I know how badly you want your family to eat healthfully. I know you want to give your kids the best nutrition possible, otherwise you wouldn’t be here reading about how to do so. But I also know that it can be incredibly frustrating and worrisome when your kids flat out refuse to eat their veggies. In fact, it can be so difficult, that many (most) parents can’t find a solution before giving in and allowing their kids to eat whatever they want, whenever they want.

Unfortunately, this nearly always leads to a diet of macaroni and cheese, string cheese, crackers, sugary cereal, and chicken nuggets…and nothing else. Am I right, moms? I can’t tell you how many times I see Facebook statuses or hear complaints from parents who say their kids will ONLY eat these things. Oftentimes it’s followed up with a laugh or an, “Oh well!” …And that’s the part that scares me. Please don’t give up, Mom! Please don’t give up, Dad!

Because kids are so resilient, they can survive on these completely-fake foods for a very long time, and appear to be healthy and thriving on the outside. But the sad fact is that their little bodies are struggling inside when they don’t get proper pediatric nutrition. It might take just a few months. It might take 3 years or even 10 for some. But instilling these eating habits will eventually  lead to a devastation of physical and emotional health.

No matter what you have fed your kids in the past, and no matter what you feed them now, please know that you will never receive judgment from me. I truly believe that anyone reading this WANTS to give their children excellent nutrition, but many don’t know how. I’m here to educate, love, support, and help make healthy eating more simple and easy for you. And as an educator, I need to tell you that almost all of the most common childhood ailments and behavioral problems nowadays are almost always caused by lack of proper pediatric nutrition, and in the cases where they’re caused by something else, it’s made worse by poor nutrition.

This means the opposite is true (let’s remain positive here, shall we?)…

Almost all of the most common childhood ailments
and behavioral problems can be prevented or
noticeably improved by giving your child excellent nutrition.

I’m talking about A.D.H.D., A.D.D., eczema, getting the cold and flu all the time, even asthma, allergies and many autism symptoms can be improved when you feed your little ones the right food.

So how do you make it happen?

What IS Healthy Eating for Kids?

The USDA currently recommends a minimum of 5 servings of fruits and/or vegetables per day. But read the fine print, and you’ll realize that their recommendation is the bare minimum to survive and avoid major disease. But we want more than survival. We want our kids to thrive. We want them to run and play and enjoy themselves. We want them to be happy. Do well in school. Magnify their talents. Live long, fulfilling lives.

Ideally (partly because the quality of fruits and vegetables are not what they used to be), we should be getting more like 6-8 servings of vegetables and 3+ servings of fruit per day. That should be the new minimum, in my educated opinion 😉

But let’s start with the baby steps. I know many children aren’t even getting the USDA’s recommendation of 5 total plant servings per day. And I know your kids are going to FLIP OUT if you immediately switch them from their chicken-nugget/string-cheese diet to plopping 3 cups of salad greens on their dinner plate. So I’m going to share with you the easiest, fastest, and cheapest way to get your picky eaters to eat healthy starting today. Without a fight. Without screaming and crying. Without getting a spoonful of steamed spinach catapulted into your face.

How to Get Kids to Eat Healthy

Step 1: “Ice Cream” Smoothies

Tell the kids you’re going to make them an ice cream smoothie. Invite them to help. Proceed to make an all-fruit smoothie with a creamy base. Here’s a great day-1 recipe:

1 cup almond milk
1 cup ice cubes
2 ripe bananas
1 cup of strawberries
a few blackberries for a gorgeous purple color

This makes a drinkable smoothie, but you can decrease the almond milk, add more ice cubes, and start with frozen bananas if you want a spoonable “ice cream” consistency. It’s important to start with ripe, sweet ingredients. If the berries are a bit bitter as they sometimes are, add a couple of dates or a little bit of stevia, agave or pure maple syrup.

Pretty safe to say your kids are going to love this smoothie. While you’re all enjoying it together, talk about what’s in it. Tell them how healthy it is. Teach them what vitamins are and why they’re so important. Make them feel good about what they’re doing for their bodies by drinking this amazingly delicious ice cream.

Step 2: The Magic Leaf

Going from Step 1 to Step 2 is so easy, it can usually be done the very next day. “Remember that delicious ice cream smoothie we made yesterday? Who wants another one?”

Invite them to help make it again. Let them break apart the banana, add it to the blender, put the lid on and push the button. This time, get out the spinach and put one leaf in. “The magic ingredient that makes it taste extra delicious, gives you lots of energy, helps you grow strong so you can run faster and play harder!” 

They’ll enjoy today’s smoothie just as much as yesterday’s, and they’ll know that the magic leaf didn’t change the taste of the smoothie.

