This post is sponsored by Revolution Foods.
If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that one of my biggest passions is educating my daughter on making good food choices and trying new foods. When she was a baby, I was lucky enough to be able to make all her baby food, but now that she’s older and in school it’s harder to control. This is why I’ve partnered up with Revolution Foods to share a few tips on how to get your kids to try new foods and help them make healthy food choices.
If you’ve never heard of Revolution Foods, it provides a pivotal service to the community by providing local Bay Area students access to great-tasting, kid-inspired, chef-crafted meals that they enjoy and that are affordable for schools and districts, which is essential because many of Bay Area students receive federally reimbursable meals. The company uses clean label and real food ingredients including fresh local produce, high-quality proteins, rBST-free dairy products, and no artificial flavors or colors.
Revolution Foods uses a couple of tactics to encourage kids to eat healthily and try new things, because the company believes that everyone deserves access to real, high-quality food made with carefully considered ingredients.
So without further ado, here are some of my quick tips on how I get my child to try new, better-for-you foods:
- One tip I picked up from Revolution Foods is to serve veggies with a tasty yet healthy dressing. I’ve started to do the same with Elara: my daughter is obsessed with “dip dips” and will pretty much eat anything she can dip it into. She once ate half a bag of carrots with some homemade sun-dried tomato hummus! Creating healthy eating habits early on will follow them throughout life and allow them make better eating choices in the future.
- Another way I make food more appealing for her at home is to get her involved and let her help make a portion of our meal. Whether it’s stirring the pot while I hold her hand, or letting her throw the ingredients into the pot, it’s guaranteed to get her excited about what’s going to be for dinner, whether it’s familiar or not. One way Revolution Foods gets involved with students and families beyond the cafeteria is by providing nutrition curriculums, showing up to PTA and back to school nights to gather feedback from parents and school officials, and setting up cooking classes for students to learn about where their food comes from, connecting what’s on their plate to the community around them.
- I like to talk about the food while she’s trying it and ask her what she likes about it, and what she doesn’t like. Asking questions like “Is it salty or sweet” or “Is it crunchy or soft?” gets her to think about what she is eating and also helps me identify her food preferences. We recently had a veggie burger and I asked what she liked most and what she didn’t like about the burger and we learned she is not a fan of raw onions but loves lettuce and tomatoes! So now I know that raw onions are a no-no in her book and can make her meals without them. The next time I make her a veggie burger, it’ll be made with extra tomato and lettuce and no onions so there’s a better chance of her eating the whole thing. Similarly, Revolution Foods surveys thousands of their students every month so they can create menu items that reflect the culture and community of the student demographics because kids are more likely to try foods or variations of meals that they are familiar with or may have tried already at home.
- Another lesson I try and impart on Elara is to “try new foods because they might taste good!” Thank you Daniel Tiger for that line, because I have used it an innumerable number of times to get her to try new foods! I don’t expect her to like every new food she tries so it’s ok if it’s not her favorite. No matter if she likes it or not, I always make sure to praise her for trying something new and telling her that I’m proud she gave it a try. Now that she’s a little older and smarter, she’ll try new food and then ask me if I’m proud of her for trying it. ? Proof that positive reinforcement works! We all know it’s a pain and we have to do some Jedi mind-tricks to get them to try a new item. Revolution Foods also makes introducing new foods fun by featuring fun food days like Latin Tuesday, Try it Thursday and Fun Friday! Also, while in the lunch line students can check out customized meal cards that Revolution Foods designs, which includes photos and names (in 3 languages!) of the meals being served to pique their interest in new food.
Revolution Foods is the type of program I wish my daughter’s current school had. Her school provides snacks and meals every day, but on days there aren’t vegetarian options, I make her lunch since they will only provide a cheese sandwich. I learned my lesson and now know that food programs should be a part of the decision making when choosing a school because it’s just as important as the academic curriculum. In fact, recent studies show that nutritious foods create improved health and academic outcomes. According to a recent paper published by UC Berkeley, students at schools that contract with a healthier school-lunch vendor perform better on tests. In this study, Revolution Foods was ranked the #1 healthiest provider of nutritious meals.
Educating and leading kids to make healthy food choices will lead to a generation of kids who care about their environment and choosing foods that come from sustainable practices. We all want to raise our kids to be healthy and smart, and programs like Revolution Foods make it easy.
