Ways to Sneak in Healthy Food for Toddlers

Toddlers can be picky eaters, but a few tricks can help your child get the proper nutrition. Chef, nutritionist and health consultant Christine Avanti, who is also the author of the best-selling Skinny Chicks Don’t Eat Salads and Skinny Chicks Eat Real Food, shares some secrets.

Adults may enjoy raw vegetables, but many toddlers feel differently. Avanti suggests blanching vegetables to change their color and texture. “Blanching vegetables makes them softer and easier to digest,” she says. “After you boil the veggies in water for about 1 minute, throw them in a bowl of ice. This makes the color of the vegetables more rich, vibrant and appealing.”

Sometimes when a toddler sees a tomato, he automatically equates it with “yuck!” Yet he'll eat up tomato sauce on pizza or pasta. Going back to purée will allow your toddler to focus on the taste rather than the strange shapes and textures.

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“You can pour almost any purée into a pancake batter,” says Avanti, who suggests trying this with cookie dough as well. “For example, you can add zucchini or pumpkin, and your kids will eat it. After, tell them they had the zucchini and they will realize, ‘Oh, I like zucchini after all.’”

It’s hard to resist a cookie. So why not give it a nutritious kick? Avanti suggests incorporating wholesome flax seed or sesame seed into your next batch of cookies. Delicious and nutritious.

The kitchen is a great place to let your imagination run wild, so get creative with your plating. “It’s about how you deliver food,” says Avanti. “Instead of serving something like broccoli on a plate on its own, set the little branches into cream cheese and make them look like trees, which is more fun and interesting for your child.”

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Dessert doesn't have to be bought from the store for the kids to love it. Homemade popsicles on a warm day will be an instant hit.

“Take watermelon; put it in a blender with a little lime juice and coconut milk, which has a really good fat called lauric acid and is great for immune systems; pour it into popsicle trays; and you’re done.”

A helping hand is always useful in the kitchen, even if it’s a tiny one. “When you have kids cook with you, they become so eager to eat whatever they helped make,” Avanti says. “Letting them participate in making food is a great way to get kids on board with trying new foods.”

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Homemade can be more nutritious than pre-packaged food. Rather than reaching for the standard box of mac and cheese, make it at home with healthy ingredients. Avanti suggests her heirloom tomato mac and cheese muffins, which are made with whole-wheat pasta, cheddar and gruyere.

There are some tricks for picky drinkers, who don't care for water. Squeeze a bit of citrus into a glass for a burst of flavor. You can also add orange or strawberry slices combined with mint in a pitcher of water. Put it in the fridge, and you have a tasty, icy cold, flavored beverage.