Getting Kids to Eat Fruits and Vegetables
Keywords: Play With Your Food, nutrition, fruits, vegetables, healthy kids, parenting
Figure 1 - Retrieved from kidseatgoodfood.com
Do your kids eat enough fruits and vegetables? Mine don’t either.
A 2023 report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed that about 50% of American children reported not eating any vegetables daily, and 32% reported not eating any fruits daily (Hamner et al., 2023). We, as parents, know this is true. We also know that the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2020-2025 recommend two and a half servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit every day. These dietary habits can lead to the development of various health issues, including diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, impaired immune functioning, and atypical physical and cognitive development (Berthon et al., 2021). What you may not know is that poor health can also impact a child's academic performance, leading to more days missed due to illness and potentially lower engagement in school (Basch et al., 2011). Unhealthy students can also put a strain on our already stretched household budgets. According to Ling et al. (2023), the average yearly medical cost for a child with diet-related illnesses is approximately $2100. A parent earning minimum wage would need to work 190 hours just to cover their child’s outpatient medical bills. That is a lot of hours to pay for medical care that could be prevented.
So, what do we do about it?
Research suggests that one of the best ways to help children be more open to eating fruits and vegetables is simply to serve them consistently at meal and snack times (Nekitsing et al., 2019). This is called food exposure.
The bad news: Research has shown that it can take between eight and fifteen exposures for a child to accept a new food. Food exposure can feel like a daunting prospect because no one wants to spend mealtimes arguing with their child about eating their produce.
The good news: Serving (or exposing) children to fruits and vegetables does not have to be a fight, and it does not have to be a budget-breaking endeavor. That’s a big claim, right? Keep reading to learn how.
This is how we do it.
There are many ways to expose your children to fruits and vegetables. Here are six research-backed ways we can help increase the number of different fruits and vegetables our children eat. I personally tested each of these strategies on my two elementary-aged children, and I’m happy to report that there were no tantrums (at least not about fruits and vegetables).
Figure 2 – Retrieved from www.nutrition.org.uk
1. Serve fruits and vegetables in different ways
Guess what? Fruit and vegetable exposure does not necessarily mean that your child eats the new food every time it is served. Having fruits and vegetables consistently presented to children in different ways allows them to get used to their looks, smells, and textures. Getting used to these foods is truly half the battle. Being comfortable with new foods ultimately leads to being willing to try them. Here are a few ways to do that:
Prepare the fruits and vegetables with different flavorings and preparations so children can experiment with what they like. For ideas on different ways to serve these foods, check out the Resources page on the Alliance for a Healthier Generation webpage. Several of the resources found here are publicly available without an account.
To prevent food waste, serve a very small amount of the new food for them to try.
Try fruits and vegetables with different dips to allow children to get used to the sensory experience of eating them. My kids will eat almost anything if it's dipped in Ranch dressing.
Fruit and vegetable exposure doesn’t just work for children. If you, as an adult, find that you don’t enjoy eating a variety of produce, these activities can also help you. Learning to like fruits and vegetables alongside your children is excellent role modeling. Children who see their parents eating fruits and vegetables are more likely to do it themselves.
Figure 3 – Retrieved from www.simplyrecipes.com
2. Play with your food
It is common for children to decline fruits and vegetables because they aren’t used to their texture (Nekitsing et al., 2019). Allowing children to play with fruits and vegetables encourages them to get used to their texture in a non-intimidating way. One way to do this is to allow children to play with the parts of the food you are not planning to serve. For example, allow your child to play with the carrot peels or the top of the carrot that typically ends up in the compost. Feeling a carrot with their hands makes the texture less intimidating when served. My children are also fans of making their fruits and veggies into art.
Figure 4 – Retrieved from www.news.unl.edu
3. Play games
Games that feature fruits and vegetables are a way to expose children to those foods without requiring them to eat anything (Coulthard et al., 2018). Playing games such as Hi-Ho Cherry-O and then eating cherries connects the fun of the game with eating that fruit. Similarly, coloring fruit and vegetable-themed pictures allows children to be creative and provides space for parents to talk about the fruits and vegetables in the picture. There are several great videos, games, jokes, and coloring pages on the Waffles + Mochi website.
Figure 5 – Retrieved from www.CERIC.ca
4. Have fruits and vegetables around the kitchen
Having fruits and vegetables as a visible part of their everyday environment helps children become more comfortable with them. Children can then get used to seeing those foods by touching and smelling them. When served, these fruits and vegetables don’t feel as new or surprising, which may help children venture into taste-testing them.
Figure 6 – Retrieved from www.CERIC.ca
5. Read books about fruits and vegetables
There are many wonderful picture books about fruits and vegetables. Reading about them as part of a story can help children change their perspective about these foods. A carrot can go from being “yucky” to being a favorite superhero in a story. This change in mindset can do wonders in preparing your children to eat those foods when they are served. A few favorites are:
I Will Never Not Ever Eat A Tomato by Lauren Child
Sylvia’s Spinach by Katherine Pryor
Monsters Don’t Eat Broccoli by Barbara Jean Hicks
Anywhere Farm by Phyllis Root
Top & Bottoms by Janet Stevens
Before We Eat by Pat Brisson
Goodnight, Veggies by Diana Murray
Soup Day by Melissa Iwai
Eating the Rainbow by Olena Rose
Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Elhert
Many of these books are available at public libraries. If not, there are several used bookstores online where you can find them at a reduced price.
6. Create a support network
The Play With Your Food program invites all students at your child’s elementary school to participate in the fruit and vegetable exposure activities. This helps to build a supportive community of students learning to eat more fruits and vegetables together. This kind of support can be helpful for families as well. We recommend reaching out to other families from your child’s school to find out how they are supporting their children in eating more fruits and vegetables at home.
Figure 7 – Retrieved from www.kidseatgoodfood.com
For more ideas on fruit and vegetable exposure activities, check out the monthly newsletter your child brings home from school. Previous newsletters can also be found on this website, under the “Newsletters” tab.
References
Basch, C. E. (2011). Healthier Students Are Better Learners: A Missing Link in School Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap. The Journal of School Health, 81(10), 593–598. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2011.00632.x
Berthon, B. S., McLoughlin, R. F., Jensen, M. E., Hosseini, B., Williams, E. J., Baines, K. J., Taylor, S. L., Rogers, G. B., Ivey, K. L., Morten, M., Sena, C. R. D. S., Collison, A. M., Starkey, M. R., Mattes, J., Wark, P. A. B., & Wood, L. G. (2021). The effects of increasing fruit and vegetable intake in children with asthma: A randomized controlled trial. Clinical and Experimental Allergy, 51(9), 1144–1156. https://doi.org/10.1111/cea.13979
Coulthard, H., Farrow, C., Haycraft, E., Aldridge, V., & Palfreyman, Z. (2018). Five a day fillers: A touch screen app which embeds fruit and vegetable exposure in a game format. Appetite, 130, 301–301. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.05.173
Hamner, H. C., Dooyema, C. A., Blanck, H. M., Flores-Ayala, R., Jones, J. R., Ghandour, R. M., & Petersen, R. (2023). Fruit, Vegetable, and Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Intake Among Young Children, by State — United States, 2021. MMWR. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 72(7), 165–170. https://doi.org/10.15585/MMWR.MM7207A1
Nekitsing, C., Hetherington, M. M., & Blundell-Birtill, P. (2018). Developing Healthy Food Preferences in Preschool Children Through Taste Exposure, Sensory Learning, and Nutrition Education. Current Obesity Reports, 7(1), 60–67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13679-018-0297-8