(For older kids who know that a spinach leaf isn’t magic, just let them watch you put it in there because you “just want to see if you can taste it, and if it’s gross, we can start over.”)

Step 3: Green Smoothies

By day 3, your kids will already feel like smoothie-making pros. So get out all the ingredients: several fruit options and the bag/box of baby spinach. Lay it all out in front of them and tell them to start creating! You’ll of course help with any slicing and cutting, but allow them to be the inventor of their own smoothie. Young kids LOVE this! You might hear very precise requests like, “I want 4 strawberries and 7 grapes.” Let them make it on their terms, exactly how they want it.

Limit food-waste by giving them 1 rule: fill the smoothie jar with fruit until it’s half-way full. And you can gently encourage with things like, “Bananas make it taste extra sweet like ice cream. Strawberries and blueberries will turn it bright purple. Grapes will make it super juicy.”

Some kids may add spinach on their own, just because it’s laid out in front of them. If yours don’t, after all the fruit is added, say, “And how about the magic spinach leaves, how many of those do you want today? Go ahead and add as much as you like.”

You might be surprised to find your child starts adding spinach by the handful. They sometimes get so distracted by the fun of adding things into the blender that they don’t realize they’re adding something GREEN. Or, your child might just add one leaf. Encourage him to add a little more and remind him that he won’t taste it, and it will really help with his ____ (help him feel better if he’s currently got a cold… help him run faster if he loves to run… help him in any physical or intellectual area that he would find rewarding.)

Continue to increase greens with each smoothie. When you’re ready, start a habit of making one green smoothie every day. My kids each get about 12-16 ounces per day. Sometimes they choose to drink it as breakfast, sometimes they choose to sip on it at each meal, but they know by now that by bedtime, they need to finish their smoothie. Usually they do it with a smile, but sometimes it takes some reminding 🙂

A daily green smoothie habit alone is an enormous improvement. One pint is approximately 4-6 servings of fruit and veggies for your child.

NOTE: Consistency can be a huge deal for kids, and can make or break your healthy smoothie endeavors. If the thick texture grosses them out, just try again. Add it back into the blender with some water and tell them you’ll turn it into “juice” instead. Juice is a magic word, for sure! They’ll still get those servings, they’ll just get them more slowly throughout the day in the form of juice.

Step 4: TWELVE Servings a Day the Easy Way

Your child’s first 6 servings are taken care of with their green smoothie. The next step can be implemented more gradually than the first three. Start adding one raw fruit and one raw vegetable to your child’s plate at every meal. It’s okay if it’s the same thing every single day for the first few weeks. If your child will only eat carrots, that’s fine! To avoid waste, start small. For example if you have 3 kids, you might split a banana 3 ways and give them each 2 baby carrots.

Don’t force feed. In the beginning, some kids will completely ignore their veggies, and that’s okay. They’re getting used to them being on their plate, and that’s a bigger psychological step than us moms usually acknowledge. If they don’t touch it, save it in a baggie in the fridge to go into their next smoothie. Eventually they’ll pick it up and smell it. Or start playing with it. This is a good sign! They’re experiencing a new thing. Request that they try it, and encourage them to keep eating. But I speak to you from experience in learning the VERY HARD WAY, that you don’t want to make meal time a drag-out fight or a battle of wills. Keep the experience positive, or they’ll never come around.

Once your child is eating one raw fruit and one raw vegetable at breakfast, lunch and dinner, and drinking 12-16 ounces of green smoothie every day, she’s getting up to TWELVE servings of amazing nutrition that will serve her well in every are I mentioned above and countless more.

And, you know… this article isn’t just for the little ones. Many years ago I hated every vegetable I came across. Couldn’t even stand the smell of them. I had to baby-step my way into loving vegetables and even many fruits. Do you realize that you have the ability to give your children one of the best gifts you could offer them? Most would argue that if you don’t have your health and happiness, you have very litte. The younger your kids are, the easier it is to raise them with eating habits that will keep them healthy, strong, and emotionally balanced throughout their entire lives. If your kids are older, that’s okay! There might be a bit more resistance, but it’s never too late (I didn’t teach myself until my late 20s.)

Green Smoothie Recipe Collection

To help you get started, I compiled a book of delicious “beginner” smoothie recipes that you and your family will love. They’re perfect for those who don’t like the taste of vegetables because they’re sweetened with lots of fruit. Some of them were even created by my four-year-old! The book is my gift to you. Get yours today here. 

I want to hear from you in the comments below if:

1) You want to give your kids the best nutrition but don’t know how

2) Your child gets sick often, is overweight, seems depressed, suffers from anxiety, has eczema or asthma, or any other health concern that you wonder if eating changes can help

3)Have you recently changed your family’s nutrition and seen a positive result in your child’s health? School performance? Behavior?