Let me start by saying in no way am I an expert, and in no way is Cullen a ‘perfect’ eater. He definitely has healthy foods he doesn’t like, and there are days he goes without having a single vegetable.
So with that said, I still wanted to offer a few tips for other parents out there who might be able to gain a little something from our experiences. To start, here’s what Cullen had to eat yesterday.
Breakfast
Coconut Kale Smoothie + frozen banana
First off, if you do not own the Run Fast Eat Slow cookbook, I highly recommend picking up a copy of it. I use it all the time, and Cullen loves the recipe for the Coconut Kale Smoothie. It has enough natural sweetness from the coconut water and dates (or honey) to make it very palatable.
Secondly, Cullen loves frozen bananas. He likes regular bananas, but he loves frozen bananas.
Cullen’s most-often requested breakfast: steel-cut oatmeal and peas!
Mid-morning snack
We went for a walk, and Cullen chose to have these Annie Bunny Graham snacks. They are relatively low in sugar, and I will allow him to have one pre-packaged snack like this every day.
Lunch
cheese quesadilla + peas + milk
Who doesn’t love a cheese quesadilla? He ate about 3/4 of the whole quesadilla (one tortilla folded in half), plus some peas, which is definitely a favorite vegetable of his.
Afternoon snack
He munched on a bunch of veggie sticks and dried cherries throughout the afternoon. Outside of our 3 square meals, I do allow him to have as many snacks as he wants. It is probably due to the fact I am a grazer and have multiple snacks throughout the day too.
Dinner
Craig made bison burgers, and Cullen had some of that meat, which is surprising because he isn’t much of a meat-kid. He also had some kale salad, pita bread, coconut water, LaCriox (He loves carbonated beverages.), and an apple.
Bedtime Snack
I’ve gotten in the habit of giving Cullen a bedtime snack because he often won’t eat much for dinner, so to avoid him saying he’s hungry at 9:00 p.m. and pushing bedtime back even more, I make sure he has another snack before bedtime. Last night he had cheese and a few crackers.
Tips for getting your toddler to eat healthy:
- Offer a wide variety of foods.
I am constantly offering Cullen new foods: sushi (He loves it!), Ezekiel bread (He was eating it cold and plain out of the freezer!), goat cheese, caribou, beet smoothies, etc. Craig and I like to try different foods and recipes, so that probably helps. - Try preparing vegetables in a different way.
It seems like vegetables are the hardest type of food to get kids to eat, so try preparing them in a variety of ways to see if they like one method over the other. Instead of always steaming carrots, try roasting them. (I almost always default to roasting vegetables.) Instead of using canned vegetables, try fresh ones–they have a lot more flavor. - Sneak healthy foods in a smoothie.
Most parents know this trick because it is easy to cover up the taste of a handful of spinach with a banana or some natural sweeter such as honey or dates. Cullen requests a beet or kale smoothie on a regular basis. - Don’t buy a lot of the pre-packaged kids snacks.
If there are fruit snacks in the house, Cullen would eat the whole box in a day (if he could). We did buy fruit snacks when we were potty training him, but other than that, I really try to limit the number of pre-packaged snacks I buy in the first place. If they aren’t there, he can’t eat them. - Set a good example.
I think most people know this, but it doesn’t hurt to reiterate it! At 2.5 years, Cullen is becoming even more of a sponge and starting to imitate the things we do and say, which helps keep us accountable. Both Craig and I have a very healthy diet, and Cullen motivates us to keep it that way. We don’t take him to McDonald’s or fast food joints. Frankly, he doesn’t even know these places exist yet.
And with all of this said, we are not strict about what he eats when we go to a friend’s house for a birthday party or have a potluck at church. During these special occasions, we let him eat what he wants–within reason, of course. He’s welcome to have a cupcake, but not 3 of them, for example. I also realize he will probably become a more picky eater as he gets older, but we’ll keep trying to feed him as many healthy foods as possible.
