15 of the All-Time Best Strategies for Raising Healthy Eaters

After blogging for several years and writing four books, I wanted to condense my advice on raising healthy eaters into top tips. This helps guide newcomers and serve as a reminder for my long-time readers.

So here goes…

1. Structure meals and snacks

Having regular meals and snacks in a designated area, instead of grazing or giving in to food requests, helps children regulate their food intake, ask for food less often and feel secure about eating. According to a 2010 study in Child Care Health Development, the more children accumulated eating behaviors like skipping breakfast, snacking between meals and watching TV while eating, the higher their weights were.

More Reading: 10 Things You Should Never Tell Your Child About Food, How Many Times a Day Should Kids Eat? and How to Build Your Child’s Self Control Muscle

2. Eat together when you can

Make eating together as a family a priority. It may not be possible every day, but do it when you can.  Have a big lunch as a family on Saturday.  If one parent or child is home late, have dinner with the family members that are there and leave a hot plate for the late one. According to a 2011 study in Pediatrics, families that share at least 3 meals per week have children who eat healthier, are at healthier weights and are less likely to have disordered eating than families who eat together less often.

More Reading: Recipe Index, How to Please the Whole Family at Dinnertime and The Side Strategy that Saved My Family’s Mealtime.

3. Don’t interfere with eating

Satter’s Division of Responsibility in Feeding — parents take charge of the when, where and what of eating and children get to decide whether and how much to eat — helps children preserve their food regulation skills, builds trust and allows kids to move along food acceptance at their own pace. That means no bribing with dessert, asking for more bites, restricting portions, eating between structured meals or short-order cooking.

More Reading: End Mealtime Battles with These 5 Simple Words, 10 Pitfalls to Avoid When Feeding Picky Eaters and What Forcing Children to Eat Looks Like 20 Years Later

4. Serve meals family style

Instead of loading a child’s plate with food, try serving meals in bowls and dishes and allow kids to serve themselves. This not only empowers children with reasonable choice, but it also helps them regulate their eating and builds confidence at the table.

More reading: 7 Dinner Rules Every Family Needs, Dinner Rotations, and The Side Strategy That Saved My family’s Mealtime

5. Expose children to a variety of nutritious food

Aim to slowly add meals to your rotation that include a variety of food groups — lean proteins, fruits, vegetables, dairy or non-dairy alternatives, grains, and fat. In Fearless Feeding we recommend providing 3-5 food groups at main meals and 2-3 at snack time. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition showed that offering a variety of vegetables or fruit instead of one type increased kids’ consumption by 24%.

More reading: Top 10 Nutritious Snack Combinations for Kids, The 10 Golden Rules of Exposing Kids to Food and 15 Sure-Fire Ways to Help Children Eat Healthier

6. Be smart about sweets

When parents reward kids with sweets, take them away for punishment, provide them to make kids feel better or overly restrict or provide too much access them, they make these foods even more desirable to kids. Instead, parents can serve them in a frequency that makes sense for their family, utilize structure and teach kids how to sensibly fit these foods fit into a balanced diet.

More reading: How to Build Your Child’s Self-Control Muscle, What Rewarding Kids with Food Looks Like 20 Years Later and How I Teach My Kids Moderation with Food.

7. Teach kids about food before nutrition

Children learn the most about food and nutrition with hands-on experiences, like going to the store or the farmer’s market and helping prepare meals.  When you gradually teach a child to cook, you teach them a vital self-care skill they will use for life. According to a 2012 study in Public Health with 5th-grade students, “Higher frequency of helping prepare and cook food at home was associated with higher fruit and vegetable preference and with higher self-efficacy for selecting and eating healthy foods.”

More reading: Chapters 3 and 4 of Fearless Feeding provides cooking tips and recipes kids can make themselves.

8. Promote body satisfaction and discourage dieting

As children get older they will notice a culture that is obsessed with thinness and start to question the size and shape of their own body. Be there for your child to help filter the messages they hear. Focus on health versus weight and check in with your own body and dieting attitudes.

More reading: How to Keep the Weight-Obsessed Culture From Harming Your Child’s Relationship with Food, How to Get Your Child Through Puberty Without Hating Their Growing Body and How to Raise a Mindful Eater for examples of what to say and case studies.

9. Use everyday moments to teach about nutrition

Children learn about nutrition simply be seeing which foods are served and how often. The foods you have in your house should be in line with your beliefs about food and nutrition. They will go out into the world and notice the difference and this is where you can gradually teach them about nutrition. They will ask and you will answer.

More reading: 8 Ways to Talk to Kids About Nutrition so They Actually Listen, 5 Motivational Techniques that Will Transform Your Child’s Eating, 5 Mistakes Parents Make When Educating Their Child About Nutrition and Fearless Feeding for age-specific nutrition teaching examples.

10. Be the eater you want your kids to be

When parents come to me worried about their kids eating I tell them what I know to be true — your kids are very likely to end up eating like you.  If you are happy with the way you eat, that’s great. If you aren’t, work to change it. Your happiness and health matter too.

More reading: 5 Ways Parenthood Can Transform Your Health, 7 Simple Ways Dads Can Positively Influence Their Kid’s Health and chapter 6 (The Parent Trap) of Fearless Feeding.

11. Teach kids to tune into their body

Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that young adults who use hunger and fullness to guide eating not only have a lower body mass index but are less likely to have disordered eating (the girls who listened to their body were also less likely to binge-eat and diet). Yet research shows that 85% of parents of young children try to get their children to eat more at mealtime and parents of big eaters often use restriction. When parents, instead, honor their child’s feelings of hunger and fullness they give them a gift they will use for life.

The Annoying Kids’ Eating Habit Parents Should Adopt, Saying Good Riddance to the Clean Plate Club and 5 Obstacles That Keep Parents From Raising Intuitive Eaters

12. Understand how development relates to eating

There’s a reason your 15-month-old accepts most foods and your 4-year-old is more selective. Most of these things can be explained in terms of a child’s development and growth. Knowing what to expect, instead of being blindsided, helps parents become more confident and effective feeders.

More reading: The Feeding Mistake Parents Don’t Even Know They Are Making, 5 Reasons Your Child Eats Differently than You and 8 Feeding Myths Every Parent Should Know About

13. Identify how to meet nutritional needs

Many feeding mistakes are made in the name of “nutrition.” Understanding how to meet your child’s nutrition needs, which is often easier than parents think, will help calm your fears and make you a better feeder.

More reading: 7 Nutrients Even Healthy Kids Miss, How to Meet Your Child’s Need Even When They Don’t Eat Perfectly and DHA for Kids: The Complete Guide for Parents.

14. Serve food with an expectant attitude

No matter how many times your child has refused food, always serve it with the expectation that they will eat it. When parents avoid the “picky eating” label and raise their expectations without exerting force, kids eventually follow suit.

More reading: The Feeding Strategy Every Parent Needs in Their Toolbox, Picky Eating Not Getting Better? 5 Small Changes That Can Make a Big Difference and The Feeding Obstacle that Trips Parents Up (But Shouldn’t)

15. Embrace cooking

Parents spend a huge chunk of their time shopping, preparing and serving meals. As I see it we have a choice. We can hate every minute of it or embrace our role as provider.  For me, 2014 was all about embracing my role as the family cook resulting in The Family Dinner Solution. 

Whether you have been reading since day one or are new here, thanks for showing up.  And if you feel this site has helped you, feel free to share this post in with your friends and family.