3 Easy Ways to Get Kids to Eat Fruits and Vegetables

Source: gpointstudio/istock

“How can I get my child to eat more fruits and vegetables?”

This is a question parents ask all the time. It can be tricky and downright frustrating.

A study in the journal Appetite reviewed 120 experimental studies to examine a variety of approaches to find out what works best. They included overt strategies (the child is aware you are trying to get them to eat it) and covert strategies (like purchasing only certain foods).

The strategies included parental control, reward, social facilitation (watching others eat it), cooking programs, school gardens, sensory education, availability and accessibility, choice architecture and nudging (making it the easy choice), branding and food packaging, preparation and serving style, and offering a choice.

The results...

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Trying to control (restriction, pressure to eat, and rewarding) children's eating behavior was counterproductive and may do more harm than good in the long run.

In fact, Gregory, Paxton, and Brozovic (2011) found that moms who used pressured to get their 1-year-old to eat fruits and vegetables could predict lower levels of fruit and vegetable intake at 2 years. Similarly, Galloway, Fiorito, Lee, and Birch (2005) found that mothers’ who used pressure when their daughters were 7 years old also predicted negative eating patterns two years later.

The risk with pressure is that it teaches children to override their internal cues of pleasure, hunger, and satiety. Mindful eating, which I focus on with parents, is about helping kids to pay attention to what information their bodies are giving them about food rather than following external rules (diets, parent’s instructions).

Source: Halfpoint/istock

Thumbs Up:

1. Hands-on: Approaches such as gardening and engaging children in the process of cooking had greater success in encouraging vegetable consumption and may have a larger effect compared to nutrition education, according to the research. Thus, getting your kids involved in shopping, gardening, and cooking can go a long way.
2. Access: Giving children free access to fruits and vegetables had long term effects as well. In other words, kids are simply more likely to eat foods that are in front of them and they are able to have. (Hint: put them in a fruit bowl in an easy to eat location).
3. Role modeling: Eat up! Kid have their eyes on you. Watching you eat fruits and vegetables is a great way to get your kids to eat them without the struggle.