As a mom of four—with a fifth on the way!—Hilaria Baldwin knows a thing or two about troubleshooting the habits of picky eaters. After all, as any parent can attest, food preferences can change daily, making it tricky to constantly reinvent the wheel in a way that pleases your son’s or daughter’s palate.
Baldwin—who says her son Rafael, 4, was always the pickiest of the bunch—is the first to admit that mistakes were made as she tried to amend his eating habits. “I used to fall into the routine of only serving the same three foods—the ones I knew he would eat.”
Now, instead of only offering the greatest hits, Baldwin says she’s all about mixing it up with healthy options. “You have to pick your battles, but we give our kids tofu, whole grain cereal, nuts, plantains, green smoothies, pancakes with veggies—we just keep trying new things. On a recent episode of Mom Brain [Hilaria’s podcast about parenting], we had an expert on picky eating on. One of the many great tips she shared was that you have to serve your kids something 15 or 16 times so they keep seeing it on their plate and don’t think it’s unusual.”
And for the days when Baldwin is totally on the go, she has a crowd-pleasing plan. “A lot of times the kids have activities and we can’t always make their mealtimes happen exactly on time,” she says. “For those moments, Health Warrior bars are the perfect grab ‘n’ go. My kids especially love the chocolate peanut butter bar. I love it because there are, like, two chocolate chips in there. The nutritional value is so good. It gives me peace of mind because I know the ingredients are good for my kids.”
