Healthy Eating for Kids

You know that raw food such as fruits and vegetables are good for you, your nutrition and body, but how can you teach your children how to eat them? You want your child to pick an apple or carrot over a candy bar or gummy bear, so you need to start the process at a young age. Your child also needs to be aware of the importance of what they are eating.

One way to get those raw, unprocessed foods into your child’s tummy is to grow them! That can be fun for the entire family from the digging of the earth to giving them water to watching them grow. This entire process can also be a green learning tool to teach your child about environmental awareness and his or her responsibility to their environment.

When children are very young and not introduced to synthetic ingredients full of preservatives, they will grow to enjoy raw, unprocessed foods better. One mother who stuck to her child’s raw and unprocessed diet from breast milk to home-made baby food was not surprised when her child turned away and wouldn’t eat the sugar-laden cake bought by her grandmother. So in essence, a child can “learn” to eat what is best simply by satisfying their taste buds at a very young age and continuing the process through every snack and meal.

If your teenager suffers from acne or a weight problem you can tell them that studies have shown that eating raw and unprocessed food can give them healthier skin and help with their weight loss. Be creative when you have discussions with your teenagers; you already know they may disagree but when they see how your body is reacting to the diet they may steadily improve their eating habits. Another way is to join up with a close neighbor who is also interested in a healthy raw food diet and has teenagers too. Get your families together to play games and enjoy raw snacks made of fruits, spices, nuts, dates and honey. Make your raw dishes creatively! A normal and healthy green salad can turn into a clown’s face with mangos and strawberries. You can use cucumbers and carrots to invent other fun characters or faces.

Discuss the importance of a raw, unprocessed diet. Again, begin at a young age and tell your children that cooked foods can lose their precious enzymes that help them digest their food and can lose their nutritional value. A raw carrot will be much healthier than a cooked one. If you do this gradually and in a fun yet informative way, your child will learn to love a raw food diet. With a staggering 14% of our teenagers overweight, a number that has doubled since 1970, if you put a little effort in teaching your child and making them understand what they put in their body is as important as the green living you do everyday, they will soon pick the carrot over the candy bar. Actually it may even be possible these days to convince your teenager that eating raw, unprocessed foods is the trendy thing to do.

Finally, check with your school’s cafeteria manager and explain how your child enjoys a healthy raw, unprocessed food diet. Most school dieticians will be happy to help you encourage healthy choices. Give the dietician a gift of fruits and vegetables from your garden and offer to teach a raw food diet seminar for both students and parents. Before you know it, your child will be reaping the benefits of a raw diet and liking it!

Check out Raw Kids Recipes for some great and tasty raw recipes!

More Healthy Kids Menu Ideas:

• Let them drink their greens in a smoothie
• Set out healthy snacks and make them available
• Let them cook with you
• Help them grow their own healtthy foods
• Ferment foods to make them more nutrient dense (kefir, yogurt, sourdough)
• Soak beans, nuts, and seeds before eating and cooking
• Have more veggie based soups like Potato Leek