Easy Steps to Promoting Kids Eating More Fruits and Vegetables

Increasing your child’s fruits and veggies starts with a little bit of planning. It is important to include them so they will feel more invested in improving the family’s overall diet. It is important that this be a family experience rather than “just for the kids.”

Keeping them involved and exposing them in different ways to fruits and vegetables is a key element to getting them curious and interested in these healthy food groups.

With just a few steps you can set your child and family up for a positive experience as you begin to improve their eating habits:

✰Start by talking with the kids about fruits and vegetables and why they are important for everyone in the family. ✰Have a few positive conversations about healthy eating and what kinds of foods that includes during mealtime. ✰ Show them the Food Groups with a fun printable and discuss the Fruit and Vegetable Groups. ✰You can even have the family sign an agreement to add more fruits and vegetables into their daily meals. ✰Have the kids list some of the fruits and vegetables they already do like ✰Create your shopping list by food groups so the children can easily see the fruits and vegetables on the list ✰Have the kids help pick out some of the fruits and vegetables ✰ Visit the grocery store or Farmer's Market and let your kids chose a new fruit or vegetable to try that week! ✰Have the kids help wash and put away the fruits and vegetables ✰ Try getting creative- let the kids wash and put pieces of cut fruit or veggies on a plate to make a face or in a shape, or pattern. ✰ Cook an easy fruit or vegetables recipe with your kids- try our recipes or Kids Cook Monday Recipes for easy ideas!

Healthy Tips to Creating a Positive and Healthy Eating Experience

Set realistic expectations. You don’t want to get frustrated and upset if your child does not want to eat healthier foods. This will only make mealtimes miserable for you and them and that won’t help them improve their eating habits. Trying to force them won’t really help either. Remember, you don’t want to win “the battle” you want to win the war!” Patience and persistence are the keys to your success.

Here are some general guidelines to help you promote a positive and encouraging atmosphere to kids.

✰Keep them involved and try to find different ways for them to have repeated exposure to fruits and vegetables. ✰Some studies say that it could take 15 times of seeing a particular fruit or vegetable before the child will try it. ✰Be a great role model and show your children how much you enjoy fruits and vegetables and trying new food. ✰Forget the nagging, it only makes eating fruits and vegetables a “punishment” for kids. We want kids to associate fun and positive memories with eating these healthy foods ✰Avoid using any foods as a reward ✰Move the fatty and sugary foods out of sight to avoid competition with your healthy choices. ✰Talk with other parents and share ideas and recipes

Increasing Daily Fruit Intake Tips

• ✰Start their morning with some fresh fruits every day
• ✰Add fresh fruits to cereals at breakfast time
• ✰If your child likes fruit juice, then limit them to one glass a day of 100% fresh fruit juice
• ✰For children who drink a lot of fruit juice, you can start by cutting the juice with some water and slowly decrease their amount to once a day
• ✰Mix up their choices, fruits come fresh, frozen and canned. Read the labels and avoid canned fruits that have “added sugar”. Fruit comes naturally sweetened and does not need more sugar
• ✰Avoid canned fruit that is packed in “heavy syrup”. Instead look for canned fruits that are packed in their own fruit juice
• ✰Include some type of fruit at each meal, even a few grapes in a baggie for lunchtime or snack time
• ✰Keep some fresh fruit cut up in the refrigerator at eye level and ready for a quick snack
• ✰Use fresh or frozen whole fruits to jazz up their smoothie
• ✰Look for fruit in season for better prices
• ✰A handful of dried fruit makes a great snack and is packed with nutrition
• ✰Fruit is a tasty dessert. But if the kids baulk at this, try adding some fruit to their favorite desserts

You may also be interested in:

Our Kids' Gardening Pages- fun printables that teach kids about how food grows.

Farm to Table Pages-  fun activity pages to connect kids to the origins of the food they eat.

Eating Healthy Food Tracking Pages and Agreement Sheets

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