by HCSG Contributor

Reading Time: 2 minutes

5 Tips for Healthy Eating with Kids

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It’s hard to get kids to eat fruits and vegetables when what they want more is junk and fast food. Here are five tips to help improve the fruit and vegetable intake and get kids to eat healthily.

Five rainbow-colored smoothies sitting on a wooden lawn table with assorted fruit in the foreground.

MAKE A SMOOTHIE

Add fruits and vegetables into a smoothie or a milkshake and enjoy! Make a few different smoothies in different colors and let them pick their favorite.

A hand reaching out to pick a fresh orang off of an orange tree.

LET THEM PICK THEIR OWN

If you have a fruit picking farm nearby, go on a day trip and let your child pick right off the vine, tree, etc. Bonus Tip: Let them select their own fruits and veggies at the grocery store.

An aerial image of a breakfast meal assortment including a bowl of raspberries, almonds, and. a hard-boiled egg. The focal point is a pancake with a cartoon bear's face one it made out of various fruit.

HIDE THE VEGGIES

Add fruits and vegetables to other foods — add fruit to pancakes, cauliflower to mashed potatoes, and chopped vegetables into spaghetti sauce.

Six vertical rows of planted vegetables and fruit that have not harvested.

START A GARDEN

Start a family garden in your backyard and watch the fruits of your labor grow.

An assortment of fruits and vegetables filling the overhead, photo.

VARIETY

Offer children a variety of fruits and vegetables to find something they like. Bonus Tip: Lead by example and incorporate healthy foods into your diet. If they see you. eating healthy foods, they may want to try them as well.

A photo of the author, Kathryn Simmons.

Kathryn Simmons, RD, LD | kathryn.simmons@hcsgcorp.com

“I enjoy being able to take something as basic as food and help change people’s lives.”

Kathryn has been a dietitian with HCSG since 2017. She completed the coordinated program in dietetics at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi, in 2003. Kathryn has previously worked in many areas of dietetics, including public health, hospitals, and home health. Kathryn and her husband, Jon, have three teenage daughters. Her hobbies include reading and bargain shopping.

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