How Shawn Johnson Gets "Picky" Daughter Drew, 5, to Eat Healthy

Shawn Johnson East Gets Tattoo Tribute For All 3 Kids!

Like most parents, Shawn Johnson East doesn't always stick the landing when it comes to her kids' meals. 

"I have the most extreme of both worlds," the Olympic gymnast admitted in an exclusive interview with E! News. In 5-year-old daughter Drew, "I have the very, very picky," she explained. And in 3-year-old son Jett, "I have the kid who eats wasabi, so trying to introduce news things and get them to eat healthy is very difficult." 

So she's developed a few patented moves for dinners at the Nashville home she shares with husband Andrew East. 

For starters, they removed the oversized TV from their open floorplan living room-slash-kitchen after noticing "it was very distracting at dinner time." 

Now, "I'd say five or six times a week, we are sitting down at the table together as a family eating dinner," she said of Andrew and kids Drew, Jett and 13-month-old Bear. "And, yes, there is kicking and screaming. Our kids will sit for five minutes. It's not, you know, out of a movie." 

And, yes, Drew's go-to pasta is featured quite regularly. 

"My daughter doesn't like meat of any kind," Shawn noted. "We don't do steak, we don't do chicken. I can get her to eat some fish, but protein is really hard. So she's the one that sparked this whole journey." 

Which means some of the credit for Beam's new Kids All-in-One Superpowder goes to the preschooler.

After years of piecemealing together vitamins, probiotics and other nutrients for her brood, Shawn floated the idea for a kid-focused greens powder to the brand's co-founder Matt Lombardi, known better as Uncle Matt to Drew, Jett and Bear. 

"He ended up creating something for my children, not to be mass-produced," she said of the vitamin-, folate-, calcium-, and zinc-packed powder. Though the green hue required some early trickery ("I put them in sippy cups where they couldn't see the color"), the taste received high marks from even the pickiest judges on her squad.

Because Shawn has no interest in using the clean-plate-club tactics of her youth. 

Having struggled with restrictive dieting and trying everything from diuretics to Adderall in attempts to lose weight, her goal of creating a healthy relationship around food for her kids "never leaves my mind," she explained. "Especially coming from my history of being way too obsessed over food and having eating disorders and coming from an older generation where it was, 'Clean your plate,' and, 'You can't have dessert unless you stuff your face so fully that you'd feel sick.'"  

Instead, she strives for an everything-in-moderation approach. 

"I try to explain the science behind it so my kids are very well-versed on foods that make you strong and help your brain and help you sleep," noted Shawn. "And they know that sugar in moderation is yummy and good, but sugar, if it's had in large quantities, can hurt their bellies. We just talk through what it does for you, and they honestly are pretty smart about it."

And if you're looking for a little extra sweetness, keep reading to check out the family's cutest moments.