My kids' wonderful eating habits are slowly going away, so I need suggestions on how to make sure they get all the nutrients they need. They aren't very picky, and are getting more than their share of fruits. But, they aren't getting enough vegetables....something that used to be SO easy!
Lately I have been adding spinach to their fruit smoothies (a trick I learned on here, that I was skeptical of at first, but now I LOVE it). Any other things I can add that would be good?
They do eat cucumbers and tomatoes and will eat veggies in things most of the time. My other question is...how do you make sure your kids get all their veggies in? What kind of veggies and when/ what meals?
If it helps, my son is 2.5 and he should get 1.5 servings and my daughter is 5 and should get 2 servings.
P.S. I do have the cookbook "The Sneaky Chef", but I'm hoping to get them to eat more veggies naturally and not hidden.
Thanks!
I add veggies (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, asparagus, etc.) to pizza, mac and cheese and fried rice.
Oh! Try spaghetti squash instead of noodles. Yumalicious and is a VEGGIE!
Don't give up on them yet - it's quite common for kids to go through phases where they refuse some thing they used to eat regularly. Keep offering a variety of vegetables in a variety of ways (steamed, stir fried, sliced with dips, on top of pizza, in lasagna, grilled, oven roasted, etc.) and eat a healthy variety of vegetables yourself. If there's a farmer's market nearby, bring your kids there and let them pick something that looks interesting to them (and use a site like allrecipes.com if you have no idea what to do with the vegetable they picked!). If you have space to grow some vegetables in your yard, do so - these kinds of activities often help increase a child's interest in vegetables. Lois Ehlert's picture books "Growing Vegetable Soup" and "Eating The Alphabet" with their bold graphics and catchy text can also pique a child's interest in different veggies.
And remember that kids' eating habits go through phases. One of my 9YO twin DD's has pretty much loved veggies since she started solids, and her twin sister took longer to develop a liking for vegetables but now she eats about as many veggies as her sister.
You are absolutely right not to want to hide them. Children do not (research documented) learn to like and eat vegetables when they don't know they are there. I think the primary issue is persistence. Children need to try a new food 12-16 times before they will consistently accept it. This is way more times than parents usually offer a new vegetable.
We feed my son (5-1/2) exactly what we are eating. So if we are having grilled salmon with green beans and salad, that's what he gets. He does not eat everything (no one does including adults) but since that is our norm, that is what he expects to eat.
Vegetables that we eat regularly:
avocado - plain, with soy sauce/ginger dressing, mashed in guacamole
Green beans - steamed, grilled, sauteed with mustard sauce, tossed with pine nuts and feta cheese, tossed with walnuts and gorgonzola
Broccoli - steamed, stir fried
Cauliflower - steamed, stir fried
Edamame - cold or hot (these are great because they are really easy for lunches to)
Carrots - raw plain, raw in salads, steamed, roasted (raw are great for lunches and snacks)
Celery - raw for snacks, cooked in Chinese stir fry
Kohlrabi - sliced raw for snacks or in salad
Spinach - DS only likes this raw or in Indian food
Corn - on the cob in season, steamed frozen the rest of the year. Also good as soup.
On weekdays he generally gets 1-2 servings of vegetables at lunch (generally carrots, edamame, corn, broccoli, celery, cucumber) and 1-2 servings at dinner (usually 2). On weekends we try to incorporate one serving into a big breakfast (scrambled egg burritos with guacamole for example).
You can put many different veggies in spaghetti sauce, chopped up fine or even pureed. Would they eat some cut up if you offered different types of yummy dips? Maybe you can get a juicer and juice up all sorts of veggies with some fruits. It does take a lot of persistance. My son is 17 and veggies are a struggle. He likes to eat healthy and we have always talked about healthy eating, so he knows he has to eat the veggies, but he really hates most of them. He will eat salad with a variety of veggies mixed in and salad dressing. He will drink low sodium V-8 as well. He likes potato and corn, so I can mix some veggies in with that, like in a stir fry or steamed. Pizza and tacos are a good way to get them in too. Also, he will eat most any veggie in soup, like chicken noodle or a cheese soup. When I serve dinner, there is always at least one veggie, and he is expected to eat what the rest of us do. Many nights he is standing at his plate and quickly eating his veggies while holding his nose, then drinking a glass of milk. Then he enjoys the rest of his dinner. Pretty hilarious to me, but he gets them down! Some people just truly do not like veggies!
I put mashed peas in spaghetti sauce. I buy them V8 fusion to drink. I make veggies with every meal and ask them to try them. They usually spit them out, but occasionally they will like something. Usually helps if its drowned in cheese, for instance, I put chopt brocoli in my manicotti filling. My kids seem to like veggies if I roast them in the oven. My kids are sensitive to texture, so I try not to let them get mushy.
I make veggie trays with ranch dip in the middle. Seriously think they'd eat anything they can dip in ranch. They even eat broccoli. I'll put the tray out when I know they're hungry. My older son drinks 'Naked' drinks.
