In a segment of the Fox KTVU Morning Show, host Reena Vokoun, founder of the Bay Area health and wellness brand PassionFit, shares practical advice for families seeking to build healthy eating habits for children. She emphasizes the importance of texture—favoring crunchy fruits and vegetables like apples, grapes, broccoli, and carrots—to appeal to picky eaters. Vokoun stresses parental role‑modeling, encouraging parents to eat the same foods they want their kids to try. She advocates involving children in meal planning and cooking, noting that hands‑on experience (e.g., mixing eggs) increases willingness to eat. The conversation covers healthier versions of kid‑favorite meals, such as turkey burgers on whole‑wheat buns, baked sweet‑potato fries, and whole‑grain pasta with ground turkey. Vokoun promotes moderation of sugary beverages, recommending water and milk as staples while allowing occasional juice or soda treats, and she discusses strategies for busy, single‑parent households to make healthier choices at drive‑thrus. The segment also touches on the chocolate‑milk debate, suggesting limited, occasional consumption rather than outright bans. Finally, she advises a balanced approach—introducing treats in small amounts early on—to prevent over‑restriction and future binge‑eating in college. The tone is conversational, supportive, and pragmatic, aimed at empowering parents with actionable tips.
Chapters
Alright, coming up next on Mornings on 2The9, creating healthy eating habits. I'm all ears on this one. We're gonna be joined by the founder of a health and fitness lifestyle company on ideas for healthy eating for your family.
Can't wait.
We had pigs in a blanket last night. I'm guessing that's not—
No, not on the list.
Not on the list. Alright, now that school is back in session, we're talking about creating healthy meals and after-school snacks.
So happy to be joined this morning by Reena Vokoun, founder of a Bay Area health, wellness, and fitness lifestyle company called PassionFit.
And Reena, what can you tell us about healthy eating habits for kids? Because my kids get stuck on certain things. How do I get them to try new things?
Yes, that's a great question. So that's what we're going to talk about today, are healthy meal and snack ideas for even your fussiest kids. I'm a mom and wife. I've got fussy eating kids as well. So let's start with the first thing, vegetables and fruits, right? Those are things that every kid needs in their nutrition plan, and texture Texture is a very important part of that. So if you stick to crunchy textures, most kids are going to be more inclined to eat than the mushier cooked vegetables.
Like squash.
Love it.
Exactly. So this is a great starter example here of broccoli, which is high in nutrients, tomatoes, cauliflower, celery, carrots. Fruits usually kids like, but again, the crunchier fruits like the apples and grapes really work well.
Leading by example too, because sometimes my children say, "Well, Dad doesn't eat vegetables." Which I don't.
A lot.
I know.
I get it.
But Dad doesn't have to do it, so I guess as a parent, In turn, you do have to dive in as well.
Exactly, set a good role model for the kids. Exactly.
I know a lot of us, um, there was no greater fulfillment in my life until I had a baby and then I put everything in the Cuisinart and I mashed it and then I just scooped it into his little mouth. And sometimes they would reject, they rejected peas. I kept trying because you can't quit after just one or two rejections, right?
Right, right. You have to keep trying and keep introducing it, and with raw fruits and vegetables, you can put it on the side of most meals, so it's easy for the parents, and hopefully the kids will start to pick it up. Pick up the habit.
I let my kids cook some meals. For example, they didn't like eggs. Oh, good! So I let my daughter mix it up. Oh, good. And then, you know, I'm standing there with her at the stove, and once she saw it made, she wanted to eat it.
Uh-huh.
And now, so is that, you know, can that be applied to a lot of foods?
Absolutely. I love that you're encouraging your kids to be part of the meal planning. These are some great examples of healthy versions of meals kids typically like. Burgers and fries, spaghetti and meatballs. But what we have here is turkey burgers with whole wheat buns, sweet potato fries which are high in potassium that you can just bake in the oven. You've got whole grain ground— excuse me, ground turkey meat with whole grain pasta. So these again are foods that kids typically like but a healthier take on them.
And I always, you know, when you eat you have to wash it down, right? And so that's another debate in my house.
What do you wash it down with, Dad?
Well, sometimes lemonade. Oh no, no, no, no, no. Do you still think milk and water is the essentials? And why can't we have a little lemonade every now and then?
Exactly. I'm all about moderation. I always tell my kids at birthday parties it's fine to have a little bit of juice, but when we're talking about ongoing sodas and juices and sugary sports drinks, that contains empty calories and lots of sugar. So if you could stick to milk and water normally, but then give them those treats every once in a while, it's a good way to go.
When we were first-time parents, we did introduce apple juice cut 50/50 with water when our first one was maybe like 2 years and then I found myself, you know, if you say, do you want milk or juice? Well, of course they want juice. And so I said, you know what, from now on, no more juice. I stopped buying it, and if it's not in the house, they can't even ask for it. So it wasn't a prolonged battle like I thought it was going to be.
Yes, I love that. Yep, we don't— my husband and I agree, we do not keep juices and sugary snacks in the house, but we get them outside the house for special occasions.
And why do kids crave sugar? I mean, I don't think we've got—
It's delicious. That's why. It makes you feel good.
That's right.
We didn't really inter— I mean, just a little bit, I guess. Once they try it, it's the end, right? Because they just want it all the time.
You know, kids do have a natural inclination for sugar, but I think if you teach them moderation early in life, these are lifelong habits they can take with them. It'll help them avoid obesity and other health problems later in life because it's affecting 1 in 5 school-age children these days.
What do you say to parents, you know, a lot of children are being raised by maybe a single parent.
Yes.
And that single parent is working 2 jobs.
Yeah.
And doesn't have the time. Or as that feels like, you know, I'm tired at the end of the day, here you go.
Let's go to a drive-thru.
What advice would you give them to try to get that nutrition in their children?
Yeah, I think even if you do have to eat out occasionally or maybe go through a drive-thru, you could probably find healthier options. Just knowing, is the meat cooked in a fresh way? Are there vegetables being served? Can you cut down the sugar by the portion sizes? So I think that there are ways to still incorporate healthy eating even if you don't have a lot of time. It's just teaching them the principles early on.
Where do you fall on chocolate milk and elementary school. San Francisco just banned it in elementary. We had a raging discussion here that continues to this day. What are your thoughts on that?
It's a great question. It's funny you ask because I would have chocolate milk in elementary school back in the day because I didn't like plain milk, but I think again moderation is the key and you don't want to introduce so much sugar where then the kids can't concentrate during the school day, but maybe having it for special Fridays or something like that or during the holidays they can have it.
Because milk has the nutrients and the vitamins and the deli— the good, but it's also a ton of sugar. So, okay.
I've always wondered, you know how kids get conditioned to pizza or some special food as a treat?
Yes.
What's to keep them when they go away to college from eating that all the time?
Right, and I think that's where the balance is important. If you completely restrict, restrict them from everything when they're younger, they're gonna go binge when they get to college, right? But if you introduce it in little amounts and just let them know, hey, you can have this but just not all the time, hopefully that they'll take that with them to college.
So we have pizza every Saturday night?
There you go.
Is that okay?
Can I come over?
Can we all come over?
I'll bring some chocolate dip. It's just moms working and dads enjoying, so we're having pizza.
No, but it's a special thing. It's a family, like, it's not every— it's not Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
Exactly. I think that's perfectly normal and healthy.
Thank you, Reena.
You have my seal of approval. Good. The Reena Vokoun seal of approval. PassionFit, thank you so much for joining us.
Thank you for having me.
We have some exciting news about what's happening behind the scenes here on The Nine. We're going to share that with you in just a minute. Now more vegetables. We'll be right back.
