When I started this blog in 2017, I was a busy working mom of two little ones and extremely passionate about helping parents learn how to raise healthy eaters.
Adventurous eaters who not only accept, but crave real, healthy foods—without begging, bribing, negotiating, sneaky tactics or making food into art projects.
My own kids were little foodies in their own right—eating salads, sardines and lentils— although like all kids, they had some picky eating behaviors too.
Through my work as a health journalist and content marketing writer for the healthcare industry, I also became interested in functional medicine and how what we eat can prevent, reverse and treat disease and dysfunction.
While so much of the focus of healthcare in the U.S. is a sick care model, in which we deal with our health when there’s a problem and prescribe pills to fix it, I became very interested in health care and what we can do to prevent sickness in the first place.
Although it’s never too late to change our eating habits, get active and lead a healthy lifestyle, middle age also isn’t the time to start thinking about our health.
If we care enough about our kids’ health and their futures, then we must do our best to feed them healthy foods and model healthy habits now.
Nearly 300 blog posts later, my goal is the same it has been since day 1: to help you raise healthy eaters. Here’s a roundup of my best blog posts so you can do just that.
1. THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO HEALTHY EATING FOR KIDS
We all want to raise healthy eaters and encourage our kids to eat their vegetables and try new foods, but there’s so much information out there it can be hard to know what to believe and what to set aside.
In this blog post, I include evidence-based strategies and some of my own tips to help make feeding your kids fool-proof.
2. [VIDEO] 10 HEALTHY EATING HABITS KIDS SHOULD KNOW
If you want to raise healthy eaters, teaching and modeling healthy eating habits are key—now and throughout their lives. In fact, I believe that it’s the lack of teaching kids healthy eating habits that’s behind the obesity epidemic and sky high-rates of chronic conditions such as type-2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke and autoimmune diseases. In this post, I have some of the best healthy eating habits to teach your kids.
3. 10 KIDS’ HEALTHY EATING TIPS THAT ARE EVIDENCE-BASED
If you’re a parent, you know that any time you have health-related questions, you head to Dr. Google first, maybe even before your pediatrician. Although it’s quick and easy to get the answers you need, what you’ll find isn’t always credible. So what should you feed your kids and what foods should you avoid? And how many times should you serve the same food until you realize your kid really won’t eat it? I tackle all of this and more in this blog post.
4. 6 WAYS TO MAKE VEGETABLES FOR KIDS HEALTHY AND DELICIOUS
It’s a familiar scene at the dinner table: your kids snub vegetables and declare “yuck,” “gross,” and “I’m not eating that!” Kids, especially toddlers, are notoriously picky eaters, but the reason they refuse to eat vegetables might be because they’re bland, boring and have no taste. With the tips in this post to make vegetables that are healthy and delicious, kids can learn to love them.
5. HEALTHY KIDS’ SNACKS 101: WHEN, WHAT AND HOW MUCH
Kids love their snacks but studies show they consume up to 600 calories from foods like chips, crackers and candy. You might have wondered, like I did, do kids need snacks? And if they do, how often should they snack and what do healthy snacks look like? In this blog post, learn everything you need to know about healthy kids’ snacks.
6. 15 KIDS’ HEALTHY EATING MYTHS THAT ARE DANGEROUS TO BELIEVE
There’s so much information about kids’ nutrition and healthy eating available, but a lot of what’s out there are myths. While new studies come out all the time, there are several kids’ healthy eating myths that you shouldn’t believe.
7. 10 BEST TIPS FOR PACKING A HEALTHY SCHOOL LUNCH
School lunch, breakfast, and other “competitive foods” sold in schools are some of the worst you can feed your kids. It’s why I and a group of other moms have been advocating for healthier options.
A healthy school lunch gives your kids the energy and focus they need to make it through the day. When you pack it from home, it’s also an opportunity to introduce a variety of foods that your kids can grow to love—even if they come home with it untouched at first. In this blog post, I include my best tips for packing a healthy school lunch including the foods to focus on, how to upgrade certain ingredients, and how to encourage your kid to actually eat what you pack.
8. 5 SURPRISING BENEFITS OF COOKING WITH YOUR KIDS
Getting dinner on the table every night is challenging enough, so the thought of cooking with your kids probably seems unrealistic or an activity best suited for a rainy day.
Yet cooking with your kids teaches them a valuable life skill, encourages healthy eating and can put an end to picky eating.
9. 10 WAYS TO DEAL WITH PICKY EATERS WHEN YOU’RE FED UP
Picky eating is super-frustrating and right up there with potty training, sleepless nights and meltdowns. Maybe you try every day to offer healthy foods and make meals kid-friendly but nothing works and you’re fed up. Take heed. With some easy, simple strategies you can nip picky eating in the bud and raise healthy eaters who love healthy foods.
10. WHAT ARE ADDED SUGARS?
You already know sugar is bad for you and your kids, but what exactly are added sugars and are they bad too? In this blog post, I cover everything you need to know about added sugars, the difference between natural and added sugars, how to read labels and spot these sneaky sugars, and give you easy, simple tips for cutting back on them.
11. HOW TO GET YOUR KIDS TO EAT SALAD
Getting your kids to eat salad—let alone anything green—sounds absurd, but it’s not as hard as you think. In fact, my kids have been eating salad since they were toddlers. Not only are there a ton of health benefits, but when it comes to making it kid-friendly and delicious, the possibilities are endless. In this blog post, I explain why we should encourage kids to eat salad, how to overcome common obstacles, how to make it delicious and why making salad can make your life less stressful!
