Tricks for Healthy Eating

Trying to get your toddler to eat a balanced diet can be challenging, to put it politely. But with a little patience and creativity from you, eating healthy can be a lot of fun.
While calorie amounts vary by child, a meal plan filled with whole grains, fruits and veggies, calcium-rich foods and lean protein sources, is standard issue. So is limiting added sugar and salt. Try these mom-tested tips to help make "good" and "good for you" feel like the same thing to your toddler:

Easily-Mashable Foods

• Oatmeal (fibre, carbohydrate)
• Banana (potassium)
• Avocado (fibre, potassium, vitamin C)
• Roasted sweet potato (Vitamin A, potassium)
• Strawberries (Vitamin C, potassium, fibre, antioxidants)

Frozen Foods

• Pay special attention that the size of the frozen morsel is large enough to not present a choking hazard
• Homemade juice pops made from 100% fruit or vegetable juice (ice cubes in a sippy cup are generally well-received)
• Low fat frozen yogurt (calcium)
• Blueberry smoothie made with yogurt and frozen blueberries (calcium, antioxidants, Vitamin C)

Foods to Slurp

• Whole wheat spaghetti (magnesium, fibre)
• Soup (room temperature) through a straw
• Tomato soup (Vitamin C, potassium, copper)
• Chicken noodle soup (selenium, protein)

Foods to Dip

• A favourite among most toddlers
• Fruit pieces in low fat vanilla yogurt (protein, calcium, riboflavin)
• Carrot sticks (thinly sliced) in hummus (Vitamin A, fibre, calcium, zinc)
• Cooked broccoli trees in low fat plain yogurt (calcium, potassium, Vitamin C)
• Cooked snowpeas in low-fat ranch dressing (protein, manganese, potassium)

Finger Foods

• Peas (chromium, fibre, magnesium)
• Whole grain "O"-shaped cereal (calcium, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, folate)
• Cooked chickpeas (folate, fibre, protein)
• Cooked carrot coins (Vitamin A)
• Turkey meatballs (protein)

Sticks

• Open-faced toasted cheese on whole wheat bread cut into sticks (protein, calcium, fibre, riboflavin)
• Cheese sticks (protein, calcium)
• Carrot sticks (thinly sliced) (Vitamin A)
• Fish sticks – baked, not fried (protein)

Easily-Mashable Foods

• Oatmeal (fibre, carbohydrate)
• Banana (potassium)
• Avocado (fibre, potassium, vitamin C)
• Roasted sweet potato (Vitamin A, potassium)
• Strawberries (Vitamin C, potassium, fibre, antioxidants)

Edible Artwork

• Veggie faces
• Spinach hair (Vitamin A, Vitamin C, folate, magnesium)
• Carrot nose (thinly sliced) (Vitamin A)
• Cooked black bean eyes (iron, protein)
• Cooked chick pea teeth (manganese, folate, fibre, protein)
• Encourage your toddler to create his own

Tips:

• Use fun shapes.
• Cookie cutters, melon ballers, pizza cutters and measuring cups are all tools you already have on hand.
• Use silly containers.
• Toddlers find food so much more appealing if it's served up in a (new) flowerpot or on a fun plate. Be creative.