Seeking Advice on How to Get My Child to Eat Her Veggies

Look at campbells kitchen for some great recipes. Most of them are low fat.

Also, I cook regularly out of the American Hear Association Cookbook. They have many great veggies recipes.

Kudos to you for what you are doing!! It is HARD to get kids to eat veggies (and some adults too for that matter!) Sometimes you have to resort to down right trickery. Make spaghetti, and puree veggies like carrots into the sauce. Carrots are sweet, and she will NEVER know! Make pancakes with zucchini, carrots, sweet potatoes. There is a book called Deceptively Delicious with all kinds of recipes to hide healthy foods. I have never read it, but have friends who like it.

Another idea is to make it fun. For snack try "Ants on a log" a piece of celery with peanut butter and raisins. Make a jungle dinner "Tarzan meat" whatever lean meat you are serving, "Baby trees" broccoli. Get creative with the veggies you want her to eat. One more idea is to let her use some dipping sauces with her veggies like low fat ranch. There are some cool ideas and healthy recipes on Wholesometoddlerfood.com. Good luck!!

A few ideas I didn't see yet -- first of all, I strongly urge you to address your own weight problem first, because if you are yo-yoing yourself, I don't think your daughter's situation can meaningfully improve. She can learn to diet from a mother who is sometimes on and sometimes offf a diet herself, but she won't learn consistent, healthy eating. There are therapists and counselors who specialize in food issues, and some of them also run therapy groups, which are less expensive. Cheapest of all are 12 step meetings devoted to folks healing from destructive eating patterns -- Overeaters Anonymous is the oldest of these, but there are a couple of others out there as well, and meetings are open and free to all who need them and can be found online. One thing I find helpful for getting more veggies into my daughter is the new V8 juice that is half fruit and half vegetable juice

Best wishes!
M.

Hi T.,
you failed to mention the age of your daughter= unless she is extremely obese- I would not put her on weight watchers- but since you have- they have lots of "junk foods" that can be appealing- peas are ugly and have a horrible feeling to the toung- so I suggest other thinks like raw veggies- or just be sure she has a juice drink- v8 or something like that- and of course her multi vitamin... but weight watchers has icecream , chocolate cakes etc to help get over the craving crunches........
good luck and blessings

HI T.!

peas may not be your daughter's favorite. i am not overly fond of them myself. you didn't mention your daughter's age, but if she is on WW, perhaps she is old enough to be responsible for her daily points? maybe you could let her make her own choices for a few days and see where they fall in her point value. i know it was certainly eye opening to me in my first week on WW when i chose sweet tea over unsweetened and it cost me 11 points! perhaps if your daughter is the one held accountable for her own food choices, she will learn that ultimately she is responsible for what goes into her mouth and body. she has final say (like gagging on peas, etc.). also, after spending all one's points on unhealthy foods, it really does make a person think twice about them in the future and learn to appreciate the filling foods, like vegetables, so you can get more for your points. its all about learning to make good/better choices for your body, a valuable lesson for any young person.

i also agree with a previous answer that it is vital for you to get your own weight/food issues under control. you are the first (and often best) example of how to live life and take care of (or not as the case may be) your body and health. your lifestyle directly affects that of your children. it is imperative that you be an active participant in your own life. that you teach your children to take ownership for their actions by taking ownership of your own. it sounds like you're on your way to that now and i think that's excellent...good on you! i know starting out can be difficult, but never, ever give up! your life (and quality of life) and that of your children and family are important! i hope this helps you. don't give up!

-S.

Ideally all kids would gobble up their veggies just because we cut them up into cute shapes and give them dip to dip them in- just like all those parenting magazines say they will. Has NEVER happened at my house. My kids will eat canned peas,potatoes (preferably fried- but baked,too), sometimes corn...that's about it. So I do the stealth method. I buy baby food squash,carrots and sweet potatoes. Whenever I make spaghetti (or even Spaghetti-Os) I stir in some baby food veggies. Jessica Seinfeld has a cookbook that contains many recipes where she has blended veggies and put them into brownies, casseroles, whatever. I thought buying all that produce and pureeing it like she recommends sounded like a royal pain- so I just went w/ the baby food method. Anything that you can disguise it in, add it. And don't buy junk food. And keep your daughter busy. If she's busy ,then she won't be grazing.... Good luck- this is hard.

You didn't say how old your daughter is, but my tricks are really about introducing them from the start. One of my favorite tricks is to grind frozen spinach in the food processor, the resulting frozen bits are kept in the freezer and scooped into whatever I was cooking--my two year old won't eat scrambled eggs unless they are green :-)

Having been the fat kid in the family, I would urge you to make your quest for healthy eating a family affair--you may be doing this, but I wasn't sure from your post.

You don't all need to participate in Weight Watchers, but your daughter doesn't need to feel any more insecure. There shouldn't be any off-limits foods in your house. Teaching her about portions is a great way for her to have a treat without over-indulging. My mom did a great job of getting me my own set of measuring cups, spoons, and food scale--I still struggle with my weight, but at least I KNOW what I should be eating. Too many kids don't realize exactly how bad their diet is.

There is a great book called, "The Healthiest Kid on the Block". It has some great chapters about talking to kids about food. I think you might find it helpful. It is always hard for kids to understand doing the right thing since they are so impulse driven.

I like Andrea B.'s advice.

I have also heard of that book Deceptively Delicious and am ready to buy it myself. The author (I believe Jerry Seinfeld's wife) has a small food processor. Once a week, she cooks and purees a bunch of veggies and then she adds the purees to everything from mac n' cheese to desserts.

