Get Your Kids to Eat More Vegetables!
By Sara Butler
It’s something you may struggle with every day -- the classic tug-of-war at the dinner table as you fight to get your children to eat their vegetables. There are some tricks you can use to turn your vegetable hater into a vegetable lover, and they won't suspect you're tricking them (too much). Here are a few easy ways to get your kids to eat their vegetables tonight!
Don’t Skip the Butter
To butter your kids up at the table, butter up their vegetables! Butter has gotten a bad reputation in years past, but there’s plenty of evidence these days that butter is actually better for you than margarine. Plus, adding butter to vegetables that can be bitter, such as Brussels sprouts and broccoli, can help to mitigate the bitterness and make it more palatable to your child’s sensitive taste buds at the dinner table. Butter can go pretty far to mask some bitterness. The bitterness that just happens to signal what they’re eating is full of stuff that’s good for them!
Don’t Let Them Snack Before Dinner
If your kids are hungry, then they’ll eat. If you’ve given into them and let them have a snack before dinner, then it’ll be a lot harder to convince them to eat those vegetables. Conversely, provide them with vegetable-dense afterschool snacks such as carrots or celery. This way you can make sure they get their vegetables out of the way first.
Give Them Dip
Several studies have found that kids are more inclined to eat vegetables if they have a little dip with them. Ranch dressing is often the preferred, but you can try to swap out not-so-healthy ranch with ranch made with Greek yogurt. It’s easy to make yourself and much healthier. Hummus is also a great alternative!
Everyone Is Doing It, Right?
You may want to raise your child to be independent and not follow the crowd, but the truth is kids are inclined to follow the leader. Use this to your advantage as you get them to eat their vegetables. Find kids that do like to eat their vegetables and get your child to follow their lead. They’ll succumb to peer pressure and maybe try something new – something that’s good for them!
A balanced diet is healthy for everyone, so make sure you’re eating your vegetables, too! You make a great role model for you kids!
To learn more about your health and wellness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic.
