Interview with Christine Coppa Nutrition Picky Eaters and Yoplait Kids

Nutrition and my kids are two things that are constantly on my mind. Feeding my kids nutritiously takes creativity and constant diligence to make sure that what they eat is healthy for them and healthy for me, my biggest influence over them is my example. Thanks to Yoplait Kids, I had the opportunity to interview Christine Coppa, Editor at Parenting.com, and we talked about challenges with feeding kids from picky eaters to big time snackers.

In the first question, I wanted to know why Christine Coppa was working with Yoplait kids. Christine is a very well known blogger, and expert at Parenting.com. She often talks about nutrition and taking care of her own 3 year old son. Having a lot in common with Christine, I felt connect to her responses and feel that feeding kids healthy options is easier than it sounds. Yoplait makes low fat yogurt the common choice with kids with fun Cars, Disney Princesses and Dora packaging. Christine is a good fit because she already feeds her kids Yoplait and eats it herself as well.

Christine’s number 1 snack tip is to let the kids be in the driver seat. By keeping healthy snacks at eye level kids can go in and grab their own snacks. Have little containers of baby carrots, cheese sticks, and cherry tomatoes. Leave them on the bottom shelf for kids to find and get themselves, also have an area in the pantry of healthy non perishable snacks for them to choose from.

Be creative with picky eaters. My kids are addicted to dipping. Try using yogurt as the veggie or fruit dip, making a healthy wholesome fun snack. Also, try creating a kabob, use a wooden skewer and put veggies and fruit on it. Let them help in the preparation and encourage them to dip those kabobs right into yogurt. If you have trouble like me, with kids that want to eat all the time. Christine suggests using a schedule and distraction to make them think about food less often. We all eat when we are bored and if they are constantly doing something they won’t think about food as often. Also, remember that your example is the biggest influence on your children. My kids eat salads, raw carrots, and lots of fruit because they see Andrew and I doing it too!

When you’re on the go, snacking can still be healthy, you just need to remember to think ahead. Keep non-perishable food in the car so you always have it. Remember to restock it and pack some yogurt in freezer bag. Or freeze the yogurt and grab it on your way out then it will be soft for you to eat later.

Thank you Yoplait and Christine for all of this wonderful advice. Remember, you can win some Yoplait Yogurt. I’m working with MyBLogSpark on behalf of Yoplait. Visit Yoplait on Facebook to "Like" the brand. Also, be sure to "Follow" Yoplait on Twitter to keep up with the latest news from Yoplait!