Getting Kids (and Adults) to Eat Veggies

Yesterday I mentioned a recent study on how fruits and veggies can help improve children's grades. Today I’d like to review some tips on how to sneak veggies into a child’s diet.

• Try healthy dips. Kids enjoy dipping their foods into things so make the dip a healthy one like hummus, tahini or refried beans.
• Try topping fresh veggies with tomato sauce. You might even consider pureeing onions, carrots, and peppers and adding them directly into a tomato sauce.
• Many veggies taste good with cheese but opt for the lighter versions and smaller amounts. (Baby Bel light is particularly good for a low-fat cheese.)
• Hide the veggies in a grated form and add to traditional favorite foods like brown rice, pasta dishes, and whole wheat macaroni and cheese.
• The cooler weather is here and we can use soups to sneak veggies in. Most soups are a great way to add in tiny grated or pureed bits of carrots, onion, celery and mushrooms.
• Consider making pureed soups from carrots or cauliflower. Add a little organic tofu for creaminess and a few seasonings and you hardly know it’s a vegetable! (I personally love carrot soup seasoned with a bit of honey and fresh ginger.)

Above all parents don’t give up serving them vegetables even if they keep resisting them. It takes many, many, many tries for anyone, let alone children, to learn to adapt to different tastes especially vegetables.