• Set an example: kids learn by watching others. Show them that eating healthy can be fun. Cut up fruits and vegetables and bring them as snacks. If they see you eating certain types of foods they will often want to try them.

• Have a variety of foods available, including healthy snacks: if healthy snacks, such as raw fruits and vegetables, homemade power balls or granola bars, and other snacks are available, they have the option to choose something healthy. If the only things available for a snack is chips and pop, that is what they will choose. Try making our Sun Energy Balls, or our chocolate puff bars from our Love Your Body Cookbook.

• Get kids involved in meal planning, grocery shopping and meal preparation: depending on the age of the children, this can be a great way to get kids excited about eating. Kids can help prepare the grocery list for weekly groceries. This can be a great time to get them involved in picking fruits and vegetables. If you can make grocery shopping and meal preparation fun, then maybe when they are older they will enjoy it too!

• Garden to help kids learn what real food looks like: many kids do not even know what vegetables and fruits look like because often a lot of the food they are consuming is already in a processed form. Gardening can help kids make a connection with their food. As a kid I loved helping plant the garden, and I loved harvesting it much more! I was able to see the variety of plants growing, and when it came time to harvest those peas there was nothing more rewarding. All of the hard work of weeding and picking the plants was made up for when I popped that delicious, fresh, home-grown pea into my mouth. Dinner was always more enjoyable when we were eating foods that came directly from our backyard. Somehow they seemed to taste better!

• Use different shapes and colors! Cut up those fruits and vegetables in fun shapes, like stars and triangles.

Please share with us your tips to get kids to eat healthy!!