"Eat your vegetables" is the mantra of almost every American mother and father at mealtime. Parents know that vegetables are an essential part of a healthy diet, but many people struggle with ways to get their children to eat them. With patience and persistence, it doesn’t have to be a battle.
Healthy Eating Habits Start Early
Babies eat a lot of fruits and vegetables because that’s what comes in baby food jars. Most parents wouldn’t buy pudding snacks and whipped hot dogs for their infants, even in convenient sized jars. Babies eat the food they are fed.
The key for parents is to not jump off the wagon as the kids grow older. Kids will eat the general spectrum of foods that they are exposed to. Indian children don’t have to be forced to eat curry. Japanese children don’t have to be forced to eat raw fish. It’s what they’re raised with.
Hold off on the sugar, fat, and processed foods as long as possible. Eventually, they will learn the splendors of fries and ice cream, but if children are already enjoying a broad spectrum of foods, it is much easier to keep those indulgences in the category of treats not meals.
Not Too Late for Older Children to Learn Healthy Eating
According to an article by Lilian Presti in the L.A. Times, studies show that one of the biggest influences on children’s eating habits is the eating habits of their parents. Modeling good eating habits and providing easy access to fruits and veggies is one of the keys to helping children eat well.
Multiple studies have shown that a child may need to try a food five to ten times before they develop a taste for it. A variety of vegetables should always be included in both lunch and dinner, and readily available for snacks.
It’s important to teach healthy eating decisions as well. Cookies and sweet desserts should only be allowed after healthy patterns are followed. Don't force a child to eat something they hate, provide options, but even a small serving, or a few bites of a given vegetable and a bite of fruit, should be encouraged before a sweet dessert can follow. Of course, when sweet desserts are given, serving sizes should be small.
Packing Healthy Snacks and Meals
Switching from chips and cheese doodles doesn’t take extra time, it takes a shift in mindset. Think ahead and write down a list of quick healthy options. Make them a priority on your grocery list, and then lay them out in the evenings right after dinner for the next day.
Raw veggies make great replacements for junk food snacks. It takes about three minutes to remove a pepper from the fridge, wash it, slice it, stuff it in a baggie and wipe down the counter. Add sugar snap peas or snow peas to the mix and it gets even easier. No slicing needed.
Here are some suggestions for quick healthy snacks:
- red and yellow pepper slices
- sugar snap peas
- peeled cucumbers
- carrots (whole with the greens still on is lots of fun for kids)
- asparagus tips
- jicama slices
- avocado with a little lime juice
Resist the urge to provide ranch dressing or salt from the get go. These vegetables are sweet all on their own and have a crisp juicy texture. If the parent doesn’t suggest a dipping sauce, the child may easily go without.
For dessert, replace cookies with fruits such as the following:
- sliced oranges
- sliced apples (squeeze some lemon on the slices to keep them from browning)
- a kiwi cut in half (with a plastic spoon for scooping)
- any kind of berries
Cooked veggies may be more acceptable to kids with a little flavor enhancing fat or salt. According to the Lilian Presti’s article in the LA Times, a little butter or cheese may not be a bad thing if used in moderation.
Be Creative with Fruits and Vegetables
Play with color and shape, and mix in some healthy things they like with the ones they don’t. A lot of kids like pickles, and they look great on a plate next to jicama and carrots.
Tear a corner off a leaf of butter lettuce and wrap a green grape. Mixing the sweet grape with the crunchy lettuce trains the palate to accept the texture of salad.
Natural, no-sugar added peanut butter makes a healthy dip for carrots and celery.
Children Eat More Variety When They Are Involved
Bring the kids to the grocery store and have them pick out one new and exotic fruit or vegetable every month, or every season. Better yet, bring them to a farm and let them see where their food comes from. Even city dwellers are likely to live within an hour of some type of farm or greenhouse where food is grown. A visit to one can get kids excited about trying something grown by a farmer they met in person.
According to Localharvest.org there are over 2,500 community farms in the United States that sell directly to the public through a share program called Community Supported Agriculture or CSA. Many of these are open for public visits and some even allow members to work on the farm.
Consistency is Key
Remember, whenever kids try something new, they may like it, they may not. The point is to make healthy foods more readily available than junk food, and establish a mindset that fruits and vegetables should be a part of everyday life.
Resources
The CDC site, Fruits and veggies matter has an interactive tool for checking how many cups of fruit and veggies are needed a day, and includes recipe ideas and healthy snack tips.
Kimbra Cutlip - Kimbra Cutlip is a feature writer whose work has appeared in numerous publications including the Washington Post, Environment magazine, ...
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