#Recipes: Healthy Tips and Recipes for Families from Ellen Briggs of Family Food Experts & Kid Critics #WorldHealthDay

As a mom of 4 I know all about picky eaters! I totally get the time, effort, dedication and enormous amount of patience it takes to get kids to eat a variety of healthy foods. While I sometimes "sneak" healthy foods into our meals I much prefer to have fruits and vegetables openly visible on our plates so that my children can recognize them and eventually, hopefully have a better appreciation and knowledge about what healthy foods are. We are trying to raise health minded adults after all.

So when I was contacted by Ellen Briggs, founder of Family Food Experts and author of several books geared towards families eating and being healthy I was excited to share some of the fun ideas and great tips with all of you. For instance, we all know that smell has a lot to do with how we perceive and even taste foods but did you know that you can easily remove the strong odors that many sulfuric veggies naturally have?

How to REDUCE NASTY SULFUR SMELLS: Do your kids run away every time you cook broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage or brussel sprouts? Reduce their offensive odors by adding a piece of stale bread or 2 celery stalks in the cooking water.

I'm loving all of the really simple recipes, tips and games on the Family Food Experts and Kid Critics website, I hope you will add them to your reading list!

Here are 5 tips inspired by the Fuel Your Dreams^{^TM}program to help families with small children to choose and eat healthier foods.

Teach your kids about the connection between what they eat and drink and what happens inside their bodies. Once they learn that 100 billion neurons in their brain send thousands of messages so they can run fast, they are totally motivated to eat avocados and sweet potatoes so they can be the best they can be. Kids will eat healthy foods that taste good.

Don’t make broccoli a 4-letter word. Find ways to include fruits and vegetables in creative and varied ways, and your kids will love to experiment and add it to their menu.

Be transparent with your kids – they’re too smart. Rather than hiding, pureeing, masking vegetables, if you prepare and present them properly, kids will embrace vegetables and create healthy, lifelong habits.

You become what you eat and drink. However, kids need a reason to eat healthy food beyond “your mom said so.” So, for example, if a kid wants to be an NFL football player (a popular choice among boys) or a veterinarian (the number one pick among girls surveyed), educate them on what specific foods can “fuel their body for success.”

Don’t “dumb it down.” Kids are critical thinkers (love to ask and understand the “why”); they love to vote (power); and they appreciate being heard. Further, kids are egocentric, focused primarily on their own desires. Once kids understand WHY nutrition fuels success, they will crave it.

The Family Food Experts^TM team is dedicated to providing healthier food solutions that kids love to eat so they can become the best they can be. The team developed the Kid Kritics Approved^TMSeal as a way to make food purchasing and meal preparation easier for families by identifying foods that are “kid approved” that also pass firm ingredient standards.

Fuel Your Dreams^TM uses a variety of educational and online tools to motivate kids to want to eat healthier so they can optimize their potential, and empowers parents to understand that kids will eat healthy foods as long as they taste good.

Founder Ellen Briggs authored “Are Your Kids Running on Empty?” and “Mom, I’m Hungry. What’s for Dinner?” Briggs hosts the "Family Food Experts TM Kitchen" radio show, and along with co-host Carolina Lima Jantac, MS, RD, LD, and Manager of Healthier Recipe Moms, hosts “Better Food Choices,” both found on iHeartRadio. Briggshas been featured on Fox and Friends and on NBC, CBS, PBS, FOX, and more.

Some of my favorite recipes that get kids to eat their veggies:

Bubble and Squeak has yummy brussel sprouts, potatoes and cheese, yum!