Parents – raise your hand if you feel my pain. Serving up healthy, nutritious, well-balanced meals for our families each day is one thing. Not having said meals brutally rejected by at least one member of the family is an entirely different thing! But what can you do to ensure your kids are eating enough wholegrains?
Supercharged Staples
Making a simple switch when it comes to your pantry staples can help you make big inroads in incorporating more wholegrains into your family’s diet. It’s pretty straightforward – rather than reaching for white pasta, bread and rice at the supermarket, instead select wholemeal pasta. Choose a wholemeal, or even better, wholegrain loaf of bread. When it comes to rice, there’s plenty of different choices these days – something as simple as a brown rice, or maybe you try red or black rice? You could even experiment with the rice and grain pre-packaged combinations which are increasingly popular these days.
Better Baking
If you’re baking up a storm these days, why not use a wholemeal flour rather than a refined, white flour. Wholegrain flour retains more of the nutritional properties of the wholegrain that it was milled from. There are a myriad of different grain flours that are widely available in supermarkets these days – from a standard wholemeal flour, to buckwheat flour and quinoa flour. If you’re feeling super confident, perhaps you could even try out the increasingly popular green banana flour – or shock horror – cricket flour. Yes, you read that right. If you give the cricket flour a go, be sure to let us know!
Perfect Pairings
As the weather becomes colder and the days become shorter, it’s only natural to start to crave warming soups and stews. These types of meals lend themselves exceptionally well to including wholegrains – not only to giving them added bulk (and by default, stretching your dollar further) but also adding important vitamins and nutrients for a truly feel good meal. Adding wholegrains to your dinners is a fool-proof, budget savvy way to add wholegrains to your family’s menu. Bonus points if you sneak the wholegrains onto your kids’ dinner plates without them noticing!
Smarter Snacking
If your looking to introduce some smarter snack options to your family’s day – look no further. There are so many options when it comes to wholegrain based snacks, that you’re sure to find something that suits each family members palette. Perhaps you mix it up – one day could include wholegrain crackers and hummus, with the next being made-at-home popcorn (just go easy on the butter and salt). If you’re out on the go, a simple wholegrain muesli bar is the perfect companion to keep you powering through a busy day.
Do you have a secret strategy to get more wholegrains onto your kid’s plate? Or a wholegrain family favourite recipe? Share your tips with us via our Facebook page.
Intended as general advice only. Please consult your health care provider to discuss any specific concerns.
Original post: https://thehealthygrain.com/how-to-get-your-kids-to-happily-eat-wholegrains/