Is sneaking healthy food to your picky eater a good idea?

My kids have a new game they call "The Sneaky Chef." My daughter starts the game by preparing something in her play kitchen. Say, wooden fish with a side of ice cream. My son "eats" the meal. Then my daughter says "Ha! I put blueberries in that fish and mashed avocado in your ice cream." Then they laugh and laugh. I get it. It's funny to create outlandish food combinations and then trick others into eating them.

But, it's also an increasingly popular technique for parents dealing with kids who refuse to eat certain foods. Two books on the topic, The Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious, are bestsellers this month. From Oprah to Amazon.com, from Chow.com to the New York Times, everyone is discussing which book is better--and if Deceptively Delicious (which came out 2nd and is written by Jerry Seinfeld's wife, Jessica Seinfeld) is just a rip off of the Sneaky Chef idea.

The media storm is all very interesting, but I am quite surprised that more people aren't asking a more to-the-point question: Is sneaky healthy food to your selective/picky eater a good idea?

It all depends on how it’s done! Here are some great pointers from Eleanor Taylor, a nurse, wellness consultant, and co-author of Feeding the Kids: The Flexible, No-Battles, Healthy Eating System for the Whole Family. According to Taylor, adding vegetables and fruits to other foods, even if they are cooked and pulverized, can add extra fiber, vitamins and nutrients. However, that doesn’t make every food-sneaking recipe healthy—and it doesn’t make misleading your children a good idea. Taylor suggests five ideas for adding veggies and fruits to the family diet in a healthy, honest way:

1. Tell the truth! Tricking kids into eating healthy food disguised as junk food will ingrain junk-food eating habits. Instead, allow kids to taste vegetable or fruit fortified foods, then explain that they are enjoying a healthier version of a favorite. That way your kids will learn that eating healthy foods—even vegetables—can be enjoyable.
2. Don’t make sneaky recipes your child’s only source of vegetables and fruit. Many popular stealthy recipes incorporate only a teaspoon or two of the added vegetable or fruit per serving—not enough to impact a child’s daily nutritional profile.
3. Serve vegetables and fruits undisguised at every meal and snack. Your kids might not eat them, but repeated exposure is the only proven method for increasing the number and type of foods a child eats.
4. Don’t assume that a recipe is healthy just because it contains some vegetables or fruit. A recipe that contains a bit of nutrition along with large amounts saturated fat, trans fat, refined (white) grains and sweeteners is a treat—not a health food.
5. Whether you sneak or not, help your family enjoy mealtime! Serve the kids, then let them decide what and how much to eat. Mealtime arguments will only result in associating healthy foods with unpleasantness.