9 Simple Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat More Veggies
By Dine Without Whine • Apr 3rd, 2009 • Category: Columnists, DWW Family Dinner Recipes
It seems like a never-ending battle with the kids. Although you and I know veggies are delicious and they’re also good for you, they act like vegetables are a plague they want to avoid at all costs.
If you need creative ways to get your kids to eat more vegetables, here are 9 ideas to incorporate into your daily meals right away:
1. Make healthy choices readily available and put the sugary and greasy snacks away. This doesn’t mean totally deprive yourselves of these delightful treats, but making healthy eating a normal part of your day goes a long way to helping kids develop better eating habits.
2. Add veggies like carrots or even asparagus to smoothies. Kids love fruit smoothies and they’ll never know you put in a little of those dreaded vegetables in.
3. Sneak vegetables into other foods. For example: Add grated carrots into spaghetti sauce or make a zucchini chocolate cake.
4. Try dip. You know kids love to dip everything. Just make sure they know they have to eat the dip stick and not just lick it!
5. Take your kids shopping with you. Let your child pick out a new vegetable in the grocery store that they’ve never tried. Then prepare the vegetable together.
6. Be patient and consistent. Avoid having a tantrum yourself when your child has a tantrum about vegetables on their plate. Sometimes it will take several times of serving the same food before your child is even willing to try it.
7. Make it artistic and fun. Place veggies into a smiley face on your child’s plate or decorate a pizza with them.
8. Let them choose: raw or cooked. Some children may have a definite preference as to whether their veggies are cooked or raw.
9. Plan your meals. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the veggies when you don’t have a plan…allowing your kids to get into the habit of veggie-free meals. Plan your meals and grocery lists in advance, so you won’t come up short on the greenery.
To make your meal planning a whole lot easier, sign up for you 1 ¢ no-risk trial at Dine Without Whine. They put together your weekly dinner plan and even make a quick and easy printable grocery list for you. Click here to get started.
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