Tickling the Taste Buds With Turnips
I hear all too often that children don’t like vegetables. What many adults may not realize is that your taste buds change as you age. What you didn’t like at six may be your favorite food at thirty. Unfortunately, for adults trying to teach their little ones to eat healthier, the vegetable is often a source of dining room tantrums. So how do you get your children to love their veggies? Is there a way to help them acquire a taste for them?
For Those New to Eating Vegetables
The best way to help your children love vegetables is to start them out early. Often baby food in jars has preservatives that you’d rather they not eat. (Commercial baby food has been cooked and sits in those jars on a shelf waiting for you to reheat them like a mini TV dinner.) For the most part, your baby or toddler can eat what you eat. As you wean them from bottle or breast to food you simply introduce a new food every week or so to make sure their tummy can handle it. Buying a simple hand grinder can make going out to eat simpler. You just take a little off your plate and grind it up for them. If you have ever tasted baby food from jars you can see why they make those icky faces to most of the vegetable choices. You can take control of what your little one is consuming by simply making it yourself! Another beginner’s lesson is to not start them on fruit right away. Ever notice how after you have had something sweet non-sweet things can taste different? When you start your little one from breast or bottle to fruits you can run the risk of them having a sweet tooth – and the vegetable will seem too bitter. I know there are some moms out there that will say their child did just fine and ate vegetables without issue. If that is the case – YAY! Many of us didn’t get it so lucky. I’m not saying don’t ever give them fruit, just not at the same time as introducing a vegetable and certainly not right before.
What About The Seasoned Eater?
My husband swore for years that he hated goat milk. I wanted our family to stay cow milk free and I knew that there was a possibility that switching to goat milk could solve his lactose intolerance. (This doesn’t work for everyone, but it did for him!) We are fortunate to live in the country and have an organic goat farmer who lives directly behind us and across the field. I had always assumed that my husband hated goat milk because he must have tried some really “goaty” milk at one time or tried store bought goat milk. Store bought has often times been pasteurized and it can taste like you licked a goat. Bleck! One day I found out that he had never actually had goat milk before – he had just somehow formed this opinion from thin air. To make a long story short, he thought he was pouring cow milk into his cereal one day and happily ate away, telling me he loved the new organic cow milk I’ve been buying. Needless to say, I have won the argument to switch to goat milk. This same thing can be applied to children. If you disguise your vegetables often times you can sneak it into their diet. Once they exclaim how much they love the smoothie, juice, dessert, or casserole you can let them know that they just ate kale (or whatever veggies you chose). This will help them associate kale as being yummy! Fresh juices are a great way to get those veggies into their bodies and they get all the vitamins and nutrients fast! Roasting vegetables in the oven, shredding zucchini into pancakes, and making baked sweet potato fries are all great ideas to help get your kids loving vegetables. Keep it fun, keep it fresh, and always wash with a chemical-free, organic food wash like iGOZEN!
Applications & Resources for the (Soon to Be) Lover of Vegetables
- Check out SheKnows for how eating organic can improve your child’s health
- Read more at Summer Tomato for 11 great tips
- Go to What to Expect for some advice to help your toddler love her veggies
- Find some fun recipes at allRecipes, just remember to use coconut oil for safety and organic ingredients!