What ways to do you get your children to eat healthier?

[DeBora4BobbyL]

In what ways do you get your children to eat healthier? Do you have specific recipes? Do you use any tricks? We'd sure love to know your techniques.

[Sammi1961]

To get my dks to eat healthier I buy whole grain products as much as possible. My dks don't like whole grain bread so I buy the "white" whole grain bread and they don't complain as much. I also buy whole grain cereals. It might cost a bit more but at least I know it is healthier. I don't buy a lot of junk food so give them snacks of yogurt, popcorn, fresh fruit etc. I find if we don't have the junk in the house, they will eat the healthier stuff (with a little bit of complaining that we have no "food" in the house)

[Bilby]

DeBora Cam is doing this in class as school along with cooking stuff (gr8)
They were going through foods you eat and how it could be made healthier,
ds came home and said all food put out there, milk, bread cheese etc he already does and he had great input for others when asked by teacher.

We have nothing but wholegrain and rye bread here, rye bread is great toasted with ham in the middle or corned beef or vegemite.
We do have white bread as a treat for special french toast occassionally otherwise french toast is grain.

Mash the veg up and mix into lasagne or spaghetti sauce, even works with hamburger pattys and meatloaf. The best veg for this is thinly sliced brussel sprouts (disguise it in coleslaw if need be) and broccoli. Now when I hade the veg in a food like meatloaf I still cook a small amt of that veg as a side, if the veg gets left to last you can say but you liked it in the meatloaf.
Of course home made even if a bit of a junk food is always healthier than fast junk food and moderation is the key. Also make sure you eat the food you expect them to eat, lead by example.

To be honest my boys and food have never been an issue they've always been good with veg and fruit and are prepared to at least try something, you know the, put 2 on a plate and get them to try one theory LOL

[jmz2005]

I do what my mom did for us when we were growing up. I started melting cheese on broc and caul, and she ate that pretty good, now she is used to the veggies, and will eat them plain with butter, or with cheese. My dd has always been pretty good about eating veggies, I try to make them a part of our meal everyday.