Special tricks to make your kids love vegetables

 

 

today I'm going to be tackling something a little bit different.

Today I'm going to talk about how to get your kids to eat vegetables.

Now, this can be a topic that sometimes we joke about or we don't take very

seriously,but honestly, setting your kids up to eat

vegetables at a young age makes it more likely that they'll

continue to eat vegetables throughout their lives.

Vegetables are very, very important for our health, as we all know

but honestly, it can help them keep diseases away.

and help them to maintain a healthy body weight for the rest of their lives.

It's really important that kids get in the habit of eating vegetables with lunch and dinner every single day. They know it's not something they

can skip if they don't feel like it.It's absolutely necessary and the more they eat it the more their taste buds will get used to it, and the more that they will like them.

But if your kids are older, then don't worry.It's not too late to start.

I'm going to give you some great tips.First and foremost, keep it really positive in your household when it comes to vegetables.

Never say, "Hey, I'm not sure you'regoing to like this, but..."

Or say "Hey, remember, you don't like that vegetable,

so maybe don't try that one." Keep evreything very optimistic

and happy and positive it's the most important thing.

I have twin four year old boys, and one of the things that I did was right from the start when they were just little babies I would put vegetables such as frozen peas or even frozen corn frozen carrots, frozen green beans right on their trays.

They liked how cold they were, they liked the sweetness, they like the bright colors and they learned to like green foods right from an early age

Now one of the things we talk a lot about in our house is the difference between healthy foods,the foods we eat most of the time, and treats.

We have both of those every single day,but the timing and the frequency

is what matters most.And honestly, what's really funny, if you have more than one child. they'll start keeping each other in line They'll start calling each other out! "Hey, that's a treat! We don't have that all the time!"

Tell them how strong vegetables are going to help them be,How it's gonna help them be healthier. You can even say hey Batman eats vegetables.

My boys think that's hilarious but I think that they buy it too.

If you have a little girl,perhaps you say "Hey! Wonder Woman, she eats her vegetables and that's what makes her so strong and smart!" These are all things your can use to make vegetables sound even better in your household.

Put a positive vibe around them, and encourage your kids to join in on the fun of eating vegetables.

Think about presentation on the plate. When I put vegetables on my kids plates, I actually look for the prettiest pieces of

broccoli and asparagus, and then I line them up really nicely on their plate.

It doesn't take much time, just a couple seconds,but just like us, kids eat with their eyes first and if this is a relatively new food to them they want it to look appealing, right?

All those little things really matter.You could even have fun with the broccoli and call it trees and then kids laugh when they get to devour and chomp on a tree.

Now you may be thinking,"Hey, my kids, they just don't eat anything green."

That's OK.

Start with something really, really colorful like carrots, red bell peppers

or tomatoes, which are technically fruit,but they're not super sweet so they tend to fall in that vegetable category, right? All of these vegetables are really, really pretty, brightly colored and you may be really surprised if your child decides to eat them but that's great because they're getting their foot in the door in the vegetable kingdom.

From there, you can get creative with sauces and dips that would really help to improve the flavor of the vegetables.First and foremost hummus

is always a great one.Good for the carrots, good for the bell peppers and the tomatoes.

Kids tend to love hummus that's a great way to go.You can also try a dairy-free dressing.I have a killer vegan Caesar dressing on my website you might want to check out. it's actually really on the healthy side.

One thing that my kids love that maybe you haven't heard of yet is balsamic glaze.It's also sometimes called aged balsamic.The one I like is right here.It's fantastic. I'll provide a link for this brand below.And it looks like chocolate sauce!So kids love it!And my boys, anytime this is around, they will clear the vegetables on their plate and have so much fun dipping the vegetables in this balsamic glaze.I love this stuff and I highly recommend it.

 

Another dip I highly recommend?

Ketchup.

Gosh who doesn't love ketchup, right? It's sweet, it's a little salty, it's tangy, it's bright red, what's not to love? Now you may be thinking,

"Is ketchup the healthiest thing?" I've got to say the good outweighs

the bad in this circumstance.if you can get your kid to eat vegetables

and they're dipping it and ketchup,all the nutrients and the fiber

in all those vegetables,outweighs anything that you might say

bad about ketchup any day of the week.I can't make this point strongly enough.

Dressings...

especially if they're sweet and delicious, could be the winning key

to getting your kids to eat vegetables or salad.Don't you think it all comes down to the dressing? I really love sweet dressings and

so do my kids, I have one on my website on AudreyDunham.com called

Year-Round Christmas dressing that tastes just like that; Christmas.

It's so delicious and that's how I got my kids to start eating salad at age, I don't know, about one and a half or two? They pick up that leaf, they lick it, they see that it's sweet and amazing and delicious

and then they're more likely to eat the salad. I even like to dress up their little salads with chopped tomato or apple just something that makes it look more fun and festive but what I can say is if you have one

vegetable that your kid really loves, just stick with it.Whatever you do don't let your kid forget about that vegetable. Make sure that they eat it two,three, four times a week so that it stays fresh in their mind and that they know that they love it. It means that they're more likely to try

more vegetables down the road.I have to say when it comes down to it ,don't be afraid to pull out the big guns.I'll say "Hey! We're not going to watch a movie tonight until you eat those vegetables."It's nothing ever very serious, just something light that motivates them and most likely they're totally up for eating those vegetables,but they just need a little nudge in the right direction. And even if it's just one or two bites of that broccoli I want at least one or two bites every single night and if I have to, sometimes I will reward them for taking it.

Whether it's going out and doing something fun that they want to do playing with a toy that we haven't played with in a long time,or even a little piece of dark chocolate at the end of the meal.Hey we do what we got to do, right? And finally one of the most important points is to lead by example.

If your kids see you eating vegetables with every lunch and dinner, If they smell good, they look good, that you're really enjoying them, they're more likely to do the same. I really hope that these tips help you out and that your kid learns to love vegetables with some of the things that I offer