The following is a guest post from  New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Barry Sears who recently reached out to me with ideas to help our community feed their little ones better. 

Our little ones work hard – feed them right from the start.

Small kids are incredibly picky eaters. More importantly, they quickly develop dietary patterns that are difficult to change later in life. This is why parents often have to use “stealth nutrition” to get their kids to eat correctly.

First of all, what do kids need to eat? It’s adequate protein, colorful carbohydrates and healthy monounsaturated fats.

The easiest way to achieve all three to make a shake consisting of fruit, some isolated whey or soy protein, and monounsaturated fat that can easily be consumed from a typical drinking cup. Unsweetened almond milk can provide the right type of monounsaturated fat, throw in some colorful berries, and little protein powder and put them into a blender to make a low viscosity shake you can put in child’s drink cup. This is a guaranteed winner for even the fussiest eater.

Getting vegetables in their diet is just as easy; make a puree of various vegetables as a side dish to the shake. If that is too difficult, try a mixture of applesauce and with jars of vegetables found in the baby food aisle of the market. Once your child realizes these ingredients aren’t too bad, then add small amounts of cut up solid colorful carbohydrates (fruits and vegetables) as a side dish to the shake.

Just minimize the white things (cereal, bread, pasta, rice, and potatoes) that your child eats early in life. Your child’s dietary habits will be all the better in the future.

Sure it may take a little more work on your part initially, but you are setting the dietary patterns very early in life that will make your job as a parent a lot easier in the future.

About Dr Sears:

Dr Sears

Dr. Barry Sears is the creator of the Zone Diet and the author of The New York Times bestseller, Enter The Zone. He is a leading authority on the dietary control of hormonal response and develops innovative approaches to help treat and reverse silent inflammation, the leading cause behind cardiovascular disease and Type-2 diabetes. A former research scientist at the Boston University School of Medicine and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dr. Sears has dedicated his research efforts over the past 30 years to the study of lipids. He holds 13 U.S. Patents in the areas of intravenous drug delivery systems and hormonal regulation for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.