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Encouraging our children to get their five a day fruits and vegetables is often easier said than done. Here are some easy and quick ways to encourage your child to eat their five a day
1. Create a fruit salad.
Creating a fruit salad may seem like an obvious option, but it is one of the fastest ways to encourage your child to eat at least 2-3 portions of their five a day. Children are naturally attracted to fruit salads, as they are bright and colourful. Should your child not be that keen, try incorporating their favourite yogurt into the salad.
2. Make a spaghetti bolognaise
One of the easiest ways to disguise vegetables is to incorporate them into a bolognaise or meat sauce that you have prepared with spaghetti. This is a trick that can be used with many sauce based dishes, as the blend of sauce and meat is perfect for hiding chopped up vegetables. Favourites for this dish include carrots, mushrooms, chopped green beans and even peas. For those parents who want to limit the amount of minced beef, try minced turkey or alternatively, you can try chicken.
3. Make fun snack boxes
One of the main reasons children find vegetables on their plate so unappealing is that that they are often offered when tastier options like meat and starchier carbohydrates are also available. It is natural for a child to choose those options first, before feeling full and shunning their healthier vegetable or fruit snacks. When it comes to your child’s snack time, create small snack boxes and snack bags for them to dig in to. Chopped carrots, cucumbers and celery all make great finger foods, and if you incorporate a dip like [humus, ] your child will be more likely to eat them. Making fun shapes and placing your prepared snacks on skewers may also help.
4. Give them the element of choice
Many children are far more responsive when they are given an element of choice in their diet. Next time you go to the store to buy food, take your child with you so that they can help select their fruits and vegetables. By feeling as though they have more say in the matter, they are more likely to be willing to eat healthier foods.
5. Make a smoothie
No child can resist a good milkshake, and smoothies are just a healthier alternative. They can be sweetened in healthy ways, such as with honey or low calorie sweetener. Try to make them similar in color to milkshakes, by sticking to only red fruit. Or, for a more fun approach, create wacky colors with brightly colored fruits. Smoothies are an easy way to get at least one of your child’s five a day in to their diet. By blending a cup of low fat yogurt, with a 1/4 cup of sugar-free apple juice and one banana, you have a simple smoothie for your child to enjoy.
Encouraging your child to eat their five a day may seem tough on the face of things, but with a varied approach you can overcome the hurdles in your way. Disguising vegetables, giving your child choices and making fruit fun will all go a long way towards giving your little one a healthier diet.
Guest post contributed by Samantha Harvey, a freelance writer, mom and self-confessed foodie, on behalf of Bingostreet.
