Last month, The Sneaky Chef’s Missy Chase Lapine teamed up with fitness trainer Larysa DiDio to provide “Sneaky Strategies” for fitting in more exercise and calorie-burning activities into children’s everyday life with Sneaky Fitness: Fun, Foolproof Ways to Slip Fitness into Your Child’s Everyday Life.
I was able to submit ten questions from Mom in the City readers that Missy and Larysa were kind enough to answer. I will share their responses over the next few weeks. I shared Larysa’s answers a couple of weeks ago on this post. This week, I will be sharing Missy Chase Lapine’s answers below:
Sneaky Nutrition Tips
1. What is your number one tip for parents in regards to helping kids eat more nutritious food?
Don’t force the situation. Kids will develop bad feelings about good foods, creating a lifetime of difficulty. Instead, sneak some good nutrition into the foods they already like to eat. Then you’ll relax and feel good about what they’re eating, instead of insisting that they “eat something good for you” right then and there. This takes tangible pressure off the situation. You can then encourage them to make good food choices in a relaxed environment conducive to learning. The result is that they’ll be more open to trying new foods or to follow your lead. A perfect example is the mom who wrote me saying that her son now likes spinach on his pizza and in his ziti, because he saw her making other Sneaky Chef recipes with spinach puree hidden inside and he knows he liked those. See how it works?!
2. How can parents involve their kids in making healthy food choices?
Lots of ways: Take them shopping and let them help pick out fruits and
vegetables to sneak into their favorite recipes; Have them read ingredient labels if they’re old enough (if they can’t pronounce it, they probably don’t want to eat it!); Let them help making healthier recipes in the kitchen so they’ll feel some pride in ownership of what comes out and be far more likely to eat it (and like it!); point out to them the correlation between what they’ve eaten and how they’re feeling or behaving so they learn for themselves how various foods make them feel; let them decide for themselves between recipes made the traditional way with recipes made the Sneaky Chef way.
3. Can you share your favorite activity from this upcoming book (and why)?
Definitely “Halftime Show.” Every time a commercial comes on, press the mute button and ask your kids to give you a floor show‹sing, dance, or act out what just happened in the show they¹re watching. Say the words “Hannah Montana” and you won¹t have to do much prodding to get your grade schoolers and tweens to start singing and dancing! Younger kids might be big fans of the Power Rangers, for example, and like to imitate their moves. All you’ll need is a remote with a mute button!
