12 Tips to Encourage Healthy Eating

Jeanne Muchnick, a New York mother also known as America's Dinner Mom, offers the following advice to get your family eating healthier.


* Turn off the television while you eat.

* Start a "talk about it bowl," where you put items - anything from a magazine article to a recipe to a book - in a large container in the middle of the table and then pick from the container for a starter on what to discuss.

* Make meals fun and social. Start early and sit and eat with them so your toddlers begin learning that meals mean talking and sharing with friends and family as much as eating.

* Serve a variety of foods and encourage your young ones to try new things. At the first sign of finicky behavior, explain to your child that it is not healthy to eat the same foods all the time.

* Include your kids, even at the toddler stage, in every aspect of eating, from shopping to recipe planning to cooking and serving. Children are more likely to eat something they have been involved with. Kids love growing things, so take a page from First Lady Michelle Obama and start a vegetable garden, or at the least, grow some herbs on your windowsill.