By Cheryl Tallman
Encouraging healthy eating is about balance – even when it comes to taste. Here are a few tips that can help you expand or improve the balance in your child’s taste buds.
Experiment with Tastes: Allow your child to experience and identify the four unique tastes that make up flavor – sweet, salty, sour, bitter. Taste small amounts of different ingredients to identify which taste category they belong to. This can be a fun kitchen activity when preparing dinner!
Stay Balanced: Good taste is a balancing act. Include a variety of tastes in your meals and encourage your child to try all foods. Experiencing the same tastes all the time is not a path to healthy eating.
Ask Them and Talk About It: When you hear “that’s yummy!” or “Yuck – that’s terrible!” – ask which flavor is best or bothering. The more you understand your child’s taste preferences the easier to guide (and expand) their food choices.
Sweet Tendency: Both breast milk and formula are sweet. It is the first taste we develop and as a result we’re already ”off balance” when we begin eating foods. It is believed the earlier you introduce your child to other tastes, the better chance you have of keeping a “sweet tooth” from overpowering the taste buds.
About the author: Cheryl Tallman is the co-founder of Fresh Baby, creators of the award-winning So Easy Baby Food Kit, and author of the So Easy Baby Food Basics: Homemade Baby Food in Less Than 30 Minutes Per Week and So Easy Toddler Food: Survival Tips and Simple Recipes for the Toddler Years. Visit Cheryl online at www.FreshBaby.com for more delicious tips.
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