8 tips and steps to get your kids to eat more vegesbals

I cannot stress this enough. Not everbody loves plain flavorless vegetables. And here is where primal and mediterranean cuisine can do miracles. The fact that there are numerous dishes that are exclusively made with vegetables, cooked in olive oil/ good fast and herbs and served with feta is an effective reason. Instead of handing some carrot sticks to your kids, try making the vegetables almost decadent by cooking them.

One average serving for a child, will provide between 3-4 servings of vegetables. So kids actually do not need to worry about getting more vegetables the rest of the day.

There are several books and articles that give you advice on how to sneak in vegetables so that your kids won’t notice them. What message are we sending here? That vegetables are undesirable and therefore they should be somehow hidden from our kids. Not a very effective way to get your kids to like vegetables if they don’t even know what they are eating. Prepare the vegetables with plenty of good fats and flavor and they will be quite tasty.

A plain lettuce salad will not do the trick when it comes to kids. You need other ingredients that will provide texture, flavor and excitement! Make dressings using olive oil, vinegar and a bit of honey or jam. Add nuts, seeds, cheese and whole wheat croutons for more texture. In the summer, kids love a traditional Greek salad with tomatoes, olives, cucumbers and feta cheese.

Once your kids finds that vegesabls not only are health but grat tasing. In other words when we set the example, meaning that we genuinely as adults like vegetables than the kids will also get that message. By sending the message that vegetables are only good for health and not really something that tastes good or desirable, you are sabotaging all your efforts.

Ideally, I would like my kids to love all vegetables, but they do have their favorites periodically, so I serve those most often. My one daughter loves carrots and olives in salads, so on some days that may be the only type of vegetable she eats and that’s ok. Introduce or incorporate a variety of vegetables, but don’t worry if they prefer specific vegetables.

I often just ask my kids what vegetables they want. It’s as simple as that, we choose and then I’ll prepare it. Avoid interfering or judging their choices, as long as it’s a vegetable (except potatoes), it’s fine.

If you have children who are quite young, making home made purees with vegetables, a bit of olive oil and herbs is a great (and easy) way to get kids accustomed to the taste of vegetables. Processed baby food is often very mild in flavor when it comes to vegetables, while that may sound like a good idea, it isn’t because once children start eating real vegetables, they may reject them because the flavor is stronger.

Some days kids just don’t want to eat vegetables or whatever other food you have offered them, adults are the same way. Give them a break, let it go and know that nothing bad will happen if they don’t eat vegetables for one day. Pressuring them to eat vegetables gives them the message that vegetables are a necessary evil, when in fact they are not.