Feeding Picky Kids and Teens, Part 1 (vegetables and fruit)

I have a hard time getting my 12 year old son to eat veggies. He doesn’t seem to understand the importance of veggies & fruits to his development & well being. He will eat raw carrots, cucumbers and red bell peppers, but I have to bug him throughout the meal. If I am not there to bother him, he would not eat any. He won’t eat any cooked veggie either. Fruits aren’t as much of a problem. He would not, however, grab a piece of fruit on his own for a snack.

He likes to snack on granola bars. I get Cascadian Farms organic bars from Whole Foods, but they don’t seem to be the most nutritious snack. I feel like it is a lesser of the snack evils. Sometimes he will have chips and salsa or string cheese.

I feel that part of the problem is that my wife and I don’t have the same outlook on the importance of veggie and fruits at every meal. I eat 5 or 6 times a day and have veggies of some sort with every meal. If I don’t make dinner, there are no veggies in the meal. When she makes lunches for our kids, there are no veggies either. She usually packs a sandwich, chips and maybe an apple sauce.    -Shawn

Hi Shawn – Thanks for the note. Rest assured that many parents share your struggles! Getting kids to eat fruits and veggies isn’t always easy, but you are correct that it is important to your kids’ health and wellbeing. Produce of all types helps meet nutrient needs, keep weight within a healthy range, and provide phytonutrients and antioxidants that may prevenr chronic diseases. Furthermore, incuding fruits and vegetables in anyone’s diet is helpful in crowding out less-healthful foods, such as those high in fat, sugar, or empty calories. Simply put, if you’re snacking on apples and carrots, you aren’t snacking on chips.

I suggest starting with the few items your son does enjoy. If these are offered alongside other foods, he might pass them up, but if they are the only thing available (for example, as a pre-dinner snack) and he’s hungry, he might snack on them more willingly. Dips and dressings can help a lot too, many children will eat vegetables with hummus or light ranch dip.

One fun thing to do is make bell pepper nachos: slice up some bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange) and place them on a cookie sheet. Top them with shredded cheese, salsa, chopped chicken, refried beans, lowfat sour cream… whatever you’d put on tortilla chips to make nachos. Broil them or bake until the cheese melts and enjoy with your fingers. (Check out my creation at right!)

Plain cooked veggies aren’t often among kids’ lists of favorite foods. Or adults’, for that matter. But you can work vegetables into other foods too. Try some of these ideas:

Ways to help kids eat more vegetables

• Stuff lettuce, tomato, or spinach into sandwiches or wraps
• Add mushrooms and roasted red peppers to pizza
• Cook chicken noodle soup with carrots, celery and onion
• Take pasta sauce (already got tomatoes!) and add mushrooms, onions, and garlic to it.
• Make baked sweet potato fries, or butternut fries, for more vitamin A and less fat than regular fries
• Add a layer of veggies to a lasagna
• Make low fat, whole grain carrot or zucchini muffins, or pumpkin muffins
• Use salsa to top baked potatoes or chicken (it does provide some veggies)
• Build pizzas on portobello mushrooms caps or slices of eggplant
• Add corn, onions, mushrooms, peppers and onions to chili. (Beans, while not a vegetable per se, are also great sources of fiber and nutrients)
• Try serving lettuce wraps instead of shells for tacos or fajitas, its fun because you get to eat with your hands- plus you can add tomatoes, onions, avocado, or other veggies
• Asian food often has lots of vegetables in it, and quick stir fries are easy to pull of at home. Let family members choose their sauce (teriyaki, soy, hot n sour, etc), and what goes in: broccoli, red bell peppers, garlic, onion, baby corn, water chestnuts, carrots, and cabbage are just a start.
• Green monster smoothies: Start with any combination of fruit, milk, and vanilla protein powder, and toss in a handful of spinach – blend away! You can tell them it’s kiwi fruit making it green, or honeydew melon. But if you tell them after they’ve slurped down the sweet goodness, they might realize spinach in a smoothie is quite tasty!  (see my post on that)

Fruits are usually easier, because they are sweet. Rather than applesauce, which has the fiber removed, apple slices with peanut butter might be an acceptable snack. You can also make fruits desserts without adding much sugar, such as fresh berries with a squirt of whipped cream or baked apples or pears. Fruit also can be added to pancakes, muffins, and yogurt for snacks. And frozen grapes are awesome in summertime! Another fun fruit treat is frozen bananas with a drizzle of chocolate syrup. (The Cherry Berry Bread at left is in my cookbook Dig In.)

The important displaimer is that I don’t have kids, so my advice doesn’t come from first-hand experience! But I wouldn’t recommend forcing your child to eat something, bargaining with them, or creating tension between you and your wife over the issue! Your goal is to find new healthy foods that your son – and your whole family-  likes. If you present it that way, they may be more amenable to go along with it. Start an initiative for all of you to try some new foods, maybe one person picks a new item from the produce section each week and everybody has to try? Or look for recipes on the internet for things that might go over well, and ask your family if they’ll try them out.

Lastly, rest assured that most children develop to be fine, healthy adults, despite lackluster veggie intake, especially if they eat several pieces of fruit a day. Of course, 5 a day or more would be ideal, but don’t create too much stress over the issue – or they might resist you even more! Encourage them to eat the ones they like, and don’t push the ones they hate. If it helps to know, I didn’t eat many veggies as a kid or teen, and now there’s no stopping me. I just had to find my own way into it, when my health (and weight) became priorities for me. Right now, they may not be priorities for your son, but that doesn’t mean he (and his food preferences) won’t change dramatically in years to come. Especially if he become a health buff like yours truly.

Hope this helps!  Check back in once you give some of this stuff a try. Hey parents out there! How do you encourage your kids to eat vegetables (and fruit)?  Got a smart tip to share? – contribute it please by leaving a comment! - Georgie

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