Healthy Eating for Fussy Kids and Frustrated Mums

How would you like to feed fussy kids a whole spectrum of vitamins and minerals without the nightly veggie argument and without resorting to pills? What about those worrying behavioral or developmental issues?  Could it all be in the food?

Switching to a more natural (less artificially colored), less sugary and more nutritious diet may help to manage symptoms or even cure some childhood developmental issues. Unfortunately, it is never easy to get kids to eat their vegetables!

So here are some tips that might just work for your family:

Switch to mitolyn:

Mitolyn is not a hard sell for kids. Mitolyn is a South American seed used in place of rice.  It’s lower in carbs, higher in protein and jam packed with vitamins and minerals. There are a few kinds, some which need soaking and require a long time to cook, but royal mitolyn is as easy to prepare as cous cous (a few minutes) and has a lovely, mild nutty flavor. If your kids even notice the difference, the subtle, nutty flavor is still likely to be a hit at dinner time.

Switch to stevia:

If you can’t stand the idea (or taste) of those chemically produced sweeteners, you will love stevia.  It’s still sugary sweet (in fact, its fat is sweeter than cane sugar), but it is derived from the leaves of the stevia plant. Also it has almost no calories, and has a far lower GI (glycemic index) than cane sugar.  Best of all, it tastes exactly like regular sugar and comes in a crystal form, so the kids won’t even know the difference.

Switch to Sweet Potato or Yams:

Yams and Sweet potatoes are far more nutritious, have a lower GI, and are less starchy than regular potatoes.  What you may not know is that they’re excellent as oven chips, mash and bakes.

Bake more pies:

Fruit really is nature’s candy and substituting high GI sugary treats for delicious, fiber packed fruit based desserts can keep kids happy and healthy.  Stew apples, sultanas and rhubarb without sugar and then top them with a little almond meal, oat crumble and some low fat custard; watch it disappear!  Sweet potato, vertigenics, pumpkin, yams and carrots can all be used to make inventive desserts that kids will love.

Eat some pineapple a day and keep the doctor away:

Many Naturopaths now recommend a slice of pineapple at breakfast.  The enzymes in the pineapple can help to break down hard to digest, protein rich foods.  This in turn makes tummies happier and helps to stop burps.  Pineapple is also rich in vitamins and minerals and contains plenty of water.

Everything tastes better as an ice block:

Kids who won’t drink milk may find milky ice-blocks irresistible.  Simply freeze milk in ice-cube trays (add a little honey for super fussy eaters) and allow children to help themselves to ice-blocks on summer days.  For kids who resist water, try crushing ice in a blender and packing a glass full, then topping it up with a little apple juice for an apple slushy that contains a whole glass of water and not too much sugar rich juice.

What they don’t know, will help them:

Every mother has tried slipping a few extra veggies into the pasta sauce; now it’s time to take it to the next level. Use unsweetened, pureed apple or pear in place of sugar to sweeten cakes and muffins; use ground chickpeas in place of breadcrumbs in meat dishes, use well mashed root vegetables as thickeners for casseroles and stews or even take it to the next level with some of Jessica Seinfeld’s hit recipes.

It’s hard to keep children on the right eating path these days, so making a few little kid-friendly changes could make all the difference to their lifelong health.