Viral nutrition hack shows toddler chomping on fresh veggies like they’re chips

When it comes to feeding our children—especially if you have a picky eater—most of us strive to feed them healthy food, even if their food pyramid looks a bit inverted at times or their meals consist of a Happy Meal more often than we’d like to admit. And sometimes, feeding our kids needs a bit of an assist–even if it comes from Elsa or the latest Paw Patrol pup.

In a recent Instagram post, certified nutrition and life coach Levi Jensen shared a hack that just might be the greatest idea to help your kids eat those fruits and veggies that often find themselves overlooked in the fridge. In the video, Jensen is shown putting well-known character stickers on various fresh produce, and in no time at all, his young daughter has excitedly selected a red pepper donned with an Elsa sticker. She doesn’t hesitate to take a big bite.

While recent research has been mixed on the impact of character marketing on children’s food choices, if a likeness of their favorite character helps them eat a bit healthier or make mealtimes go a bit more swimmingly, we can’t help but rejoice.

Comments on the video shared that same sentiment.

“Not even joking, I put Elsa stickers on the yoghurts they didn’t want and all of a sudden my kids wanted them,” said one user.

Another user commented, “That’s such a good idea cause when I was kid I would pick the bananas with the Disney stickers over the ones with regular produce stickers.”

While picky eating can often be a right of passage, there are ways to combat it and help your child’s taste buds evolve. In a 2020 article in Pediatrics, researchers shared that picky eating can often start early and can be greatly impacted by the temperament of the child, along with how strict the parents are on enforcing their child to eat what is in front of them. Instead, Kids Eat in Color offers these suggestions:

• Have open and closed hours for the kitchen
• Don’t pressure your kids to eat and be comfortable with letting them eat when they’re ready.
• Let them help prep for mealtimes in an age-appropriate way, whether that’s washing fruits and vegetables or helping cook them.
• Keep serving the foods–even if they don’t like them! You can change the way the food is served or made, but don’t remove it from the meal line-up just because they don’t care for it.
• Let them use fun utensils or plates to encourage eating
• Sit as a family
• Teach them what foods do for our body and be a model of how to eat. This will help them have a healthy relationship with food in the years to come.

Feeding our kids can often feel like an uphill battle when they’d prefer their diet only be chicken nuggets and mac ‘n’ cheese, but by forming a healthy relationship with food, we’re setting them up for success in the growing years ahead. And hey, if a sticker or two is needed to help set them on a path to less picky eating, we support you 110%.