Thankyou, can I have some more help please?

[nsmonkey]

Okay well i will have to say thankyou to everyone that had posted in the sweets thread about letting your kids have junk food.
I think I have just hit a turning point. I don't want my kids to grow up being unhealthy and all. I feel like a bad mum now by letting them drink softdrink and cordials, eating biscuits and cakes, lollies chips, everything.
My 2 boys aged 4.5yrs and 2.5yrs are both quite fussy. They will only eat banana, strawberries and mangoes are the main fruit they eat, they eat yoghurt, they aren't real keen on vegies, only corn, potato and thats it I think, they love their meat.
I may just need some guidance please on how to turn their lives around?

[justmum]

So you'd like some healthy food ideas? My advice would be to do it slowly and surely - you're not going to win if you just suddenly take all the junk away.

I'ds get rid of cordial and lollies first and go for 100% fruit juice, watered down.

Chnage your jam to 100% fruit (no added sugar).

Go for rice crackers instead of chips.

What about sultanas instead of lollies?

A really good healthy snack is homemade pikelets (no sugar - just flour, egg and milk) cooked on a non stick fry pan and served with sugar free jam.

A good way to introduce more vegies is home made pizzas - use vegies and cheese as toppings. Let them top their own and they may just eat them. you can use pitta breads as bases. And BTW corn makes a great pizza topping!

Grate vegies into mince and use it for bolognaise, tacos, lasagne, nachos etc.

Good luck - it's hard work!

[cheezelkat]

Good luck!

My little boy adores grapes - in fact, we have to hide them in the fridge because he is so addicted to them. He also really like vegie soups - you could make a big pot of vegetable and lentil soup with noodles. Sausage rolls make good hiding spots for vegies as well.

[nsmonkey]

DS1 always always peels the topping off of the pizza and will only eat the base. I don't buy lollies all the time, so they are not in the house all the time. Sultanas they have had a couple times before.
The boys love their juice, they finished a bottle in 2 days just between the 2 of them. The cordial is usually watered right down, just so its the colour showing and coke (DH is a coke freak) is always watered down when I give it to them.
I was thinking awhile back to get some rice crackers, but never ended up getting them.
Thankyou

[nsmonkey]

I can't understand why they don't eat half the vegies but they will eat them in a quiche.
That sausage roll idea is pretty clever, thankyou

[Mum2Bella]

instead or chips use popcorn/pretzels/cereal(from the healthy isle in the super market)

instead of lollies dried fruit or yogurt covered fruits(my little one think they are chocolate covered lollies)

instead of cordial use magic water add a few drops of food coloring to a clear jug n let the kids watch you fill it up with water.or just just use very weak diluted cordial.

make your own healthy biscuits n cakes(a great variety in the symply to good to be true books)

chop up corn on the cob,cherry tomatoes/snow peas to the lunch box

celery with cream cheese or peanut butter

rice crackers with chopped up cheese n meat

[NibbleCurlynBub]

:hugs:

Don't be silly, you really haven't done anything bad to them at all. :no: Moderation is the key and if you know they love fruit.. Well then you must be feeding them fruit every now and then so musn't be doing too bad.

Wanting to eat a little healthier is always a good thing though, its a gradual thing.
Just every now and then making slightly better choices. :yes:

A few things that work for me:
Popcorn. Making fresh popcorn using popping corn is easy, CHEAP (its about 70-ish cents a packet and lasts a while) and a better choice than chips. Most kids don't even know that popcorn is a snack that is good for them. :p

Maybe try to jazz up the fruit you want them to eat (maybe cheaper fruit like apples) by pureeing then or putting them in a smoothie. Pureed apples and custard make yummy dessert. Even better if you cook it with a little rhubarb.

Carrot sticks are yummy in dip like hummus which you can buy or make yourself. Hummus (I'm sure you already know) is almost entirely chickpeas which are great! :yes:

Veggies can be hidden.. My kids don't love veggies much (except broccoli, weirdos) either but will devour things like vegetable pie if I cut the veggies nice and small.. Or you can hide them, like grating two or three carrots and a zucchini into bolognese sauce. :)

HTH a little.

[peanutbutter&jelly]

If they'll eat relatively normal things like spag bol, you could try the Deceptively Delicious method at first - puree vegies and hide them in foods - my favourite is chicken sausage rolls (my own recipe) with sweet potato, carrot and butternut pumpkin puree, also with chopped peas. Yummy. Chuck it in the some chicken mince, pop it on puff pastry, roll them and seal with a bit of egg yolk, brush with egg yolk and bake. Simple, a bit time consuming but really yummy!! (not great cold though lol)

[misskittyfantastico]

Will they have a banana smoothie?
I make yogurt popsicle thingies and as mentioned above, popcorn is great, rice crackers, pretzels etc rather than chips.
I make little mini meatballs with finely grated carrot and zucchini hidden in them - DD loves them because I stick a toothpick in them (don't know what's so attractive about a toothpick!?) Fruit and vegie kebabs are good too.

[sahm]

If they'll eat relatively normal things like spag bol, you could try the Deceptively Delicious method at first - puree vegies and hide them in foods - my favourite is chicken sausage rolls (my own recipe) with sweet potato, carrot and butternut pumpkin puree, also with chopped peas. Yummy. Chuck it in the some chicken mince, pop it on puff pastry, roll them and seal with a bit of egg yolk, brush with egg yolk and bake. Simple, a bit time consuming but really yummy!! (not great cold though lol)

I second the Deceptively Delicious method.

My DS does eat veggies, but he's going through a fussy stage, and will only eat what he chooses from his plate, and sometimes this means just one or two mouthfuls.

So I've taken to supplementing his diet with extra hidden veggies. I also figure, it can't hurt me and DH to have some extra vegies too!

Things like pikelets with banana mashed into the mixture, blueberries or grated apple go down a treat for snacks here.

[missie_mack]

You can get some great rice biscuit alternatives to potato chips, scones are another good one if you make them yourself and freeze them (we make lemonade scones with sugar free natural lemonade) my DS doesn't drink any fruit juices just milk or water by choice, we add heaps of vegies to foods like sniping the heads of broccoli or cauliflower into nachos and he has no idea, I also love cheese and pumpkin turkish bread toasties (my DH wont eat pumpkin but will eat these), biscuit wise we have home made anzac biscuits made with rolled oats (rolled oats are just brilliant for fibre) My DS also loves fajitas which are basically wraps with very little meat but heaps of salad, being older kids you could also try homemade kebabs like you get from the kebab shop or home made pizza, and with your pizza issue make your own sauces (which you can also use for spag bowl) and puree or snip lots of vegies through. Growing some in pots might stem their interest too. Our snacks are rice crackers and cheese and DS loves his spiral cut fruit! Infact I have never seen any kid screw their nose up at spiral cut fruit :no: