Children's Eating Habits

When I started going to a home-schooling coop called Classical Conversations this year I had a eye-opening experience.   It happened during snack time.  One of the mother's in particular, had a enormous bag of veggies for her kids which included carrots, celery, green peppers and cumbers.  They ate more veggies at snack time than my family eats in a week.  She had nothing else there, only veggies.  No cereal bars, not fruit snack...no processed foods...only veggies.  
I asked her how in the world did you get your kids to eat that.  Her answer was simple...that is all I offer them :)
I have another friend whose kids eat rice and beans a few times a week for dinner with no complaints coming out of their mouths either.  
I am noticing my kids complain equally about health and unhealthy food.  They don't like greasy chinese food or grilled chicken salad....
I think the food battle isn't about what we offer our children, it a battle of the "will".   
I was so pleasantly surprised today when I found out that one of my friends is also fighting the food battle.  We both are trying to follow the philosophy that if our children don't eat their dinner then they get it the next day for breakfast, don't eat it for breakfast.... get it for lunch...you get the idea....this is harder than it sounds.  (we are not talking about spicy, unusual foods here, just the run of the meal typical dinner).   
We live in a country of privilege, we are so blessed to have so much food, but as mom's we need to be careful not to cater to our children's whims when it comes to eating.  "Eating is a discipline", my husband sometimes tells me.  And I think that's what it really boils down to....are we as parent's disciplined about what we are buying at the grocery store...do we have the discipline not buy the cookies and pick up and extra bag of carrots?  Am I going to allow my child not to eat the healthy meal I cooked and eat something unhealthy because he is giving me a hard time.  I am slowly trying to adjust what I buy.....just change one meal a week...sneak a couple more vegetables on my kids plates....I know I can do better....I want to do better