Tips to encourage your children to eat more fruit

Struggling to get to your child to eat more fruit? Here are easy tips to make sure your child is getting enough nutrients and fiber.

Let your child pick out the fruit when grocery shopping. Children are more likely to try something new if they choose it themselves.

Try packing the fruit in an interesting way. Sliced and packed in a cute container makes fruit look more appealing.

Children are more likely to try a new fruit when it's with something they already enjoy.

"It's a good idea to mix it up. Especially if kids like one fruit over another, combine bananas with blueberries or apples with pears," Consumer Reports nutrition expert Ellen Klosz said.

Use the fruit you have to make a fresh smoothie with low-fat milk, fat-free milk or plain yogurt.

Klosz said that smoothies are better than drinking fruit juices because you get the fiber that's in the fruit.

A good rule is "fruit first." Before allowing candy, chips or other unhealthy snacks, urge them to have some fruit first. Chances are the urge for the first snack will most likely subside.

"If you put out some clementines or some cut up peaches, they'll gobble those up and they'll forget about anything else," Klosz said.

Perhaps the most important way to get more fruit in your child's diet is by setting the example yourself.