Healthy eating does not just apply to vegetarians, patients on strict diets and bodybuilders. Each of us should take healthy eating into consideration, as it makes you live a more fruitful and longer life. In preparing meals for picky eaters, a balanced meal may be out of the question. However, if you're resourceful and creative enough, there are many ways to please even the pickiest of picky eaters in the household.

In preparing meals, the single rule of thumb is to follow the U.S Department of Agriculture's recommendation--one's daily diet should constitute 40 percent of carbohydrates, 30 percent from fats and other 30 percent from lean proteins. It may sound difficult to do, but once you get the hang of it, you'll be able to fix healthy meals as easy as you can order take out. Find out how you can achieve this below.

Since breakfast is the most important meal of the day, encourage picky eaters in the family to chow on something hot for breakfast every day. You can whip up on instant oatmeal and top it off with sliced bananas or mangoes. This can be paired off with almond, soy or cow's milk and if possible, protein powder shakes. To make it more presentable, you can place it in tight-fitting plastic cups that can be brought to the office or school.

Keep an assortment of single servings of fruits and vegetables in the refrigerator. By cutting them into single-serving portions, it will be more attractive and appealing to picky eaters in the household. By having them in ready-to-eat pieces, they can also serve as side meal dishes when they don't want vegetables to be directly mixed into the food you prepare for them.

Here are some examples of veggies and fruits that you might want to keep on hand: carrot and celery sticks with bleu cheese dressing, a cup of fruit salad, a piece of sweet potato, a cup of any form of berries topped with whipped cream and tomato slices stuffed with chicken or tuna fish salad. A cup of natural fruit yogurt and pre-packaged fruits packed in water or natural juice will do, too.

Whole grains should always be a part of a healthy meal. There are already a lot of food and meal ingredients in the market that offer whole grain varieties; you won't have problems sneaking them into the meals of picky eaters in the family.

For spaghetti and baked ziti meals, you can use white whole grain pasta instead of the usual pasta you use. Whole grain pasta has the same texture as the regular kind, but it has more fiber content. And, you can even treat the entire family to pizza and trick kids into thinking that they're eating pizza for dinner. Use whole grain or whole wheat flour for your dough and top it off with natural tomato sauce and low fat mozzarella cheese. Whole wheat bagels with tasty peanut butter will also do the trick.