4 Ways to Get Your Kids to Eat More Veggies!

This is a question I get a lot, "how do you get your kids to eat so many veggies?" or "how do I get my kids to eat more veggies?". We all want the best for our kiddos and we know that a diet full of healthy foods will help their growing bodies and brains....but how do we convince them to eat the good food we want them to?  Well, there is no silver bullet here and my best advise is always don't buy the crap you don't want them to eat. Having only healthy snacks at home makes it a lot easier to make healthy food choices. With that being said here are my 4 tips to get more veggies into your kids:

1. Be a good example. Kids are always watching and if you are not filling your plate with healthy choices they will not believe there is value in it for them. So, keep adding those yummy veggies to your plate and your kids will too.

2. Make it fun. When the boys were little we called broccoli "monkey trees" and we would look for tiny monkeys in them before eating them. We had "x-ray vision carrots" and "super power mushrooms", you never knew what super power you get until you eat one, then you might feel super strong or super fast....you never knew. Kids love fun so make veggies fun. 

3. Let them help. Well, help may not be how you really feel about having your kids in the kitchen but when they are part of the cooking process, they take ownership of the meal you made together. That ownership may lead to them trying new things and even eating more veggies. Dinner might take a little longer to cook but it is definitely worth it.

4. Put it on their plate. Even if you know that your kid is not going to eat asparagus, put it on their plate. If the veggies are always there, without pressure to eat them, they become more familiar and less foreign. Over time it might even make sense to try it and who knows, they might even like it.

With our palettes being trained by highly processed food that were made in a lab to have the ultimate flavor profile, veggies in comparison might not be as appealing. The advice above has helped me and many of my friends and family get their kids to eat more veggies but cutting down on processed foods and teaching kids to eat whole foods is going to help you even more. Enjoying good food with your kids is such a great gift for you and for them.