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A child needs to have complete nutrition to develop well both physical and mental health. Therefore, parents have to make sure that the children's meals are full of all the necessary nutrients coming from various food and drink. You should choose healthy food and avoid the worst food for your kids. However, children do not like all healthy foods, especially vegetables, so they do not have sufficient intake of vegetables. For instance, in the period 2010-2013, even children eat more fruits and vegetables, they still do not meet the recommendations of intake for vegetables[1]. In a report in 2018, children do not have enough intake of veggies[2].
The question we wonder is how to increase the children’s vegetable consumption because vegetables are the significant sources of vitamins, fibre and minerals which are very good for children’s development. Today, in our article on TrueRemedies, you can find the answer! We will give you a few useful tips on how to help children like eating vegetables. Continue reading and find at least a suitable one for your kids.
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Top 8 Unexpected Ways To Get Children To Love More Vegetables
I. Top Vegetables That Are Good For Children's Physical Development
Vegetables can be classified as following[3]:
- Leafy green – lettuce, spinach and kale
- Cruciferous – cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and broccoli
- Marrow – pumpkin, cucumber and zucchini
- Root – potato, sweet potato and yam
- Edible plant stem – celery and asparagus
- Allium – onion, garlic and shallot
Vegetables play an important role in ensuring children’s physical development. Having vegetables in meals regularly may improve children’s immune system in general. For example, eating vegetables helps reduce the incidence of cardiovascular disease and obesity[4]. Besides, leafy vegetables rich in lutein is effective in preventing vision loss and improving brain health[5] or cruciferous may help you reduce the risk of many diseases, especially some types of cancer[6], etc.
II. How Can We Make Children Like Eating Vegetables?
1. Parents Are The Models
Children have to learn everything, including eating habits. According to the studies, children’s eating habits are affected strongly by others, especially their parents[7]. Image the result after the children see their parents do not eat vegetables. They will not eat vegetables either[8]! Therefore, parents should eat plenty of vegetables and fruits yourself. If you model positive behaviours, your kids will copy you.
2. Talk About The Benefits Of Vegetables
You can talk about the benefits of veggies to your kids through the stories. Telling story is an effective way to teach children and improve children’s development[9]. For example, instead of saying that vegetables help treat constipation, you can tell a story about a bear who refuses to eat vegetables and has a stomachache, so he has to go to the hospital, and the doctor advises him to eat a lot of vegetables which are useful for his digestion.
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3. Add Vegetables In Children’s Meals
When your kids do not like eating vegetables only, why don’t you add vegetables to their meals, especially their favourite food? If your children like pizza, you can try to put some mushroom or bell peppers on the pizza. If your children like soup, corn, green peas, and onions not only make the soup more colourful but also enhance flavour. If your children like noodles, some vegetables can be mixed are water morning glory, cabbage, lettuce, etc.
4. Let Children Do
Children are curious about anything. Therefore, make children curious about vegetables. You can let children grow and water veggies in your garden or go shopping with you. After that, ask them to help you prepare and cook meals. All activities help children have more tension to eat vegetables[10]. Moreover, doing together is an effective way to improve the relationship between the family’s members. You can profit this time to talk with your kids about their school life, their feelings or life skills.
5. Try Many Cooking Methods
Do not strict with boiling method because children often feel boiled vegetables are tasteless. It is essential to change different cooking methods with vegetables such as bake, steam, grill, etc. to add more flavour to vegetables. For example, with water morning glory, instead of boil it only, you can make fried water morning glory with garlic. Furthermore, have you ever tried to make the salad for children? The salad which has vegetables and some types of sauce such as mayonnaise or roasted sesame will stimulate the child's taste and make them eat more. It is also the chance for children to eat some raw vegetables such as lettuce, cucumber, etc. According to a study conducted in 2018, it is better for mental health when eating some vegetables raw than processed[11].
6. Make Snack With Vegetables
You can make vegetable juice for your kids after school time or after their main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner). Many studies showed that vegetable juice might improve immune system[12]. Besides, vegetable cakes are good options to help children eat vegetables.
7. Decorate The Meals
We all like beauty. When you decorate the meals, you can get the children’s attention. Meal presentation makes people feel the food more delicious[13]. As a result, children tend to eat more. You can use cartoon characters (especially the favourite characters of your kids) to make a colourful meal such as a snowman with the carrot nose or a bear surrounded by forest made with lettuce, etc. We are sure that your kids will be very excited about their meals and eat more vegetables.
8. Change Vegetables
Do not stick with only one type of vegetables. Changing different kinds of vegetables regularly not only diversifies the meals but also gives children the chance to try many vegetables. It is also a way to attract the curiosity of children; then they will be likely to eat more.
In conclusion, being a parent is not an easy task. As a result, be patient and do step by step. The most important thing you should always keep in mind is that children have to have a healthy and balanced diet to ensure that they have good health and lower risk of getting sick.
We hope that after reading our article today, you will be successful in making your kids like eating vegetables. However, all content provided is for educational and informational purposes. We recommend you consult a doctor to ask for advice when your kids have eating problems and whether your children have to take medicine or not.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave them in the comment box. We are happy to hear your opinions, and we will answer as soon as we can.
In short, please visit our Parenting page to see more topics to make parenting easier.
