Since then I have learned a new approach, one that has helped me turn my family's diet completely around and make us healthier, happier people.

I began with one food at a time. Just one.

Focusing on one food at a time gives you greater success for making that new food a part of your life. Family members tend to panic when they see an entire plate of food they don't recognize. If only one item on the plate is different, the chances that they will actually give it a try are higher when that item is surrounded by "comfort foods."� Not only that, but you will waste less money buying tons of ingredients that no one will eat even if you figure out how to prepare them. One food at a time, that's all it takes.

Here are some tips for successfully introducing new foods to your family:

Start with the familiar

Choose a food you have seen in the grocery store or restaurants, but never tried. After all, it's easier to make friends with an acquaintance than a perfect stranger!

Search the Internet

Learn why a particular food can be good for you. Knowing the health benefits will make you more determined to add it to your diet.

Try more than one recipe

Look in cookbooks and on the Web for popular ways to prepare and eat a new food. Try it roasted, boiled, salty, sweet, fresh or cooked, part of a main dish, or even sprinkled on top of other foods. My whole life I thought I hated mushrooms - until I tried them fresh. I had only ever eaten canned mushrooms. Now I eat fresh mushrooms with everything.

Mix it with something your family knows

Add a little quinoa to rice, mix spaghetti squash with spaghetti noodles, put some spinach in with lettuce. The look and taste of the foods they recognize will make the new food seem less "scary."�

Be persistent

Many kids (and some adults, too) need to be introduced to a new food at least three times before they will try it. Give them the chance to get used to how it looks on their plate, how it tastes, and after a little while they might try it without even realizing it.

After three years of focusing on one food at a time, dinners at my house look more like I had wanted them to the day I picked up that cookbook. We enjoy the new foods we eat, and more importantly we understand the good they are doing for our bodies. My kids are more willing to try new foods the first time they are offered and are less intimidated by unfamiliar foods.

Help your family eat healthier by introducing just one new food at a time. Learn to prepare it in more than one way, mix it in with other known foods, and be persistent in your efforts. Better health does not begin with great leaps, but with one small step at a time.

The post 5 tips to help your family eat healthier appeared first on FamilyToday.

"What are you making?"� He points at the patty in my hand.

"Turkey burgers."� I give him my biggest, bravest smile, because I know what's coming next.

"Well, don't make any for me. I hate ground turkey."�

Here we go again.

"Pop, these burgers taste just like hamburgers. Plus they're healthy for you. You're not even going to try them?"�

"No. Hamburgers taste like hamburgers. These don't."�

I wouldn't admit it the day of our conversation, but my dad is right. Turkey burgers don't taste like hamburgers. Turkey meat is softer and less fattening, delicious when seasoned with peppers, garlic and onion, but it is not ground beef.

I wondered for many years why my father refused to eat ground turkey when it tastes so good. No matter how it was prepared, he wanted nothing to do with it. Finally I realized why. He doesn't hate ground turkey, he hates that everyone keeps trying to pass it off as ground beef.

I feel the same way about chocolate and carob. A friend once passed me a piece of something that looked like amazing fudge. "Try it,"� she said. "It's just like chocolate."� I popped the whole thing in my mouth, chewed once, and then tried very hard not to make faces while I swallowed. It tasted nothing like chocolate. Not to me, anyway.

There is a reason healthy food does not taste like junk food. Without unhealthy fats and sugars, carob will never taste like chocolate, and turkey will never taste like beef. That doesn't mean that these things can't be delicious in their own way.

When we preface a healthy food with the words "It tastes just like"�"� we set the person up for a psychological expectation of what they are about to taste. When the expectation isn't met, disappointment can turn into an idea of "I tried that and didn't like it."� Here are some ideas for presenting healthier versions of foods to your family in a way that will satisfy, rather than disappoint:

Find fresh recipes

Look for delicious new recipes for the new foods you are using. If you are substituting turkey for beef in a burger, find a great new recipe with unique seasonings. That way no one will be expecting the meal to taste "the same"� as other burgers you've made.

Never say "It tastes just like..."�

Just because you made a Chia seed pudding with chocolate in it does not mean it tastes just like chocolate pudding. People don't like to feel that they're being tricked into eating something they're not familiar with.

Let them see you enjoy it

Make yourself a turkey burger, or some chia seed pudding, or carob fudge and eat it. Savor it. Don't try to force it on anyone else, just enjoy it. Chances are, curiosity will get the best of everyone watching you relish your "special treat"� and they'll start asking for bites. And if you don't say, "It tastes just like"�"� they'll probably like it too.

The post How to get picky eaters to try new foods appeared first on FamilyToday.