How to get kids to eat healthy!

It's no secret that for the longest time we had an extremely picky eater on our hands. Savannah wouldn't just not want fruits and veggies, she actually gagged (a few times to the point of throwing up) when she ate them. We were obviously frustrated with her eating and we weren't  really sure what to do to change her habits. 

✴️First thing we had to do to set her on the right path was to examine our own eating habits. Which, shamefully weren't any better. How could we expect to teach her that she needed healthy foods when she didn't see us eating them also? So that was the first step we took, change our habits too! We made heathy clean foods, sat at the table as a family and showed her that we also ate these foods. Not because we "had" to but because we enjoyed them!

✴️ Second thing we did was cleaned out the our kitchen! You don't keep junk in the house it isn't an option to eat it! Out with the "kids" foods, out with the boxed processed foods and in the lots of fresh fruits and veggies. For example, we stopped buying the kids Yogurt and started buying her vanilla Greek yogurt (which she loves)

✴️ Third thing we did was stop making healthy foods an option. Did she prefer hot dogs to chicken breasts? Yep, but we stopped giving her the option of hot dogs so she had no choice but to eat the chicken. If a veggie is cooked into a meal she doesn't want in it, we make it anyway. Eating healthy foods is non negotiable. Eventually when you stop making it an option not to eat it, your taste buds grow to like it. Which hers have. She loves mashed cauliflower now compared to when I first started making it when she hated it. 

✴️ Fourth thing we did was stopped making her a separate meal. If we were making chilli for dinner that night that's what she was going to be eating too! We fell into a bad habit of making her a "kids" meal while we are a regular meal. That stopped. She was no longer offered a different meal option, she was given what we were cooking for dinner. 

After a week or so we started to see what Savannah seemed to like and not like. Once we got a good grasp on what she didn't like it made it easier to plan meals. 

Do we allow her the occasional treat? Of course! It's not daily and we have stopped using food treats as a "prize". Instead of "if you do such and such we will get you a candy bar" it's now more so "if you do such and such we will go to dollar tree and pick out a toy/game/puzzle/book etc". 

This is what worked for us. It did not happen overnight. It took several weeks of consistency to start seeing a change in her eating habits but, we eventually did.  I know all kids are different so share what has worked for you! Do you have a picky eater on your hands? How did you get them to start eating better?