"NO! I DON'T WANT TO EAT THE BROCCOLI."
Nearly every parent has had this struggle and over time itâs probably got you feeling angry and deflated. As much as it may seem a futile task, getting your kids to eat their veggies is possible (and very important).
âKids are laying down the foundation for a healthy life as an adult, so itâs incredibly important they get all those vitamins and minerals that you only get from vegetables,â accredited practising dietician Caroline Trickey told The Huffington Post Australia.
Unfortunately, kids just arenât eating enough veggies. In 2014-15, just 5.4 percent of all children aged 2-18 met the guidelines for recommended daily serves of vegetables. Only one in 20 children met both guidelines for fruit and vegetable intake.
High vegetable intake in early life can lead to a decreased risk of a range of health issues, including cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
But how do we get our stubborn kids to eat these important nutritious foods to fuel their days and their future?
According to Trickey, mostly itâs being open and encouraging -- but also about smartly tricking them, too.
Get the kids involved
âTry to make it interesting and fun -- get them involved in the process,â Trickey said.
âMaybe grow a veggie patch or take your kids to their grandparents if they have a garden,â Trickey said. âJust getting the kids in the garden to explain what weâre doing will encourage them to eat the vegetables.â
Taking the kids to the fruit and vegetable shop (not the lolly-filled supermarket) is another way to help encourage children to eat veggies they havenât eaten before.
âYou can go in and show them all the pretty colours and talk about them,â Trickey said. âInstead of saying, âHow about we try carrots?â you could say, âHow about we try orange foodsâ or ask, âHave you tried orange foods before?ââ
Be persistent (but gentle)
âA lot of parents have this misconception that if their kid doesnât like broccoli theyâre not going to eat any other vegetables,â Trickey said.
âThere will be something that your kid eats -- whether itâs raw carrot sticks or cherry tomatoes -- so put that on the plate with a very small amount of another vegetable,â Trickey said. âIf they donât want it say, âjust take one bite and if you donât want to take any more thatâs fine, but just take one bite'.â
âNever give up on getting them to try things, because taste buds do change as you get older (and childrenâs tastes can change as quickly as the weather).â
Donât yell
âWhen we get upset we all start to feel it in our stomach, so if you get a kid upset and youâre trying to get them to eat something, they are going to feel that anxiety in their stomach and thatâs going to make them feel quite uncomfortable -- and thereâs no way youâre going to get them to eat,â Trickey said.
âDonât yell at them -- just talk to them in a nice, encouraging voice.â
Often the reason why children push back is from the reaction they get from the parents.
âFor kids any attention is attention, whether itâs good or bad, whether theyâre being praised or in trouble -- especially when they havenât seen mum and dad all day,â Trickey said.
Lead by example
âMany parents tell me, âMy kids wonât eat vegetablesâ and I ask them, âDo you eat them?ââ Trickey said.
âHow are you going to get a kid to eat vegetables if you donât?â
âKids learn from their parents so if theyâre not exampling, kids wonât eat them.â
Childrenâs hesitation to be wary of vegetables may also link back to Palaeolithic instincts, according to Trickey.
âWhen you look at nature and how we have managed to survive over the years, we are actually built to be careful of food we try,â Trickey said. âIf you saw something bright on a bush, you would be careful because once upon a time it might have killed us.
âWe still have these innate abilities to be really, really careful of foods we donât quite know about -- this is another time where itâs important for parents to be exampling to assure their kids that these vegetables are okay.â
Make veggies interesting
âDonât give them steamed vegetables on the plate with nothing on them,â Trickey said.
Instead, find vegetables they do like and use them in your dinners with lots of flavour.
Kids learn by imitating, so show your kids how you eat vegetables.
Try these clever tips to sneak veggies into these popular dishes:
Spaghetti or pasta
âSome kids will still pick out grated vegetables from pasta sauce, so if you do have a kid whoâs really fussy like that, then puree the vegetables because it just becomes part of the sauce,â Trickey told HuffPost Australia.
When introducing pureed veggies, Trickey recommends starting small.
âStart with a small amount of vegetables -- maybe a quarter of a cup of pureed vegetables -- and then slowly gradually increase the amount,â Trickey said. âUsually kids canât tell that small difference.
âZucchini is great to sneak or hide in food because it doesnât really have a taste. Itâs not bitter like broccoli -- if you try to puree broccoli your kids will be more likely to taste it.â
Lasagne
âAgain, lasagna is another great one to add pureed vegetables in as part of the sauce,â Trickey said.
âYou could also try raw zucchini slices instead of pasta sheets.â
Soup
âBlended soups are really good,â Trickey said. âBut be wary -- if your kid doesnât eat pumpkins and the orange soup you make is made from carrots, theyâre probably going to associate it with pumpkins and not eat it.â
Soup may also be a winner by adding interesting extra elements.
âSometimes kids will eat soup that has pasta in it, so you could add zucchini noodles with the pasta.â
Casserole
When it comes to adding vegetables in casseroles, Trickey recommends using the pureed veggies trick.
âIf you puree the vegetables and find that itâs too watery, then add in some red lentils to thicken it up,â Trickey said. âThat way youâre getting more vitamins, minerals and fibre.â
The key to getting kids to eat veggies is making sure they are packed with flavour.
Roast meat with veggies
Although this one is a bit tricky, Trickey has a great tip.
âI have parents who roll vegetables in dukkah seasoning and roast them like that,â Trickey said.
âKids will love them, especially carrots -- carrots rolled in dukkah are delicious.â
Burgers
âYou could make homemade hamburgers and grate some vegetables into them and serve that with salad,â Trickey said.
âAgain, have some vegetables that the kids will eat. It might be that they like carrots, so grate zucchini into the burgers and have carrots on the side.â
Stir-fry
âItâs funny, in my experience, about half of fussy kids that donât eat vegetables will eat stir fry,â Trickey said.
âIf you think about stir fry, itâs usually got some pretty powerful flavours in the sauce. If you have vegetables with a tasty sauce on them, they donât taste like vegetables any more -- they taste like really yummy teriyaki sauce.â
Fish and chips
âIf making it at home, limit the serving size and serve a salad on the side -- or you could make veggie fritters in place of some of the chips,â Trickey said.
âIf this is difficult, just donât serve it very often.â
Mexican
âThis is easy -- serve tacos with lettuce, grated carrot, tomato, cucumber slices and make it fun,â Trickey said. âOr make wraps filled with meat, beans and salad.â
âMost kids like Mexican because you get to use your hands rather than knives and forks.â
Frittata and quiche
âKids tend to like frittata, even if it is full of veggies,â Trickey said.
âDepending on the age of the kids, making mini frittatas are a great idea as they are an easy-to-eat finger food -- I roast my veggies first so they are really tasty (think roast pumpkin, roasted capsicum), or you could try grating or dicing them small and cover with cheese on top so they canât see the veggies.â