Hi everybody this is Monica Reinagal and you're listening to the nutrition

Diva quick and dirty tips for eating well and feeling fabulous and today I've got

some tips for moms everywhere who are trying to get their kids to be healthy eaters.

Kids are notoriously finicky, but it's not entirely their fault.

We humans are naturally inclined to dislike unfamiliar flavors. Why? Well, imagine for a moment that you have to forage for food in the wild rather than at the Safeway.

If you've eaten it before and lived to tell the tale,

the chances are good that it's not poisonous.

Eating some barrier mushroom you've never had before

is considerably riskier.

So if your kids wrinkle their noses at new foods,

it may just be a holdover from the old poisonous berry days.

One tip is to have a house rule that kids have to try a new food

on three different occasions before they're allowed to decide they don't like it.

Often as a food becomes more familiar, kids are less resistant to it.

And it also helps to introduce them to a wide variety of foods and flavors from an early age.

There's no reason that small children need to eat a bland diet.

Try adding a little curry powder to the tuna salad.

Toss a marugula into the macaroni and cheese, or try almond or cashew butter once in a while instead of peanut butter.

Kids who learn to appreciate, or at least least tolerate a wider palette of flavors will be less put

off by a vegetable or an herb with a strong or unfamiliar taste.

Now if your kids are already older, that particular ship may have sailed, but all is not lost.

There are still ways to get your kids to expand their repertoire to include, yes, even vegetables.

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