Instilling Healthy Eating Habits in Kids

I am very jealous of one of my mom friends.  She is from Italy, has a son my daughter’s age and he turns his nose up at fast food and prefers, in her words (served up with a beautiful Italian accent), “Grilled chicken, salad, pasta with some chopped vegetables or fish.”  

It sounded so simple and beautiful.  But, it’s not that easy for me.  My daughter has always been picky and will happily forego food altogether if she’s otherwise engaged.  Even reminding her to eat is sometimes met with a tantrum.  

When she was a baby, she would mostly just spit food out.  Her sister, at 7-months-old, on the other hand is very interested in food and is really enjoying different fruits, vegetables and cereals. 

My older daughter likes milk, cheese, chicken nuggets, pizza, crackers, peanut butter, pasta (cheese or tomato sauce), grapes, bananas and what she believes to be chocolate milk (actually Ovaltine). That's about it.  Of course, ice cream or a cupcake would meet with no objections.  She’s very tall for her age and a healthy weight.  I would love it if she would try the foods my husband and I eat, which includes varied vegetables, fruit, seafood and different meats.

I’m curious for moms of kids of all ages.  How do you raise a healthy eater? 

Do you sneak food in like does in the Patch article I read? 

I know it’s important to get those fruits and veggies in and I keep on offering them, but I honestly haven’t taken to grinding up beets and putting them in muffins.