When my son started eating solids at 6 months, I was bound and determined to make sure he actually liked the taste of vegetables. Henry is almost 21 months old now, and I am happy to report that he loves vegetables!
As much as possible, I try and take a holistic approach in helping my son to grow and thrive. We look at food as medicine in our house to help fight inflammation and ward off colds and the flu. So far (knock on wood), my son has been relatively healthy this year. I believe that it is his (mostly) anti-inflammatory diet coupled with the right supplements.
Below are my tips and tricks to get your kids to eat more veggies!
- Start early. The first foods we offered my son were vegetables. In the beginning, he loved all of them. He doesn’t love all of them now, BUT he eats a wide variety. They certainly go through stages!
- Model. You have heard this before, but your kids are always watching. Just the other day, I was putting arugula in our salad and Henry asked for a bite. Turns out, he loves it. He also eats celery as an appetizer before dinner because I tend to munch on it while I am cooking. Keep offering bites of your veggies! You never know what they will like.
- Add veggies to eggs, sauces, and soups. One of my tried and true ways to get Henry to eat more veggies is to chop up spinach, tomatoes, broccoli, mushrooms, etc. and add them to his scrambled eggs. I can add a whole cup of spinach which is a huge win in my book.
- Add veggies to smoothies. Smoothies are a great way to load your kids up on veggies especially if you add things like berries or banana to make them sweeter.
- Make them flavorful. This was key in getting Henry to like vegetables. The minute I added some ghee, grass-fed butter, coconut oil, avocado, and sea salt, Henry devoured his vegetables. Kids need fat for their growing brains, so it is an added bonus that fat tastes so good!
Believe me, we have gone through phases where the vegetables ended up on the floor which, admittedly, made this holistic mama shed some tears of frustration, but I keep at it. There will never be a shortage of vegetables in our house, so Henry might as well get on board with liking them!
If you are having a hard time getting your kids to branch out and eat more real food, I would love to help you devise a strategy for you and your family. We are all in this together!
