here are a few tips to help instill the love of healthy eating in your children.

Know that Healthy Food Can be Delicious

When people think about healthy food, they usually think about salads and carrots. But healthy food can be delicious; it’s all about the choices that you make. You'll be hard-pressed to find a child that doesn't like apples and cheese, or delicious hummus with pita bread. This is why you need to be more adventurous with your cooking and learn how to cook if you don't already.

We would suggest that you start looking at ethnic cuisines for inspiration. Indian cuisine and middle eastern cuisines, in particular, are full of healthy delicious options, and your children will be much more excited to eat healthy foods if you constantly introduce them to new dishes.

Another thing you should know is that the way you prepare food can make a world of difference in how healthy they will be. Switching from fried chicken to grilled chicken, for instance, is one of the best moves you can make. Not only will it reduce caloric and fat intake, but most children love grilled foods. If you teach them to enjoy grilled foods from their childhood, they will look for healthy options instinctively when they get older.

Start Meal Prepping

One of the most common reasons why children don't eat healthy at home is because parents go for the easy fix. They will order takeout once or twice per week, even more in some cases. But takeout food is usually not the healthiest. One of the reasons why restaurant food tends to be unhealthy is because they will add a lot of salt and fat to their food to make it more palatable. This is why restaurant food often tastes very different from home-cooked food, and not always in a good way. So, you need to practice the habit of preparing meals in advance instead. You could have all your meals for the week planned in separate portions so that your children can take them to school or always have something healthy to eat on hand. 

If you’re a bit intimidated by meal prepping, start with this easy-to-follow template. You should also buy tools to measure ingredients and portions correctly, so look into things like measuring cups, a good scale, and measuring jugs.

Hide Healthy Ingredients In “Unhealthy” Dishes

You should also learn how to make healthy versions of meals that are generally thought of as unhealthy, such as pizza, for instance. A lot of people assume that pizza can’t be healthy when it could actually be one of the healthiest dishes you can prepare.

If you want to go all out, you can go for a cauliflower crust and have an all-veggie pizza. Going with a thin crust and low-fat cheese could also be an option. You can add a whole variety of vegetables to the sauce too and your children won't be able to tell the difference.

Even burgers can be made to be healthy. You can use turkey meat instead of ground beef, for instance, and use something like chickpeas as a filler. Try to pick whole wheat thin burger buns and stick with low calorie, low-fat condiments instead of creamy mayonnaise-based sauces too.

As you can see, it’s not that difficult to get your children to eat healthy. All it takes is a little bit of creativity and getting everyone on the same page while filling your pantry and fridge with healthy food options.