10 Hacks to Get Your Kids (and You) to Eat More Vegetables

“Lettuce Turnip the Beet®” – Elektra

We all want our kids to eat more vegetables, but most kids consume far less than they should. It can be a constant struggle  – “Finish your veggies then you can have dessert.” Ever say this? Bad idea. Research shows that children learn to prefer the reward food over the “have to eat” food. This is why it’s so important to offer tasty vegetables often and model healthy eating.

There are ways to get your kids to eat their greens…and enjoy them. Our kids will down a salad before you have a chance to put dressing on it (homemade dressing, of course). In fact, check out this video of Brixton eating some collard greens fresh from the garden.

Here are ten ways Taneen and I have gotten our kids to eat their veggies, lots of them, on a daily basis. Heck, these hacks might even get you to eat more veggies too!

1. Start early – I’m talking womb early – There is a strong connection between what moms eat and later food preferences of their child. Compounds from the foods a pregnant woman eats travel through the amniotic fluid to her baby. After birth, babies prefer the foods they were exposed to in utero, a phenomenon scientists call “prenatal flavor learning. So it’s just as important for the soon-to-be mother to eat her vegetables as it is the kids. It’s so important to start them off at an early age, if not earlier.
2. Make a green smoothie – You can add a cup of spinach to any smoothie with almost no impact to taste. It’s actually surprising. We’ll sometimes replace spinach with a few leaves of de-stemmed kale, although this tastes “greener.”

3. Make kale chips – Kale chips are delicious, easy and the kids will love them, especially if they help make them. Take the steams out of the kale, put the kale leaves into a bowl and pour a little olive oil over them. Mix them around real good so the olive oil covers all the leaves. Spread out the leaves over a tray and sprinkle with sea salt. Place the tray in the oven at 350-375 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the kale is a little crispy.

4. Green eggs & ham – Not only do kids like the Dr. Seuss’ story; they also love to recreate it. Finely chop spinach and add it to their scrambled eggs. The healthy fat in the egg yolks will also enhance the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins like A, E and K found in the spinach. Your kids will eat them here or there, they’ll eat them ANYWHERE!
5. Meat muffs & mashed-potato topping – Say what?? These were originally called Mina’s Meat Muffs (don’t be dirty :-)), named after Taneen’s sister’s invention. She was going to make meatloaf until she found out she didn’t have the right pan so she used a muffin pan instead. Over the years, Taneen and I have improved the recipe, now adding spinach, onions and lots of healthy spices. We even top them with mashed-potato “frosting” so they look like cupcakes. These are actually one of my favorite meals that Taneen makes.
6. Hulk juice – If you have a juicer, try adding a few vegetables like spinach, carrots or kale, to some freshly juiced apples. Then tell your kids that it’s Hulk juice and it will make them strong and healthy.

7. Load the veggies with butter – Not only do veggies taste delicious with a fat like butter (especially broccoli and sweet potato), like I mentioned, it will also enhance the absorption of the fat-soluble vitamins. I prefer and highly recommend real butter, especially grass-fed butter like KerryGold which is higher in omega-3’s, CLA, beta-carotene Vitamin A, K, D, and E and even antioxidants. Butter also contains an anti-inflammatory fatty acid called butyrate. Please avoid margarine and low-fat, low-cholesterol “spreads” since these often contain the unhealthy trans fats that should be avoided.

8. Start a garden – This is a great way to get your kids interested in and bring them closer to, something that’s been lost in our culture. It’s a wonderful skill to learn and will help them develop an interest in where their food comes from (which has also been lost in today’s mega-supermarket convenience.) Your kids are more likely to eat what they helped grow. Both our kids will go out to our garden and pick tomatoes or mint and eat it right there, sometimes when they’re not even completely ripe.

9. Vary the vegetables you give them and the shapes – You may be surprised what they will actually eat. If you try all different kinds, you may find one, two or more that they like. We gave Brixton beets and he loved them at first bite.According to a recent study, cutting the veggies into shapes and different sizes led to increased consumption. “Shape was very influential; children clearly preferred having their vegetables cut.” Stars were liked the most. It turns out that size only mattered for the whole chunk: the ordinary size was preferred to the miniature versions.
10. Don’t give up – If your child initial rejects a veggie, don’t give up. Children tend to reject unfamiliar foods on the first few tries. Evolutionarily, it makes sense for an inexperienced creature to be cautious about new foods, which might, after all, be poisonous. It is only through repeated exposure and mimicry that toddlers adjust to new tastes — it may take 6 to 10 tries. Their tastes change and they may eventually want to eat a veggie they rejected before. Suri initially wouldn’t touch sauerkraut. But we tried multiple times and now she loves it. You may be surprised.

And guess what has the biggest impact on kids eating vegetables… the parent‘s consumption!

DO IT NOW: Try one of these ideas tonight and let me know if it works.

What hacks have you tried and which have worked?

Click here for a few FREE kid approved recipes (including the Meat Muffs!)