7 Ways to Get Your Children to Eat More Vegetables

One thing I often get asked is how I get my kids to eat all their veggies, to be honest it makes me laugh because it can be so challenging at times, especially with my daughter!!

You see, I have one kid who eats just about anything I place in front of him (he's 7). Then there is my daughter (she's 4), who forces me to negotiate what vegetables she will allow on her plate. We try to continue to offer all types of different vegetables, and over time we have reached some success. Yahoo! I will take that!

So what can you do to increase your children's vegetable intake?

1. Hide them... seriously! I hide spinach, other greens and veggies in their smoothies and dishes. Smoothies are personally one of my favourite ways as they provide raw, whole food nutrition to nourish their little bodies, and yet it takes so little time to prepare. Besides, how cool is it to be sipping a super cool green smoothie!

Here are some of their favorite smoothies.

Classic Green Smoothie Here

Good Morning Green Goddess Here

Lemon Blueberry Shhhh Smoothie Here

2. Educate them. Teach them about vegetables and how important they are to help build strong bodies. There are so many books and online resources available.

This here was one of my favorite YouTube videos (proceed with caution, it is a catchy song).

3. Start a garden together This has become one of our favourite things to do. We visit the nursery as a family, pick out what we would like to grow, then water and harvest what we need for our meal. It's very rewarding as it teaches them the process from seed to table - such magic!

Our kids actually talk to the plants while watering them. My daughter tells them how nice they are and that she loves them!

4. Cook with them. Our children love kitchen work, they love to help prepare meals and do the dishes (sometimes they make more of a mess). I often let them pick the star veggie of the meal, they wash and cut the veggies using a kid-friendly knife set that we found on Amazon.

5. Offer healthy dips. One of my daughters favorite snacks is carrots and hummus. We make homemade hummus in a variety of combinations. Carrots and beets are a fun and natural way to change the color of the hummus. (recipes linked here and here).

6. Make it visually appealing. Offer a variety of different vegetables, different colors, cut them into shapes. We have all seen those AMAZING lunch meals that those "Mama Picaso's" have created, I have tried and kinda failed... but hey, they ate it and thought I was the best mama ever - mission accomplished!!

7. Model healthy eating habits. This is a big one. Our kids will most often eat what we eat or eventually have similar eating habits. I love salads and enjoy a large salad daily. It has taken quite some time but even my children and hubby have joined me and eat fresh and colorful salads (almost) daily. Provide a positive and healthy relationship with food, it will eventually pay off!

Teaching our children about nutrition and assisting them to choose healthy food options is essential and can help them live a healthier life.

Many diseases we face today such as diabetes mellitus type 2, obesity, cardiovascular disease, etc. are often food related and can be avoided in many circumstances. We as parents/caregivers have one of the greatest influences on our children.

Do you have any other tips you would like to add? Leave a comment and share your experience!