Healthy Family Meals for Children

Children do what they see others do, so if the family is eating healthy meals the children will also. However, if Dad doesn't eat his vegetables and Mom passes up the salad the children are likely to do the same. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, if a child is obese between the ages of 10 and 13, there's an 80 percent chance he will be obese as an adult. Start healthy eating habits early.

Fast Food
1. Fast food is convenient and, of course, fast. It's also chock full of salt and fat, neither of which is healthy for children, or adults, for that matter. If you find yourself running short of time and are tempted to stop for burgers and fries for the family's dinner, go ahead and stop but substitute salads for the fries and go easy on the burgers. A grilled or baked chicken sandwich has less fat. Order salads for each member of the family -- not just the children.
Classics
2. Lots of food that children love are full of fat and salt as well. Review the recipes of family favorites to see where you can reduce the fat and salt and where you ca add vegetables. Macaroni and cheese is an example. If you're making it from scratch use skim milk instead of whole milk and low-fat cheese instead of full fat. Stretch the servings and increase the nutrition by adding a frozen bag of peas and corn to the macaroni during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Look at the labels of hot dogs and choose those make with turkey, which are lower in fat. Serve half a hot dog, split lengthwise. Fill in the bun with sliced tomatoes, shredded raw cabbage and a spoonful of pickle relish. Make hamburgers with 90 percent fat-free ground beef. Sometimes very low-fat beef falls apart when cooking, so add an egg to bind the meat into patties.
Hide the Fruits and Vegetables
3. Children need between four and five servings of fruits and vegetables per day, depending on their age, height, weight and activity levels. Start the day off right with a fruit smoothie made with fresh fruit. Tuck those vegetables into dishes where they aren't obvious. Grate carrots and add to meatloaf. Finely dice celery and add to potatoes while they cook. When the potatoes are mashed the celery will disappear. Hide the vegetables under a blanket of toasted bread crumbs or a layer of low-fat cheese. The rest of the family won't notice the hidden vegetables.
Don't Take No for an Answer
4. Children may resist trying something new. In her book, "The Sneaky Chef: Simple Strategies for Hiding Healthy Foods in Kids' Favorite Meals," Missy Chase Lapine says kids refuse to taste a new food simply because it is new. Offer a new vegetable or fruit several times in several different ways over a few weeks. For example, serve raw snow peas with non-fat ranch dipping, then in a salad and finally in stir fry. Add the peas to a vegetable dish the child already likes. Appeal to the child's sense of humor -- turn the snow pea into a bug. Wrap the pea in a slice of low-fat cheese and use it as the body. Add wings of orange slices cut in half and sliced strawberries. Bean sprouts form the antenna of the bug.
But I'm Hungry
5. Kids have smaller tummies and may need to eat more often than adults. Don't let children use that as an excuse not to eat a healthy meal when it's served. A child will often pick at dinner and then proclaim an hour later that he's hungry. If that becomes a habit, when the child says he's full, put the plate in the refrigerator. When he says later that he's starving, reheat the dinner and offer it. If he's truly hungry he'll probably eat it.