July, 2001

Previous: Part I - School's Out, But Nutrition is Not

Tired of those battles with your eight-year-old at mealtime? Learn the most important thing you could do to make mealtimes easier...

Most kids have a dislike of vegetables. It may start with those mushy strained baby foods they ate as two and three-year olds. However, softened fruits and veggies don't have to taste terrible. Consider investing in a high-quality juicer, blender or food processor. Many of the modern ones, such as the Cuisinart DLC-10S Pro Classic, make excellent food for infants and children. You can slice, mash and shred whole fruits and vegetables, such as beets, broccoli, spinach, apples, and so forth.

Since a baby's taste buds prefer sweet foods, pineapple juice to your homemade baby food. Your baby needs to be introduced to vegetables and fruits this way, since babies cannot chew tough vegetables and fruits. When the baby is 8-10 months, you can use cooked, mashed vegetables, soft fruits, and fruits that have been peeled, seeded and finely chopped.

However, experts warn that you should not force a baby or growing child to accept a new food--in fact, you may have to introduce the food 200 times before your child will try it. You introduce one new food a week for babies, and if the baby rejects it, don't make an issue. For older children, refusing to eat vegetables may be a power issue. A two-year-old may enjoy saying "NO!" (repeatedly) when you put spinach in front of her. However, by eating your own food and by ignoring her, you encourage the "monkey see, monkey do" syndrome: if she sees you eating vegetables, she will most likely eat them. Also, remember that our taste buds grow less sensitive as we get older. Children, on average, have more taste buds than adults and may feel overwhelmed by raw fruits and vegetables. This may be why only one in five children eat the five servings a day the FDA recommends.

At the end of the day, however, you are still the prime motivator for what your child does and does not eat. You may assume that you don't have the time or money to prepare vegetables every day for those three growing kids. However, you can save time and money by using fresh, or dehydrated, fruits and vegetables. Buying a juicer can actually help you and your kids eat "Five A Day." For example, the advisory on Acme juicers says:

"Parents concerned about keeping their children healthy can give them wholesome raw juices everyday. You'll never have to worry about artificial ingredients. Kids love the naturally sweet taste of fresh juice, and you're assured of absolute quality and purity."

Fruit juices are the main source of natural sugar, but carrot juice actually contains substantial sugar and will appeal to children's taste buds. Don't be afraid to experiment with vegetable drinks. If your child rejects tomato juice and chooses a Coke, don't panic, and don't scold. This will only make your child avoid vegetables. Help your children learn to love healthy eating, and summer will be much more fun.

Your Kids Watch What You Eat

One last point. If you haven't been eating fruits and vegetables regularly, you may have trouble adjusting to the diet as well. Children are smart. They can observe that Mom insists on broccoli but snacks on French fries. Don't be surprised if they emulate the same dishonest behavior, or refuse to eat vegetables outright. A change in your family's eating habits starts with you. Think of all the foods you like. Do you enjoy Chinese food? Try a stir-fry for dinner, or have some peas and brown rice for lunch. Although former president George Bush dislikes broccoli, if you jazz it up with seasoning such as Gaylord Hauser Spike or Mrs. Dash, you may actually like
it. Introduce yourself to new foods. Your kids are watching. If you say no to pigging out on pizza or McDonald's, or balance a fatty-foods barbecue with a fruit smoothie in the morning, your kids will watch--and ask questions. Now that summer's here, you'll have plenty of time to give answers over a healthy dinner.