 Okay, today we are talking about picky eaters and how you can help feed them healthy foods using a Vitamix. So the first thing that probably a nutritionist would tell you not to do, but most people do anyway, is to hide fruits and vegetables. You can hide lots of fruits and vegetables in smoothies and juices. That one's pretty obvious. Also in sauces, there's quite a bit you could blend up into a red sauce that a kid would not notice like zucchini. You can bake things into baked goods. You can make a banana bread and hide lots of other hidden vegetables in there. Same thing with batters like pancake batter. You can throw a lot of nuts and seeds in there and it still just tastes like pancakes. We actually have a black bean brownie that are two and three year old niece and nephew like and they have no idea that they're eating a bunch of black beans. Jokes on you. That's not nice. The next thing that you can do is work up to something. So you know that your picky eater probably likes sweet. That's a pretty common thing for a picky eater. They like the flavor of sweet. So you can start them off with something like the going green smoothie, which is mostly just green grapes and like a handful of spinach. It tastes like candy. It's delicious. It's probably healthier than a lot of the other things that they're eating, but they will like it and it tastes good. If they like that, you can start to slowly transition them to something a little less sweet. So like our Carolyn smoothie is mango and more greens. It's still very sweet. It's still very tasty, but less sweet than the going green. And then you can eventually transition into just our daily, everyday green juice, which is mostly greens and some apples and oranges to cut the flavor a little bit. Find some winners. You want some quick wins. There are things that your kid does like. Feed them those things. Try to add on to those things. There are a few recipes that we make that we hear from our followers that are good for picky eaters, one of which is our wild rice soup. It's got a good flavor profile that isn't too crazy, but it's chock full of healthy ingredients. And we hear a lot of feedback that picky eaters and non plant-based eaters really, really like this particular soup. Same thing with our cashew queso. It's delicious. It tastes like queso, but it's made with red peppers and nuts and all these things that you told your kid were in them. They wouldn't want to eat. Another one that's a winner is our PB and J smoothie. It tastes like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's very tasty. There's a lot of good nutrition in there, but it's sweet and salty and that's a great combo. Something that everyone will tell you with picky eaters is try, keep trying, try again, especially with children. You might have to try broccoli 57 times before they accept it and like it, but man on that 58th time when they asked for broccoli, you're going to feel like you really, really won the lottery. Dips are a magical tool. If you make a good, tasty, healthy dip, you got to have a vehicle to eat that dip with. So a carrot, celery, cucumber, whatever it is that your kid normally wouldn't put in their mouth. If it's being dipped into cashew queso or a hummus that they actually like, some picky eaters like hummus. That is something you should try if you have not, but use those vehicles with delicious dips to get the healthy vehicle into their mouth. Also our ranch. Lenny wanted me to say that so he can put a picture of our ranch right here. Make it look fun. If your picky eater is a child and not your spouse, making food look fun helps people, children eat it. So if you need to make your pancake breakfast into a seascape, fine, do it. Try it. It might work. Picky eating is not always about flavor. Sometimes it's about texture. Actually, oftentimes it's about texture. I know I'm like, Oh, make them a smoothie. And a lot of people watching this are like, my kid would never, ever, ever touch a smoothie. One trick is trying a straw. I know straws are a little taboo right now. You can get a metal reusable straw. You can try a paper straw, but straws sometimes work. Also, you can make a smoothie or a fruit juice and freeze it into a popsicle. And a popsicle has the same nutritional value as a smoothie or juice does, but a very, very different texture and might be something that they would accept. Same thing with the batters and stuff that we're saying to hide stuff in it. Maybe they don't like the banana bread, but maybe they do like that same batter poured into a pancake and baked in that way. Something we know would work on Lenny's dad is that the guy loves milkshakes, right? He's like, in his sixties, he loves milkshakes. Milkshakes are made with milk and ice cream and sugar and chocolate and whatever. I can make him a healthy version of a milkshake with protein powder. That's chocolate flavored almond milk and a frozen banana. And the guy would drink it like he would like it because it's the correct texture. It tastes and feels in his mouth like a milkshake. So if you can match the texture of something that they already like, that might be a trick that works for you. Something that's really important is that you show by example. If you want your kid to eat healthy foods, you have got to also eat those healthy foods and show them that that's what we do in this house. Sit down for dinner together if that works for your family, whatever it is. The other thing is don't try to sell healthy. Your kid doesn't care if it makes them healthy. Try to sell tasty. This is delicious. You're going to love this. It tastes like this. You've had this before and you love this. Google when they serve lunch at their headquarters, they put like a fun adjective at the beginning of each thing. So instead of just saying green beans, they say fiery green beans. And we have a nut butter that we make that's like peanut butter with those freeze dried bananas in it. And if I just said it's banana peanut butter, you wouldn't eat it, especially if you don't like bananas. But I call it monkey butter and now it's exciting. Have your picky eater help you. Sometimes if they are involved in the process of making the actual meal or helping you meal plan for the week, that is enough to get them to try something. If you say, oh, you made this. You were a helper. This is your choice was to put this in here. They're more willing to eat it. Same thing with a picky eater that's an adult. If you have them sit down and help you plan what you're going to make that week and you say, what are you willing to try this week? What's something that you might not hate? Hey, I know that you like pumpkin pie. Do you think you might be able to try sweet potato if I mash it up? Maybe. So that's something that you can have them help you in the process of. In the complete opposite vein, just don't tell them what's in stuff sometimes, right? So like they're helping you make it. They're obviously seeing the flax seeds going right into the blender. But if they're not watching, I'm about to dump a lot of flax seeds into this smoothie, right? So it kind of goes both ways. Have them help you put stuff in, watch it go in, be more willing to eat those things because you put it in. But also if you need to just put it in their hide it while they're not looking. The last point, and I think the most important point is that your picky eater does not need to like everything. You don't like everything. It is okay to not like the entire rainbow. Maybe they're not going to ever like beets. That's okay. Lots of people don't like beets. Maybe they're not ever going to like cilantro. That's a really polarizing flavor. Whatever. Just make sure that they have an arsenal of things that they are willing to eat, especially in their childhood, so that later in life they're more willing to feed themselves some healthy things. But remember that they do not need to like and try everything. Guys, if you like videos like this, hit that thumbs up. Subscribe to our channel if you haven't already. Tell us in the comments what you do with your picky eaters at home. I'm curious. And we'll see you in the next video. Thanks, guys.