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Does your Child Eat Vegetables?

Posted by Maggie Thu, 24 May 2007 22:23:00 GMT

I just finished the last blog and looked over and realized that Hannah has just eaten 1 1/2 raw sweet peppers. 1/2 of each, red, orange and yellow. Yesterday the topic of children eating came up at the play ground. I am so blessed to have a little one that will eat veggies gladly, and thinks fruit is as good as candy. But this has not come 100% naturally. While I do agree that some kids are harder than others in this area I don’t think that it’s a entirely a matter of what the kids will and will not eat. Here are some things that we did that I think have helped in this area:

1. Hannah did not taste any sugar until after her 1st birthday, I even tried making a sugar free birthday cake. Oh, and not with fake sugar that stuff is worse than the real stuff, but with apple juice. That ended up being a disaster so with the little one on the way the first taste of sugar will probably be the birthday cake.

2. After her 1st birthday sugary treats were just that—treats. We don’t keep them in the house regularly, and she’s only allowed to share with Daddy if we’re served dessert elsewhere. Fruit are her treat. There is nothing else sweet to look forward to. If John and I want something we wait until she’s asleep or maybe mid afternoon, so she has plenty of time to burn off the sugar and it won’t spoil her dinner. We don’t eat as much this way either, by the time she’s in bed I’m usually ready to head there myself.

3. Although I will ask Hannah what she would like to eat from time to time, once it is put in front of her that is what she gets, nothing else. If she doesn’t want it for whatever reason she just doesn’t get to eat. She rarely starves. She’ll frequently make up for it at the next meal. I’ll do another post on this practice.

4. I have no preconceived ideas of what she will or will not like. She eats what we eat and that’s it. Here are some things she likes that may surprise you. Spicy salsa, sushi, broccoli, spinach, shrimp and the most recent flax plus cereal… we just bought this at Costco and she pointed to the box and asked for some as a snack, saying “crackers”, so I gave her some and she ate it all. Oh and trail mix, even without the chocolate pieces, oh, but if there are chocolate pieces she will not eat the nuts and seeds, so I don’t get it with the chocolate anymore.

5. I give her REAL food when possible. I used to give her snacks of Cheerios or Goldfish. But one day I did that and then cut up a mango with blueberries and goat cheese for me. She dropped the Goldfish and asked for what I was having. I had to make more because she ate so much of it, including the goat cheese. Made me realize I wasn’t doing her any favors by giving her processed food, she likes the real stuff better anyways. I still go for the Goldfish on occasion, but trail mix is my new quick snack for her. And fruit or veggies are often a after nap snack, maybe with cottage cheese or plain yogurt.

6. If I do make convenience food for lunch or dinner, I don’t let it go as is. Macaroni and Cheese almost always has peas or broccoli in it and I’ve been adding real cheese to it as well lately, so that way we get in some real calcium. Top Ramen has an egg and peas in it.

7. The same goes for real food I make. Fajitas is mostly peppers and onions with some meat, if I’m up for it spaghetti has extra veggies in it-broccoli, carrots, zucchini, all excellent additions. Although spaghetti is mostly tomato sauce, and that’s excellent in and of it’s self, add a big salad and you’re good to go. Even hamburgers can have finely chopped veggies added to the mix, if you’re using turkey this makes them more moist as well. Oh and then pile on the veggies after they’re done cooking as well… tomato, lettuce, avocado, onion, yummy! Spinach is also a good mix in for hamburgers or meatloaf.

Hope that helps with some ideas to fit in more produce to your children’s diet.

PS The peppers were yesterday, I would recommend not letting your child eat that many raw peppers at once, especially if they’re not potty trained… enough said.