Every wonder why kids tend to prefer fruits over vegetables? Yes, you guessed right their sweetness but also, because we are born with a natural preference for sweet foods.

A healthy diet means eating lots of vegetables, plus a wide variety of foods from the other main food groups. Veggies give your child energy, vitamins, fibre and water. They help to protect our children against diseases later in life, including heart disease and some cancers. This being said how do we get them to eat more??

Ways to getting more colour into your child’s diets

Be a role model

Family meals are a great way to teach your child about healthy eating. If your child sees you and their siblings filling plates with vegetables to enjoy, they will probably want to copy you. Your child learns about food choices from you, so the best way to encourage your child to eat veg is to let them see you eating and enjoying them yourself.

Keep offering

It’s normal for children to say they don’t like vegetables when they first taste them especially the bitter tasting ones like spinach, broccoli and cabbage. However, it is important to keep offering them, as it can take up to 10-14 times before they eventually given in and accept. This is why adults tend to eat more vegetables than kids….Frequent exposure! Just never take them off the plate as it can be hard to get them back onto the plate!

Involve them in the cooking of vegetables

If your child gets more involved in prepping and cooking of vegetables, they are more likely to eat them.

If you are still finding it really challenging, you can also disguise vegetables in the foods that you know your child likes to eat. Don’t worry this won’t change their behaviour and thinking about vegetables, though, it’s also important to continue to regularly give your child vegetables in their original form. When you do this, your child has the chance to get familiar with and learn to like different tastes and textures.

Examples:

1. Include pureed or grated vegetables in pasta sauces or soups. Then gradually increase the size of the vegetables so they get used to the textures well as the taste.
2. Spaghetti Bolognese and Lasagna dishes are a great way of adding lots of vegetables to your your kids dinner.
3. Try making fritters out of vegetables such as peas, carrots, courgette or sweet potato Savoury muffins can be a great way to disguise vegetables.
4. Savoury muffins packed with vegetables are a really tasty and handy snack that work well in a lunchbox.
5. Make vegetable fries – Sweet potato can be a popular option here and then can add in carrots or parsnips.
6. Make a homemade pizza with lots of veggies as toppings is also a very popular choice or liquidise from vegetables into the pizza sauce.
7. Don’t forget you can always disguise lots in a smooth soup or smoothie!