7 Steps to a Veggie Lovin' Kid

by Richard Visser, D.C., Ph.D.

Let's face it: No one ever gets overweight by eating too many carrots. Vegetables have low levels of fat, salt, and sugar, and have high levels of nutrients and fiber. This means that when your kids eat their veggies, they're getting great vitamins, no bad stuff -- and they'll feel full when they're done. So how do you get your kids interested in these nutritious foods? The more involved children are in the selection and preparation of what they're going to eat, the more excited they will be about the food.

Tips The next time you're in a grocery store or farmer's market, let each child pick out one vegetable to try each day for the next week. (Start off slow, with just one new vegetable for the week.) Ask the farmer or produce manager where it was grown, how it grows (on a tree, in the ground), and how long it takes from seed to harvest.

Have your child select a rainbow of vegetables to eat during the next week, or pick one weekly color (all red this week, or green, or yellow, or white, or blue.) Make a rainbow chart and write down the names (or draw pictures) of veggies he or she has tried, or start the chart full of veggies, and check off each one as your child tries it.

Let your child help you find recipes for these new veggies, either in recipe books or on the Internet. Read aloud "how does this recipe sound?" or have them look at the photo of the finished dish. Announce at dinnertime "tonight we're eating X that our child picked out, found a recipe for, and helped me cook," and have everyone praise the child for his or her efforts.

Remember that kids mimic your behavior-if you make a face at a veggie, or say you don't like something, they're certainly not going to try it!

Vegetable soup is an easy way to incorporate a dozen vegetables into one meal! Make a large batch, then freeze dinner-size portions for later use.

Wash and cut up celery, red peppers, broccoli, cauliflower (or buy them pre-cut) and keep these fresh snacks at kids' eye level in the fridge. No cutting is required for green beans, sugar snap peas, and snow peas, which all taste great when raw. Pack some with their lunch or as an on-the-go snack.

Your child's stomach is much smaller than an adult's, so just a few bites of veggies will be a sufficient portion size-remember, it's about variety, not quantity. For a three-year old, the recommended two and a half cups of five different fruits and vegetables means only a few pieces of each one. And that's an easy goal.

Dr, Visser Recommends The following are some of the vegetables that pack the most nutritional punch: Popeye would agree that spinach contains lots of beta carotene, vitamin C, folate, iron, potassium, and calcium. Have your kids try fresh spinach sautéed in olive oil, or a raw spinach salad tossed with almonds and dried cranberries, or Greek spanakopita (spinach, cheese, and pastry pie). Yum. Kale and collard greens are great sources of beta carotene, vitamin C, folate, calcium, and fiber. Substitute greens anywhere you use spinach (cooked, that is), since the taste and texture is very similar, though it's less bitter than spinach. A baked sweet potato with butter and a little brown sugar or maple syrup is tasty and provides lots of potassium, vitamin C, beta carotene, and fiber. Try yams wherever you use regular potatoes: baked sweet potato fries or mashed sweet potatoes are delicious. Carrots have loads of beta carotene and fiber and are a great crunchy snack when raw. Besides a side dish of carrots and peas, try carrots mashed (just like potatoes) or roasted. The next time you make a batch of chili or tomato sauce for pasta, add grated carrots at the beginning so they can cook for at least 15 minutes-the texture mimics ground meat. Cauliflower can also be mashed like potatoes. Eat cauliflower alone or mix it into mashed potatoes as hidden nutrition. Red bell peppers provide vitamin C, beta carotene, and fiber. Try peppers raw, sliced into thin strips. When roasted until sweet, they make great toppings for sandwiches or burgers, as well as tasty additions to soups, salsas, pestos, and tomato-based pasta sauces. When choosing lettuce, darker colors like romaine or red leaf are much more nutritious than iceberg-and look more appealing, too. Go for color when you're buying lettuce.

Dr. Richard Visser completed clinical research on 10,000 children and the obesity pandemic in Latin America and the United States. He's the director of the Visser Wellness and Research Center in Aruba, as well as CEO of SimplyH, LLC and Simply Toddler, LLC in Los Angeles. Dr. Visser works worldwide to raise awareness of proper nutrition for healthy and fit toddlers and children.