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Raising Vegetable
Eaters
We hear about
vegetables’ importance to health all the time, but many
children and adolescents still don’t eat even one serving
a day. Some parents assume that eating vegetables
is something kids pick up later in life. Yet the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention report in a recent survey that
only 13% of high school students say they eat at least 3 servings
of vegetables per day. Besides, researchers say, kids who skip
vegetables miss out on health benefits that start to build early.
It turns out that parents who serve vegetables in ways that they
themselves enjoy are the most powerful influence on raising a
vegetable-eater.
A review of 60 studies concluded
that seeing their parents eat and enjoy vegetables was the most
powerful influence in promoting vegetable consumption among kids.
That’s a problem, since one study of vegetable consumption
in young children found that only a quarter of parents ate more
than one vegetable a day, a long way from the minimum of three
to five servings recommended for adults. |
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Simply having fruit in the home
may be all that’s needed to encourage its consumption, at
least for older children who can grab it for a snack on their
own. Since vegetables often require some preparation, however,
it may be important not only that they are brought home, but
that they are served at meals or made ready for snacks.
How much should parents encourage
or enforce vegetable consumption? Not all of the 60 studies
in the review above addressed this issue, but of those that did,
parental encouragement was linked with greater vegetable consumption
in children ages six to eleven; parental pressure was generally
not. Among adolescents, parents’ vegetable consumption remained
an important influence but parental encouragement no longer surfaced
as key to vegetable consumption.
Some experts on children’s
eating behavior suggest that parental pressure could be a negative
influence on their children’s vegetable consumption. They
suggest that forcing vegetables or rewarding their consumption
teaches children that these are not enjoyable foods. Other researchers
say that it may not always be parental pressure that causes kids
to proclaim themselves vegetable haters; sometimes kids may become
afraid of vegetables and other new foods on their own, leading
parents to react out of fear trying to force vegetables.
Dislike of trying new foods,
called "neophobia," is very common in children ages
two to five but can continue for years and is linked with low
vegetable consumption. Parents help kids gradually outgrow this
fear by continuing to serve a variety of foods. Studies show
that parents often give up on a new food after three to five
tries; experts recommend a minimum of 8 to 15 tries, and kids
may still need to see and then try a food many times before they
truly enjoy it. Very small portions make new foods less overwhelming.
One low-key way to expose children
to vegetables and increase their consumption is to incorporate
significant amounts of vegetables into mixed dishes. In one
study, adding extra pureed vegetables to a mixed pasta dish increased
vegetable consumption, and 79 percent of the children reported
that it tasted the same or better than a low-vegetable version.
This study involved a pre-school setting, but the idea can easily
be duplicated at home, adding pureed, shredded or chopped vegetables
to pasta, soup and other mixed dishes.
While we wait for more answers
on how to best encourage a vegetable-eating habit, research suggests
a three-part strategy to raise vegetable lovers: Make a wide
variety of vegetables available served in different ways that
you enjoy and with flavors that generally appeal to your kids;
keep serving the vegetables, perhaps trying new ways to fix them,
knowing that kids may need many exposures before they really
like them; let your children see you enjoying vegetables and
encourage, but don’t pressure, them to share in the enjoyment. |
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