How to Please Everyone's Appetite and Be Heatlhy?

You will NEVER please everyone, and not everything you make will be perfectly healthy.
Once you accept these as facts of life you will be a much happier cook!
As far as the three year old goes, they are notoriously picky at that age. Just keep offering healthy choices and she will either eat or not, she will not starve. Kids go through phases with food, all the way through their teen years. A year from now she may be eating like a horse, don't stress over it.
And your husband? Well, he is a grown man, you likely won't be changing his tastes or habits. I would occasionally make burgers or hot dogs for dinner but keep the menu for the most part as you see fit. After all, it's your job to feed the family, you are the one doing the shopping and cooking so you are in charge of the menu.
In my house, if the husband or kids don't like what's being served they are welcome to make themselves something else, but I only make ONE meal, period :)

All I can tell you is do NOT make 3 different meals.
make what you make, keeping everyone's intense DISlikes in mind.
Your husband will live. Not every day can be a "favorite food" day, right? You can factor in a burger night (you & daughter can have a Gardenburger!) ever week. But you can't eat burgers and dogs every night, right?

Homemade soups are really good to have also--lunch, dinner, snack and HEALTHY because you control what you put in. Organic veggies, meat, pasta, etc.

As for your daughter, now more than ever, she should eat what you make! Otherwise you'll end up with "that kid" who only eats nuggets, pizza and PB&J's!

My 8 yo eats every food on this planet (literally--except cream cheese--go figure!) and I really believe it's because I've never done that "separate kid meal" thing in our house. He's always eaten what we were eating.

Good luck!

H.W.

I agree with the other posts and want to add the following thought.

How can you teach your children to eat healthy foods? By serving those foods at breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. By teaching them how to cook - start with making a salad. Three-year-olds love to tear up the lettuce or spinach into smaller pieces and they can break bell pepper slices into bite-size pieces.

Children will learn to love the foods you serve, especially if you frequently talk about how good foods make their bodies feel good and have lots of energy. Bad foods make your body feel good for a short period of time and then feel bad later.

Our 9 year old enjoys helping make our dinners. He also loves getting into any candy we have in the house, but he enjoys eating fruit, vegetables, and a wide variety of grains. He also loves going out to new restaurants and trying new dishes. I am confident when he grows up into an adult he will have a good foundation for healthy eating habits.

Before you start making drastic changes to the family meal plans you may want to talk with your husband first. It would help to have him on board, show your children that even he eats things he doesn't like and then later makes himself a hotdog or hamburger after they go to bed. Even if he isn't on board with the idea you are the cook for the household, if he doesn't like what you make, then he can make something else for himself.

Be aware, that if he chooses the second option you may struggle at bit more with your children because they will see one parent eating healthy and another parent eating junk food. This is a conversation you and your husband may have to address every year or so to talk about how you want to adjust the family's approach to healthy eating.

Good luck and I applaud your effort to feed yourself and your children healthy meals. It will make all the difference in the world as they grow up.

C. J.

We put things on the table and then people make a meal of it. Sauces are separate. DD will eat noodles without sauce and DH and I add sauce. My stepson won't eat peas, so he always has the option for salad.

If your husband is a hot dog and hamburger guy then maybe he needs to have a physical and see what his diet is doing to him (sodium, fat, etc.). But for tonight, try to enlist him. Say that you would like him to help you help your children by at least trying new things. Eat a carrot. I dislike sweetened carrots, but I like them with butter or raw. Sometimes the way to get someone to eat a veg is to offer it different ways. We also teach DD (who is also 3) that she can put something aside, but she must try food and can say, "No, thank you." No good dinner = no snack or treat later. If your DH is really opposed to a meal you make, he can cook or make PB and J. It doesn't need to be on you.

Can you get your hubby and daughter involved in planning, shopping and cooking? That might help. Showing them the govt's new pie-shaped guidelines might be useful. Maybe you could copy and post it.

This is difficult! My dad is like this and my mom stresses over it too much. I tell her to cook healthy and let my dad scrounge for something else if he doesn't like the food. My dad does this any wau or goes out to eat instead. He won't change (even though he knows better - he's a physician and has high blood pressure, diabetes and is overweight) and you can't force it.

I'd suggest you cook lots of good veggies and let hubby eat a hotdog or hamburger with the meal. You can control what your kids eat for a while but not your husband.

Best wishes!

I started making changes and I just don't tell my husband. 95% of the time, he can't tell the difference in the healthy version of something vs. the regular.
Ex: I buy whole grain pasta and bread. He doens't notice.

You could try soy or turkey to swap out hamburgers. Soy, especially, can truly taste like the real thing. Looks like it too.

In other words, cook your same recipes, just alter the stuff you're putting in there.
www.hungrygirl.com has some good options to swap out ingredients for healthier versions.