This post is an extension of the Picky Eaters blog post from a couple weeks ago. One of the diet changes that is a part of healing the gut is increasing vegetable and fruit intake. They are some of the most nutritious foods that all of our bodies need! It can be hard for kids to eat enough fruits and veggies, and often parents throw in the towel with this goal, especially if kids make make it difficult! This post (and future chapter in the book) offers some tips that will hopefully help your family promote more eating of vegetables and fruit!

Eating vegetables is a vital step in healing eczema, but they are just as important to the growth and development of children. Proper intake of fruits and vegetables help:

• bone formation
• brain function
• dental health
• immune support
• sickness prevention
• hydration
• better academic performance
• add important prebiotics to our guts, that then feed the good bacteria, probiotics

These tips include ways to help your children eat more fruits and vegetables!

Tip: Explain the health benefits of eating the rainbow.

I think our kids are smarter than the credit we give them. If we start to teach them at a young age that certain foods can be of benefit to them, it can potentially have a lasting impression. You could start off with simple phrases such as “carrots can help our eyes see better!” and “leafy greens help your body heal after a boo-boo!” Our bodies are made to take care of us, heal from sickness and injury, and keep us going. But it is our job to put the “correct gas in the car” so to speak. If we fuel our bodies properly, it will pay us back with better health. This is not foolproof, and nutrition should be based on bio-individuality, but in general, food from the earth contains more vitamins, minerals, and nutrients to help fuel us properly.

Dr. Temple told me about a website called MyFoodData.com where you can look up the nutrients in each food. You can also go to the Nutrient Ranking Tool, pick a nutrient, such as calcium, and then the Vegetable category. It will give you the top veggies that contain calcium.

This blog post has an excellent idea of how to teach kids about eating the rainbow! And it lists some benefits of each color of fruit and vegetable.

Tip: Make it colorful and appealing to kids. Try snack plates or muffin tins.

Kids are more likely to eat it if they see it already prepared and visually appealing. Have it all cut, peeled, and ready to eat. Put a few different items out so that they have the freedom to choose.

This is a similar idea to some of the tips I discussed in the Picky Eaters blog post, but I wanted to reiterate it.

Snack plates – Place cut/peeled fruits and veggies out on a plate for an afternoon snack, rather than letting the kids raid the pantry. This example is too large for a snack, but it could be plenty for a family dinner! Add nuts, peanut butter, or almond butter to dip the fruit in, and hummus for the veggies.

Try the same idea as the snack plate, but use a muffin tray instead. Kids always think this is really fun!

Tip: Remove and replace

Speaking of not raiding the pantry, it is time to get rid of the overly-processed, sugary junk food. If we get it out of our homes, we will be less tempted by it. Also, that food can be pricey, and it’s much better to spend that money on fresh produce. If you do not have cookies staring at your kids in the pantry, but do have a container of cut strawberries in the fridge that are ready to eat, they’ll be more likely to reach for the berries.

Tip: Plant a vegetable garden, or at least one in a pot

I may not have a green thumb, but I do have a goal of a couple potted vegetables on our deck this spring and summer! One year my oldest son planted a seed in his class. He brought it home, and once it had sprouted, we planted it in a pot in the back yard. It was a sugar snap pea plant, and when those peas grew, you know what he did? He ate them! Did he ever eat snap peas, or any other type of pea, any other time? Nope. The fact that he had a hand in growing them enticed him to try them!

My middle son loves to see what his grandma and grammy grow. Last year he loved seeing how many tiny tomatoes my mother-in-law grew! She also took us to a local farm and the owner showed us around her lovely gardens. She gave each of the boys a tiny potato she and grown and they couldn’t wait to try them.

There is something amazing about tending a garden, and even though my thumb is more black than green, I’m determined to incorporate this practice in our home.

Tip: Make it a family challenge. Count your plant points 

Dr. Temple just finished running a Plant Point Challenge on her instagram (see this post for all of the details), and it helped a lot of families. You can get your family involved in this any time! Keep a chart of every single plant that your family eats, and even make it a competition if that will work for your people. Count them all up, and if you have competitive people in your house, they’ll want to rack up plant points, too! Encourage everyone with a prize for who earns the most points.

Check her highlight called Plant Points for more info and a chart to keep up with your plant points!

Tip: Focus on the fruits and vegetables that they do like, and gradually add in new ones

My boys will eat broccoli with no complaints, so that is a vegetable I serve often. My oldest likes it raw or steamed, and my middle will eat it those ways or roasted. When I make roasted broccoli as a side dish, I leave some raw for my oldest, because, hey, at least he is still eating broccoli! They will also both eat carrots, cucumber, spinach, kale, potatoes and sweet potatoes, but they do not like zucchini! So I rarely make zucchini for them. I ask them to try it again on occasion, but I do not force it.

The more we present foods to our kids, the more they will get used to them, so it is vital that we keep trying.

Tip: Purchase frozen fruits and veggies

Frozen produce is often more affordable than fresh, and it’s a great way to purchase fruits and veggies for smoothies, oatmeal, and for steaming vegetables. I do try to buy organic if it is an item on the Dirty Dozen list. Buying in bulk from somewhere like Costco might be the most cost-effective for your family. Frozen fruits and vegetables are flash-frozen, so they do retain most of their nutrients, especially compared to canned veggies or packaged fruit.

Speaking of packaged fruit, make sure to check the labels on any fruit squeeze packs or cups that you buy for your kids. They are often high in sugar.