Also, I find that I often am buying the same veggies every week. You need to explore different foods, try to buy a different veggie each time you shop. I have started to make sweet potato fries. I slice them like fries and season them and bake them....you can make spicey or sweet.

I go to www.foodnetwork.com often. They have a healthy eating section to look up recipes. Stay away from the other cooks on that website though, Paula Deen doesn't make much for us gals watchin' our weight!

Good for you and your daughter for joining weight watchers!!

Lastly, once you start getting your daughter away from the junk food, she hopefully won't crave it as much. I didn't eat red meat for a while and the next time I had a burger and really "tasted" the meat, I didn't like it at all.

Good luck, stick with it!!

Hi T.,
I am a holistic health counselor who works with moms and families in helping them make food and lifestyle changes that will benefit them for life.

I received my training from The Institute of Integrative Nutrition in New York City.

As a mother of 4, I have been cooking quick easy healthy meals for my family for almost 18 years.

My business is listed in the mamasource business section. You can also email me at ____@____.com I can do a free health consultation on you and your daughter.

Good luck to you and your family.
K.

You don't say how old she is.

This is a hard one. You can hide veggies in almost anything- meatloaf, brownies, pasta sauce. I, personally do not like being sneaky like that. My boys eat their veggies. We have a 1 bite rule. You have to take 1 bite from everything on your plate. You could try that. Sometimes it is an exposure thing. Also, try raw veggies with LF or FF ranch dip. My oldest and youngest love that. Try not to overcook the veggies as well. No one likes mushy veggies.

Does she eat salad? Try putting more into a salad.

Try some new veggies- one of my friends tries to get one new thing at the store every time she goes.

Good Luck!

deceptivaly delicious by jessica seignfeild. hides veggies in foods like sweet potatoes in grilled cheese sandwiches. also get the junk out of the house. i never knew anyone that keept the weight off using weight watchers. we eat diebetic freindly around here. my son does eat other veggies and fruit. but basically its a very healthy way of eating. learning to eat right. truly after eating healithier for a year or so hersey chocolate is like powder icky bad tasting. i love chocolate and sweets but the rich kind...i have become a junkfood snob!!!

My kids love their veggies. My 3 year old asks for peas as a snack! The secret is that my husband and I set the example. We love veggies and eat them at every meal and for snacks. Sugary, salty food deadens the taste buds. Once she gets those foods out of her system she will be able to appreciate the wonderful flavors of veggies. There are so many out there!

My advice: keep offering the veggies to her in different forms (cooked, raw, steamed, etc). Also, I rarely buy any junk food. If it's not readily available to eat then they won't eat it. Make the veggies the easy snack. You can get some low calorie ranch dressing to dip baby carrots, raw broccoli, celery zucchini, etc. in. My kids like cut up cucumbers with a little salt sprinkled on top. My kids will even eat green salad with lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, etc.

I'm glad you're making this lifestyle change and including your family in it too! Good luck!

Wow! That's tough! I think that the first thing is to do a massive sweep and get all the junk out of the house. If it's not there, it's not an option. She's either hungry or eats what's there for her. Sounds awful, I know!! Also - try fat free ranch dressing or fat free or 2 % shredded cheese on top of the veggies. Make sure they are steamed. The Glad steaming bags are amazing! Make sure they are not overcooked also. Nothing worse than mushy veggies!

I like that she'd be able to pick her own. Then she has control over what she eats. Try to have alot of different colors of foods on your plate. It's the easiest way to make sure you are getting all the nutrients you need and makes it alot more fun! Mmmmm, have green, what about orange, yellow or red? Good luck!

I didn't like my veggies as a kid, but my mom would get me to eat them by letting me pick the veggie for dinner and then telling me how many bites I had to take to be released from the table. She still laughs about me sitting there counting out my peas. Also, make sure you have veggies ready to go for snacks. I liked celery and carrots and snap peas, but they were too much work for a snack. If they'd been ready to go, I would've eaten them more often. I did like salads because I loved dressing. Mom would put a little bit of dressing on the side and I could dip my fork in it before getting what was in the salad. Also, if your daughter is old enough, let her help with the veggie prep. She's more likely to eat what she helped make. I agree with the poster whosaid not to make anything off limits. I would, however, limit the unhealthy choices available in the house. I love my veggies now--even more than my mom. Ha ha...

Try raw stuff like bell peppers in pretty colors like red, yellow, and orange. There is a great book out by Jerry Seinfeld's wife about disguising veggies in other foods. Stick to your guns here. You have the right idea about helping her learn good eating habits now!

Hi T.,

My daughter really likes quite a few of the dishes in "Deceptively Delicious," Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook for kids. Her whole approach is to hide the veggies by providing recipies that call for you to blend them up in a blender and add them in. I've fed my daughter turkey burgers that had cauliflower in them and she loved them. She has recipes for every meal, for desserts even, all with veggies. The book is available just about everywhere. I bought mine in HEB along with our $19 blender. I was skeptical at first, but it really worked for us. Good luck! J.

Hi T.,

Keep your chin up! You are taking action!
And I don't blame her for gagging on the peas! LOL!
I am a lifetime WW member and I have lots of recipes. One is for a "one point chili"that has tons of veggies in it. Maybe she'd eat them if in a soup or recipe better? Also, I buy those individual containers of broccoli with cheese sauce (1 point) and pour it over a baked potato or brown rice. Very good!
Use lots of seasonings too~that helps.
Alot of people "hide" veggies in stuff also. Adding veggies in meatloaf (like shredded carrots, etc.) And maybe some raw veggies and Fat free veggie dip?
Well, I hope some of these suggestions help. Keep up the good work! And ask your WW leader too. They always have good ideas. If you want me to send you the recipes I have email me at ____@____.com
Take Care!
M.