Rainbow Blog

Friendly Takeover: Plan of Attack

posted by: The Queen of Brussels Sprouts

We did not become healthy eaters over night. I would say our diet was never atrocious, and we were never extreme in our weight. But, we were caught in the cycle of quick and processed foods, and our health seemed to pay the price.

It has been 3 years, and I can say that my crew will eat just about anything now. They at least give things a try.

Step #1: (This was on accident) Move to the boonies! Yep, it is a LOT harder to go out to eat, pick up take-out, or run to the store for little things when the options are over 30 minutes away (45 for REAL choices) in one direction. Cooking became the only viable (and affordable) option.

OK, so most of you aren’t going to move to the boonies. But hey, give it a try if you can

Step #2: Make sure each meal has 2 veggies and one whole grain offering. Never force a child to eat anything. My children were required to take one bite of each offering on their plate. If they didn’t like it, ok, but that is all they were offered. I refused to prepare separate dishes for them. I did make sure that I knew at least one of the offerings was something they would like. If dessert was offered that evening, only the people who ate all of their veggies and grains were allowed to partake in the sweets. I must admit that I am not above using a little frozen yogurt with fruit to “convince” someone to eat their veggies

You’d be amazed how, over time, the “one bite” rule becomes more and more bites…and all of the sudden, the plate is clean. There have actually been studies done on this one. A study I saw used avocado (and kids who claimed to hate it). They had kids take one bite a day for a month. After that, the majority of the kids actually claimed to like the avocado. Sometimes, it is a matter of training the tastebuds.

Guest Blog Post by The Queen Of Brussels Sprouts