How can I encourage my child to eat more vegetables in their diet?

You can encourage your child to eat more vegetables by changing their form, such as making palak paneer or vegetable koftas instead of serving plain greens. Additionally, try camouflaging vegetables in dishes like parathas or khichdi to make them less noticeable.

What are some creative ways to make meals less monotonous for my finicky eater?

To avoid monotony, introduce variety by changing the shape or presentation of familiar foods, such as making chapattis in fun shapes or using different grains like jowar or bajra. Experimenting with new recipes or cuisines can also pique their interest.

Is it okay to hide healthy foods in my child's meals?

Yes, hiding healthy foods can be an effective strategy for finicky eaters. You can blend fruits into smoothies or incorporate finely chopped vegetables into sauces, ensuring your child still gets the nutrition without being aware of the ingredients.

What alternatives can I offer if my child refuses to drink milk?

If your child refuses milk, you can provide alternatives rich in calcium like curd, paneer, or fortified soy milk. For vegetarian options, include sesame seeds (til) or green leafy vegetables like methi and amaranth in their diet to ensure they receive adequate calcium.

7 tips on how to make your finicky eater finish the plate?

Published on May 14, 2012 | Shruti Marjara Kushwaha

Being a mother of a toddler, a school-age child or an adolescent which thought haunts you and keeps you worried all the time? It is your child’s eating habits!!! You might be going over the board thinking about how to create a balance between taste and nutrition for your finicky eater child.

Remember your childhood days when you loathed having greens and other strong-flavoured foods. But you do like them now. Why?? Simply put, our taste buds gradually, with an increase age, decrease in their affectivity and we start adjusting to the strong flavours. So you have a consolation there, one day my finicky eater might start taking those greens with pleasure. Until then, to make them eat nutritious food following tips might come in handy:

Go one by one

When introducing new foods into the diet. This facilitates observing the response of the child to food. It also helps to find out if, in case, the child is allergic to any food.

Change the form

If your child does not like a particular food, try to change the form of that food and see the response. E.g, if the child does not like spinach as saag, in that case, you can try making it as palak paneer or kofta instead.

Be Encouraging

Our food choices generally rub on our children. So even if I do not like a food, I try not to show my dislike or displeasure. Children should be encouraged to try most foods eaten by the family.

Avoid Monotony

Variety in choice of foods and innovation in the recipes is important to avoid monotony. Even the slightest change, like a change in the shape of chapatti might make your child interested in the meal.

Try the trick of camouflaging

Most children are finicky about eating fruits and vegetables. Add these foods in invisible mode. For example, we can add vegetables as stuffing/topping or chopped too fine to get noticed, and fruits can be added in milk, pureed, and added to certain desserts (e.g. custards).

Milk can be substituted

If your child refuses to drink milk, we can compensated for the deficiency of calcium by including foods like curd, cheese, yoghurt ,or from sardines, and other fish that contain fine bones. For vegetarians we can add til (sesame), ragi to the diet. These not only have a high amount of calcium but are also good source of protein.

Pack a wholesome lunch: The packed lunch should include carbohydrates (rice/chapati/parantha), proteins (pulses, paneer, soy nuggets, egg / non-veg) and vitamin minerals (vegetables and fruits). Few examples of packed lunches: Vegetable and nutri-nuggets Pulao & fruit; Methi/palak parantha with fruit; Dal parantha & fruit; Paneer sandwich & fruit, etc.

More Nutritious Recipes

In dealing with your picky/finicky children while eating, you need to be patient. Remember that our patience is worth our child's health.

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