Healthy Eating Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect

Comment There’s a lot of pressure in feeding kids. Serve enough vegetables. Don’t serve too much sugar. Make sure they get enough protein and fiber. Encourage them to try new foods — but don’t force them! Oh, and also make something everyone at the table will actually eat. It’s no wonder feeding kids can feel like the hardest part of your day. So here’s something I wish more parents heard: you don’t have to choose between food your kids actually want to eat and food that offers them something nutritionally. Some of my favorite foods for kids live happily in the middle. Take apple crisp. It’s dessert. It should taste like dessert. (And yes, I highly recommend serving it warm with vanilla ice cream.) But apples are also a great source of fiber, and the topping in my Maple Apple Crisp adds oats and ground flaxseed. You don’t need to remove all the sugar or skip the ice cream to make it “healthy.” You can make a really delicious dessert that also happens to bring some great nutrition to the table. Maple Apple Crisp Recipe Topping Ingredients ¼ cup oat flour, heaping ⅓ cup old fashioned oats, blended to flour ½ cup old fashioned rolled oats 2 tbsp ground flaxseed ¼ cup dark brown sugar ¼ tsp cinnamon ¼ tsp salt ¼ cup cold butter, diced into small cubes Filling ingredients 3 medium granny smith apples, peeled, cored, ¼-inch thick slices, halved 2 large honeycrisp apples, peeled, cored, ¼-inch thick slices, halved ¼ cup pure maple syrup 1 tsp cornstarch ½ tsp cinnamon 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract Instructions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease an 8×8 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside. To make the topping: Mix the oat flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt and ground flaxseed in a large bowl until well combined. Add in the pieces of butter and use your hands to squeeze and combine until the mixture becomes crumbly and resembles wet sand. There will be clumps, this is fine. (Or, cut in the butter with a pastry cutter.) Place the topping mixture in the fridge and begin making the apple filling. To make the filling: Place sliced apples, maple syrup, cornstarch, cinnamon, and vanilla extract in a large bowl and toss to combine. Allow to sit for 5-10 minutes. Place the apple mixture in the prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with topping. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack. Serve warm, with vanilla ice cream! The same idea works with vegetables. If your child turns up their nose at a pile of roasted vegetables, that doesn’t mean you’ve failed — or that vegetables are off the table. Sometimes changing the flavor or texture of a food makes all the difference. That’s one reason I love Creamy Pumpkin Soup for kids. Pumpkin is packed with nutrients (woohoo!) but since it’s also naturally sweet and creamy, there are no chunks or unexpected textures to navigate. For a selective eater, that can make a new fruit or vegetable feel a whole lot less intimidating. Creamy Pumpkin Soup Recipe Ingredients: 1 tbsp olive oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 medium white or yellow onion, chopped 2 cans pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling!!) 2.5 cups vegetable broth (can sub chicken broth or ½ bone broth with whatever broth you choose) ¾ cup unsweetened coconut cream (can also sub full-fat coconut milk or ½ cup heavy cream) ½ tsp pumpkin pie spice 1 tsp salt (may need more depending on what broth you use) a sprinkle of ground black pepper Optional: shredded cheddar cheese on top. I like the salty contrast a little bit of sharp cheddar cheese brings to this soup! Instructions: Heat your olive oil in a large stock pot over medium heat Once hot, add minced garlic and onion and saute for 1-2 minutes, until fragrant and translucent Add your veggie broth, pumpkin puree, coconut cream, and spices (salt and pepper to taste) Bring to a boil (watch out — it will bubble fast and pumpkin puree is known to jump out of the pot) Turn the heat down to low and cook covered for 8-10 minutes. Optional: blend in a blender or with immersion blender for a completely creamy soup, or leave as is if you’re okay with a little more of a textured soup. Serve with grated cheddar cheese on top! Of course, you can make the most kid-friendly pumpkin soup in the world and your child may still take one bite and declare they hate it. That doesn’t mean you failed. Kids learn to enjoy foods through repeated exposure, and tasting is only part of that process. Seeing a food, smelling it, touching it and helping prepare it all count as experiences that build familiarity. So bring them into the kitchen. Let them sprinkle the topping over the apples. Hand them the spoon to stir the soup. Let them grate a mountain of cheddar cheese on top if that’s what makes the soup more appealing. Then let them decide whether they eat it. Our job as parents isn’t to make our kids eat healthy foods. It’s to keep putting those foods in their world — in ways that taste good and feel good — so they have plenty of opportunities to learn to enjoy them. That approach doesn’t always give us the immediate satisfaction we want. Sometimes you do all the “right” things and your kid still refuses what you made. You’re still doing your job. And if I can leave you with one last piece of advice, it’s this: zoom out. Kids don’t need every meal to be perfectly balanced. Instead of stressing about what they ate at one particular meal, think about what they’ve eaten over the course of a few days. That bigger picture is a much better reflection of how they’re eating overall. I bet you’re doing better than you think! Kacie Barnes, MPA. MCN, RDN, is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist who specializes in making healthy eating approachable and attainable for families. With her extensive education and focus on pediatric nutrition, she now shares her knowledge and kid-friendly recipes with the world through her website, mamaknowsnutrition.com. FP