Vegetables are essential sources of many nutrients your body needs for healthy growth. They are rich in potassium, dietary fiber, folate (folic acid), vitamin A, and vitamin C. these load of nutrient protect you against some diseases, reduce blood levels of homocysteine (a risk factor for coronary heart disease), type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart (cardiovascular) disease, cancer, and high blood pressure. Apart from the earlier mentioned benefits of vegetables, they also provided some benefits that are peculiar to young children. These benefits include; immune system boost which protects them against childhood diseases, healthy growth and development, prevent constipation, and ensures proper function of the digestive system. Vegetables should be an essential part of your child’s diet. Get your kids familiar with varieties of healthy vegetables.
Children at times could be fussy
about their food and there may be several possible reasons for this behavior. Children within the ages of 2-6 years are sometimes faced with the fear of the unknown when they are being exposed to a new kind of diet. This fear is called Food neophobia. Here are simple tips on how to get children to eat veggies.
Start Early
If there is any behavior you want to imbibe into your kids, the best and easiest time to do that is when they’re still very little. A lifetime behavior inculcated into little children is often very difficult for them to depart from it when they grow older. Get your kids to like vegetables as soon as you start introducing them to solid foods. Start by adding a very little portion to their meal, it makes them familiar with vegetables early.
Start Early
Young children are attracted to beautiful and colourful things. Make your vegetables more appealing to your kids by adding some spice and colour. This will trick their brain into eating the colour and what is beneath it (the vegetable). You can consider preparing these colorful vegetable recipes as bait to wining your child into eating vegetables
Invite Them to Help In the Kitchen
Although kids are not essentially needed when it comes to kitchen chores, there is a special feeling have when they get the rare privilege to help with such special chores. Since they were involved in the process of preparation of the vegetable dish, they’ll be proud of what they made, and wouldn’t be willing to waste it. This will also get them used to the idea of making their own vegetable diet, rather than relying on junks or frozen processed foods.
4. Lead by Example
One of the best ways to influence someone to do something is to be a leading example. If you eat vegetables regularly, your kids will adopt the same behavior easily. You make it more compelling by asking them to join you in your meal. When they see you enjoying your varieties of vegetable diet, they would be compelled to love their vegetables.
5. Educate Them
Don’t force your child to eat a vegetable, instead, make them see reasons why vegetables are important for healthy living. Make them read books that reveal the importance of vegetables for their health. Here are five books that will educate your children about vegetables;
Plants feed me
Sophie’s squash
Edible numbers
Edible colors
Anywhere farm