I hear this all the time and I understand your struggles. If your child is not eating vegetables, you can try a few of these strategies to turn a veggie loather into a veggie lover 🙂

If eating vegetables is one of your child’s least-favourite activities, some of the easiest ways to get your child/children interested in eating vegetables are:

1. As the parent, you need to eat veggies all the time and also introduce vegetables to your children early. If you’ve ever caught your child “talking” on your phone or shuffling around in your shoes or daddy’s shoes, you will know that children like to do what you do. So if you’re eating veggies, there’s a good chance your little copycat will eventually take notice — and maybe even take a bite. Hint: Do not get frustrated or give up. Keep trying and one day she or he will attempt nibbling on your food – way to go! 🙂 🙂 🙂

2. You child needs all the nutrients from veggies. Do your best to get vegetables on your child’s plate while she’s developing her palate. You may ask- how can I do this? There are various ways of doing this. For the very little ones, pureed vegetables can slide easily under your toddlers taste radar. For example mix pureed cauliflower into mashed potatoes or Mac-n-cheese, introduce vegetable to his/her soup, blend and add veggies to spaghetti sauces, shred and mix carrots into meatballs etc.Serve up spaghetti squash with sauce. Switch up hamburger for homemade veggie burgers.

3. Bury veggies in baked goods – add shredded zucchini or carrots to muffins and bread. Who said baked goods can’t be good for you? You just have to ensure they have a balanced meal.

4. Make a veggie-juice cocktail- add carrot juice to apple or orange juice, make a shake or to make it more fun: pour the juices into ice pop trays and freeze your own ice pops.

5. Offer your children vegetables and fruits in lovely, vibrant colours, with beautiful shapes and sizes – make meal time fun, attractive and irresistible. Do not fill the plate with just greens as this is not appealing to your little ones. Have a wide variety of colours and allow your child have fun while eating.

6. As your children grow older, get them involve in grocery shopping and meal preparation. Have them help out with a variety of fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants so as to prevent cell damage and boost the immune system. For example pick red, blue, purple, green, orange, yellow etc fruits and vegetables and serve as a meal or snack and watch your child begin to crave for colourful meals. Continue to offer up veggies and fruits in new and interesting ways ( a steam, a stir-fry, a dip).

7. Add fruits and vegetables as part of every meal and snacks

8. Serve salads more often at home. Let eating veggies be more interactive. Provide kids with a wide variety of dippings such as fruit salsa, guacamole, ranch dip, hummus etc.

9. When shopping for food, start in an area of the stores where fresh fruits and vegetables are displayed. This will ensure you alway have some on hand for your children- get your children actively involve in shopping periodically.

10. Make meal time fun time – let kids choose their veggie toppings for tacos or pizza – encourage them to pick pick bright fun colours.

11. Make vegetables and fruits more appealing – be sure to engage them in the art of food presentation from the store to the plate – have kids put on their creativity caps as they go on an adventure in the kitchen.