Families can control their fate.
Sometimes when it comes to
the building blocks of good
nutrition for your kids,
so you may be wondering how
in the world do we do this?
Where do we start?
Yeah, joining us live from Chula Vista
certified nutritionist Caitlin Cushman,
with healthy heights.
Thanks so much for coming on the show.
He really appreciate it.
Thanks for having me guys happy to
be here all right tell us what can
parents do to help out with this
because I tell you a meal time prep
at my house is always a challenge.
You think you got him on something
healthy and then the next week
they're over it and they're moving on?
Well, making your child nutrition
even better doesn't mean having
to change everything that they're
eating or a lot of extra time.
Simply making small food swaps,
like for instance these waffles.
Or you could do with pancakes,
use bananas and protein powder
in the mix instead of your
standard mix out of the box.
You can also swap out the regular Turkey
cheese and Mayo sandwich instead of Mayo.
Try some hummus or some smashed avocado.
These easy swaps out a little more
nutrition to their regular meals.
Yeah, we got rid of the pork
sausage and we slid Turkey sausage
in there. No one has.
Dead everything you don't even know
it's a parental win.
I will say my daughter is in the cheese
and bread phase and she's been in that.
She's only three. But even if there's
like avocado which used to love,
yeah, she's like picking it out.
She doesn't want anything
green anywhere near her food,
so that's a challenge right now
that we're facing that I'm like,
come on, please at least eat a carrot
so I give her that and she'll eat.
But what do we do if your kids that picky?
Well,
if sneaking it in there isn't working.
You know you start with the foods
that you know they like and then
pairing with new things and you
slowly integrate new foods that they
don't normally eat and to meals
that they're super familiar with.
Like, say they are really into Mac and
cheese add a little bit of grilled chicken,
add a little bit of a vegetable,
you know that they like.
If you're if your kids are getting
tired of some of the meals,
maybe you've you've pinpointed 5
healthy meals and you kind of rinse
and repeat just 'cause you're.
You're busy household like
we are in my at my house.
How do you kind of weave those in and out?
You don't want him to get sick
of the good stuff, right?
Yeah, well, you know. I
think part of the thing that helps kids
get used to new foods is having them
hands on be in the kitchen with you.
So take to the grocery store with you.
Have them help you pick out the new meal,
get them excited about the new meal
and then let them help you in the
kitchen if they made it with you,
they'll be more interested in eating
it. It's a good idea.
Yeah, I'm I will say my daughter does
like to get in the kitchen and help.
She watches us. I'm like OK,
maybe not shopping yet,
but you know she could put the
sausage in and that kind of thing.
Let's talk about why that's
so important to have.
You know your children feeling
confident when it comes to food. So
you know when they grow older
when your little kids are starting
to make their own decisions,
you want to empower them to a
be able to make their own meals
and beef to make good choices
when they're out in the world.
But when the kids are little,
you don't want to miss,
have them miss out on those nutrients,
either. So sometimes you'll need
to supplement in other ways,
and it's more than just, you know,
sneaking little bits and pieces
of good nutrition in there.
Sometimes you need
a little bit of a tool in your back pocket.
I think this is easier to do when
you're planning and you know,
over the weekend you can
think about the week ahead,
but we look we have some nights
that are just busy at my house.
We're off to the ballfields or the
hockey rink or something, you know,
going all different directions.
How do you stay healthy and what kind
of meal ideas do you have for parents
on the go and families on the go?
Well, I always think of when you know
kids run out the house and you got
to run out and we skip breakfast.
So I like to do a smoothie station.
It's really fun. It can add other
fun things like peanut butter.
Greek yogurt can add a protein
powder and you know it's a quick on
the go something like that and you
know that they've gotten enough in
their their morning or they're even
there afternoon as a snack so that
they're not grazing on John later.
I will say as much as my daughter
doesn't like anything green shield down,
a green smoothie, no problem,
so that's my only strategy these days,
so I'm glad you brought that up.
How could people get more
information from you, Caitlin?
Now they can find out more by reaching out
to me through healthyheights.com where I
helped to make high protein low sugar stuff.
Events like this one here made for kids
alright sounds great. Caitlin.
Thank you so much coming to
us live from Chula Vista.
Good to see you. Thanks for.