I firmly believe that as a parent you have the right to do what it takes (within reason of course!) to get your kids to eat healthfully and lose weight (if that's needed), even if it means tricking them into doing so. Below are a few tips you can try to help you encourage your kids to add more fruits and veggies to their diets. 1. Let your kids use as much ketchup as they want. Hey, if it'll get them to eat their zucchini or peas, who cares. You may also want to try other sauces or dips, like low fat ranch or Italian dressings. 2. Cut up a bunch of vegetables really small, saut? them lightly in olive oil, and then add to a rich tomato sauce. You can then use the veggie tomato sauce in homemade pizza, use in a lasagna, or use as a base for meat sauce and add to a dish of pasta. Your kids probably won't notice the small bits of squash, zucchini, onion, carrot, and celery. 3. Make an "orange soup" made of sweet potato, squash, pumpkin, and carrots. You can add skim milk to make it a creamy soup. Call it orange soup rather than vegetable soup and you may just find some takers! 4. Make your own oatmeal. Instead of buying packets of instant oatmeal that's loaded with sugar, consider making your own. Just boil the oatmeal with some water and/or milk and then load it up with raisins, nuts, cut up apples, dried apricots, and a dash of cinnamon. If it's not sweet enough for your picky eater, add some unsweetened applesauce or some 100% jam. Remember, a healthy child is a happy child. So you're not REALLY tricking your kids into eating…you're tricking them into being happy!