The CDC announced last week that the majority of Americans are not even close to meeting the national objectives for fruit and vegetable consumption:
CDC surveys indicate that only 33 percent of adults meet the recommendation for fruit consumption and 27 percent get the recommended servings of vegetables. The statistics are even worse for high school students – 32 percent report eating at least two servings of fruit daily and 13 percent say they eat at least three servings of vegetables each day.
We all know that eating fruits and vegetables is critical for a healthy lifestyle; yet all too many of us aren't getting enough ourselves, let alone convincing our kids to eat the daily recommendation of 3-5 servings of vegetables and 2-4 servings of fruit.
It's tough getting our kids to eat well; I don't want to dinnertime to be a battle, but I also don't want to let my children's gastronomical whims to dictate their diet. Over the years, I've adopted a few strategies that have worked well for our family.
My top five ways to incorporate fruits and vegetables into mealtimes:
1. The one bite rule. "You don't have to like it, and you don't have to finish it. You just have to TRY it." When served a fruit or vegetable, my kids know they have to at least take a good-sized nibble. Sometimes they loved it at first bite, but usually not. More often they tolerate it at a subsequent meal, and eventually grow to like it…some are now their fave go-to veggies.
2. A spoon-full of sugar. When my son was in second grade, a friend of his was having dinner with us and he asked for ketchup for his salad. Yes. Ketchup. It got me to thinking: let's face it, it's the dressing that most adults love about our salads. And, most kids like dipping. Over the years I've offered all sorts of creative "condiments" to my kids to make the fruit and veggie consumption more palatable. You'd be surprised at the combinations they come up with…and like time after time!
3. Mealtimes, and meal preparation, are about family. Our kids know it's fine to not like the food on the table, and we certainly hear about it when that's the case. Cooking for your family is a labor of love; from their youngest ages, we expressed that to our children by telling them there was a "secret ingredient" in every meal. Love. Might sound cheesy, but it's true, isn't it? Older children begin to understand this on a different level when participate in meal preparation as they gain insight into what is involved in creating those "yucky" vegetables…love really is an ingredient.
4. Stews and soups and all things crock-pot, oh my! My kids are little carnivores; they love steak and chicken in particular. I've found that when I cook it chopped up along with a mess of vegetables and let them simmer all afternoon in combination with the right spices and stock (I keep one like this on hand; it's organic and MSG-free) the tastes blend and they will gobble down the veggies along with the meat. "This carrot tastes just like the beef!"
5. "It's just seasoning, honey." Several years ago as my son slurped down some canned soup I noticed he didn't bat an eyelash at the parsley flakes. "If only that were spinach," I thought. So the next time I heated up soup from a can, I chopped up some fresh baby spinach and threw a bit into the mix. He didn't notice the difference. From then on, I started surreptitiously adding handfuls of finely chopped spinach (or kale, collard greens, any cooking green) into anything in which I could pass it off as, "Seasoning. Like in soup." Works every time.
Do you have any ways that you get your children (or husband, or yourself) to incorporate more fruits and vegetables into your diet? Please share!
Photo courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu
Loading ...
I sometimes steam veggies, puree them, and freeze them into separate serving size ziploc bags. Then when I mix them up with the kids' favorite meals like spaghetti with pureed carrots or squash, or even pancakes with pureed sweet potatoes. They love omelets and nuggets with pureed broccoli!
Wow, I actually did a whole post about this last month you can link to it here
I think it's mainly about serving fruits and/or veggies at every meal (so they get used to seeing and tasting them) and being a good example by eating them yourself.
Two of my "rules" are the same as yours: the "one bite rule" and the "spoonful of sugar", otherwise known as the bribe