37.5% of children under 5 get sick every 90 days. This is not good news. As a parent, I want to keep my child safe and healthy. And I know you do too. One of the best ways we can do that is to feed them protective foods. These are foods rich in vitamins, mostly Fruits and Vegetables.
But most of the time, children don’t want to eat these food groups.
Does your child leave their serving of veggies on their plate? Or they claim not to be hungry when they catch a glimpse of greens.
I know how it feels. I’ve been there.
Knowing why fruits and vegetables are so important for our children, how then can we encourage them to eat more of them?
In the past, I couldn’t get my son to eat vegetables no matter what I tried. Until I made a salad one day. He ate his salad portion and went around eating everyone else’s salad. I couldn’t believe it!
He couldn’t seem to get enough raw vegetables. So, I started experimenting with fruits and vegetables.
7 Tips to Encourage Your Child to Eat More Fruits and Vegetables
Here are seven ways to prepare them that have worked for us:
1. Salads
My son hates fried cabbage. But he can’t get enough when I use cabbage in salads. Experiment with different vegetable and fruit combinations to find what works for your child.
Some of our favorite salads are coleslaw and pineapple and carrot salad.
Add fruits like apples or berries to salads to make them more appealing to your little one.
I love salads because they are healthy, tasty, and easy to make.
2. Healthy Snack Options
Give your child carrot sticks or tomato wedges to snack on. Make healthy snacks such as sandwiches with veggies like lettuce, tomato, and cucumber.
Imagine eating raw vegetables started way back in 4,600 BC. During the times of the Egyptians and Romans. Have you seen how good those people look in ancient portraits? They must have known something we don’t.
3. Adding Veggies to Smoothies
Make smoothies with vegetables such as spinach, cucumber, and celery. Adding vegetables to smoothies adds nutrients. Mix in fruits for that sweet taste and watch your kid drink up his/her spinach without knowing it.
Did you know that there are more than 1000 types of vegetables?
Let’s get creative with what we offer our kids.
4. Fruit and Vegetable Popsicles
You can freeze the smoothies you make in popsicle molds. Then, your children can enjoy them during hot days.
You can also learn how to make nice cream. It’s like ice cream but made with frozen fruit. In most cases, bananas are the base. Then you add in one or two other ingredients, blend, and freeze.
5. Cutting Them Creatively
Cut the veggies and fruits into different shapes and designs. Try making faces or characters with different colored fruits and vegetables and watch your child devour them one by one.
6. Letting My Child Help with Preparation and Cooking
When your child takes part in preparing meals, they will be excited to eat because they contributed. It makes them feel useful and grown up. Of course, they should do so under adult supervision.
7. Make Homemade Yogurt and Jam
In our house, we make jam with the fruits that are in season. These may be berries, oranges, or mangoes. This guarantees that our jams have 100% real fruit and have minimal amounts of sugar.
The same goes for yogurt. Learn how to make your own and add real fruits to flavor the yogurt instead of adding artificial flavors. The process is easy and can be done by anyone.
Fruits and vegetables can become your children’s favorite foods. All you need to do is experiment, learn, make them part of the process, and have fun.
How do you get your kids to enjoy their veggies? We’d love to know what works for you and your little one.
Related: Eight Proven Benefits of Breastfeeding to Both Mother and Child
