How I Added A Healthy But Tasty Twist To My Child’s Food!
How I Added A Healthy But Tasty Twist To My Child’s Food!
Scenario 1- Viaan, a five year old son of Sharma’s in the neighborhood keeps vegetables & fruits an arm’s distance away. To have him eat a single chapathi, Mrs. Sharma has to run after him and over his toys like a hurdle race athlete.
Scenario 2 – Aditya, a fourteen-year-old comes home with a few friends after their football practice session. Hungry, they head straight to the kitchen for grabbing some nacho chips or similar munch-ons before settling in their room.
Well, as parents, most of us, including myself, will be able to relate to this situation. More often than not, kids, be it a five year old toddler or a fourteen year old teenager, don’t want to eat healthy food. Vegetables & fruits which are the best source for the vital vitamins and other nutrients don’t even exist in their set of preferred food, and parents like you and me tend to worry about this.
For children with small stomachs, snacks become as important as the main meals. So as a parent, I am constantly worried about feeding my child a balanced diet rich in carbohydrate, protein, fats, vitamins & minerals. While I can somehow ensure my child getting his carbohydrates & fats, the vitamins and minerals which he needs in small but crucial doses is a concern. I worry whether the food my child likes can support all his growth needs.
Some of the foods that my child, and I’m guessing your kids too, generally avoid, are carrots, green leafy vegetables, fruits, milk, almonds, avocado and more. These foods have all the Vitamins and Minerals that are so important for a child’s health, development and immunity, and with their fussy eating, parents worry that they may not be getting any of these vital nutrients. While I want my kid to eat healthy, he prefers choosing tasty foods, and I’m put in a dilemma! It’s now up to me to try making healthy food appealing to him. Tastier food is obviously inviting to a kid – be it a snack or a full meal, and making healthy food tasty can work wonders!
So while I was trying to figure out how to make my kid’s healthy meals tastier or find healthy swaps for their favourite treats, I knew that the key would be to find a tasty addition to their meals that could make them interesting, as well as add value to my child’s nutrition.
I came across Nutralite Veg Mayonnaise, which is fortified with Vitamin A, D & E. Kids like mayonnaise, and it helps you make their meals seem interesting or new, while tricking them into getting 30% of their daily Vitamin requirements with minimal fuss.
If you’re not sure how you can introduce this healthy treat in your cooking, I used some of these tricks to make my home-cooked meal appeal to my kids:
- Stuffed Parathas with Mayo Achari:
Make stuffed parathas using veggies like cauliflower (Phool Gobhi), daikon radish (Mooli in Hindi), potato or mix veg or even paneer parathas. To go with it, ditch the usual yoghurt dip and introduce a hearty dollop of Nutralite Achari Mayo. This Vitamin-fortified dip has a pickle-like taste, and a rich, indulgent feel of mayonnaise in it.
- Vegetable Kathi Rolls:
A Veg. roll may be boring, but I wanted to feed my kids as many vegetables as I could, so I would use either Achari Mayo or the plain Veg. Mayo for coating inside the kathi roll, adding Vitamins to my kid’s veg. roll, while also making vegetables seem fun! - Vitamin-fortified Pasta:
Using the Cheesy Garlic Mayo as a replacement for white sauce can also work wonders for the picky eater at your home – now you can feed them pasta without worrying that it’s not healthy enough! Just don’t forget to add a dash of Parmesan or Mozzarella cheese above.
The best thing about Nutralite Mayonnaise is that I use it in many different varieties of Indian & International dishes. Getting your little one to enjoy healthy food is not easy, but it’s a habit that’ll benefit them for a lifetime. So the fourteen-year-old in Scenario 2, along with his friends can simply pick his favorite nachos and a nutritious mayo dip to enjoy a healthier type of snack.
Have you tried making healthy food tastier for your little ones? What did you do? Make sure you also set the right examples, so you can enjoy these tasty dishes with them!
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