Tip: Skip the kids menu

Conventional kids menus are made up of a lot of carbs, fried food, and chicken, pizza, and burgers. They tend to skip the vegetables. Order food for your kids off of the adult menu, and make slight adjustments as needed. It is important to introduce your kids to “real” food rather than always letting them think that they have to eat “kid” food.

Tip: Try smoothies

Find a smoothie recipe that your kids will love. It may take some trial and error, but you can definitely get at least one fruit and veggie in each smoothie. For some kids, it is the only way they’ll eat any kind of produce. The easiest green to hide in a smoothie is baby spinach, but frozen cauliflower rice is also easy to disguise. Here are a couple smoothie recipes we love:

The Chocolate Banana Greens Smoothie

Mycah Hunter’s Pink Lemonade Smoothie

The Green Smoothie in this post

The books Plant Over Processed and The Smoothie Project also have some great ideas!

Tip: Try homemade juice. Skip the apple juice. Flavor their water.

I have a whole post about this, linked here. You do not need a juicer to make homemade green juice! You can absolutely make it in a blender and strain through cheesecloth or a nut milk bag. The only negative about juicing is that you do not ingest the whole fruit or vegetable, so some of the fiber is missing. But it is still a great way to get some extra vitamins in, and to introduce your kids to new things.

Be careful with store-bought juices, as they are often loaded with sugar! Your kids do not need apple juice. A bottle or sippy cup filled with a sugary beverage will make them grow accustomed to having a sugary drink, and they will not learn to appreciate plain water, or the taste of the actual fruit.

If your kids want their water to be more fun, try adding pieces of fruit, herbs, or cucumber. Some great combinations are watermelon + lime; cucumber + mint; berries + orange slices.

Tip: Make it fun!

Look for ideas on Pinterest of how to serve veggies in a new way that is super kid-friendly. You can find posts with ideas for how to make animal shapes out of fruits and veggies. Here is one post that I found with lots of fun ideas.

Do not stress yourself out and commit to more than one or two of these a week! Have your child sit with you while you glance through this post and together you can pick out one or two pictures to try.

Tip: Add vegetables in small amounts to foods and sauces

You can gradually increase your family’s plant intake by adding veggies to foods that they already like to eat:

• Make a pan of nachos and add finely chopped spinach, black beans, and cilantro
• When spinach is cooked, it is easily disguised
• Add a finely chopped green to tacos or lasagna
• Blend up some extra veggies into your spaghetti sauce
• Make vegan nacho “cheese” sauce
• Use half rice, half cauliflower rice in stir fry or burrito bowl

Tip: Make homemade fries, with the addition of sweet potatoes and carrots.

When I make homemade oven fries, I typically do a mix of white or gold potatoes, plus sweet potatoes and carrots. We give our boys a variety, even though they’d prefer to just have white potatoes. But it is important to add some orange veggies to their plates. These are great to pair with burgers or as a side dish to chicken or any protein. Plus it allows them to dip them in ketchup or another sauce, which always helps at our house.

Tip: Make a dip for veggies

Speaking of ketchup, I love to make sauces for vegetables, or at least have some store-bought options on hand. Having a dip helps promote more veggie eating, because it allows the kids to add flavor and have a bit more control over what they’re eating.

Some store-bought ideas that are great:

• Primal Kitchen ketchup
• Tessemae’s Avocado Ranch
• Kite Hill dairy free ranch dip
• organic hummus (Roots brand is great)
• Trader Joe’s Romesco Dip

If you want to try a homemade dip, here are some great recipes:

• Pinch of Yum kale pesto
• Green Goddess Dip (can be made with DF or goat’s milk yogurt and feta)
• Pinch of Yum 5 Minute Magic Green Sauce

Tip: Fruit for dessert

Start offering fruit after dinner. One way to keep the conversation and time together going after dinner is through dessert. But because we do not want to end every meal with sugar, try offering fruit. It helps to have some fruit already prepped in the refrigerator, so that it’s easy to grab. My boys love banana dipped in almond butter; cut up strawberries; berry mix; cut up pineapple.

Tip: Do not rely on a vitamin

Vitamins can be great, but they should not be relied on to get all of their nutritional needs. Ideally, we all want to get our necessary nutrients from food, and supplements are just an added bonus, or a way to help if a person is deficient in something. Eating whole fruits and veggies are a much better source than a Flintstone gummy. 😉

Dr. Temple will cover more about vitamins and supplements in her posts and chapters, and this instagram post may also help with vitamin questions.

Tip: Keep trying

Keep putting these foods on their plates. Will they like it immediately? Probably not. But that doesn’t mean that we have to give up. Kids CAN learn to like new things! And the more they see a food in the house, on their plates, and their family members eating it, the more accustomed to it they’ll be. It is okay if a child has a food that they never like. What is not okay is if they never eat anything “from the earth.” All people need fruits and vegetables, even if one child prefers peas, broccoli, and carrots, and the other child would rather have sweet potato, spinach, and brussel sprouts.

Try the one-bite rule. I mentioned this in my Picky Eaters post, but in our house, we always make our kids take one bite of something new. Last week it was beets. They were not huge fans, but the goal was just to expose them to something new. We didn’t make them eat any more than that one tiny bite of beet! We will try again next time.

I would encourage you to take one of these tips at a time. Do not stress yourself out by trying to make a massive change overnight. Look at this as a gradual adjustment for your household! Parents, you can do this. You can make healthy changes at home!