Getting children to eat more healthily and more mindfully is a complicated art. There are many obstacles. The most obvious is the need to make clean food appealing to kids. The less obvious is the need to educate them about the manipulative marketing behind their favorite ultra-processed snacks, which, according to food activist, author, and nutrition and public policy professor, Marion Nestle, is a huge issue. “The biggest barrier to feeding kids healthfully is food industry marketing to kids,” Nestle tells us. “For little kids, this is designed to get them to ask—pester—their parents to buy the products. For older kids who have their own money, it’s to get them to think the products are cool.”

The good news is that this challenge is not a lost cause. As Nestle divulges, it starts with modeling good behavior and empowering kids to think for themselves.

#1: Take a Closer Look

Taking the time to vet a label and go over each ingredient can help children understand what really is in their food. “I vote for teaching kids how to critically evaluate food media,” says Nestle. “Teach them to recognize marketing and how it works—and how to read food labels.”

#2: Be a Cooking Role Model

Kids can learn unparalleled life skills in the kitchen, including how they can be hands-on with their nutrition. As Nestle explains, “parents who cook can model how to do it and how much fun it is. You get to eat the results! Kids get to get their hands dirty, use knives, and do other fun things. Gardens help too—even radishes in pots make eating vegetables more fun.” Plus: “Kids who know how to cook will always be able to feed themselves deliciously and healthfully.”

#3: Advocate

It takes a village. This goes for raising kids and getting them to eat more healthily. Fighting manipulative marketing and the corporate food system will improve the chances of clean food and better education for all. A good way to begin, says Nestle, is to join or support an advocacy organization. “Advocacy begins with clear goals, clear targets (the people who can make change happen), and community support for the goals and methods.”

To learn more about Marion Nestle and her fight against the corporate food system, visit her site, Food Politics.