Veggies for kids. While some kids love them, for others it's nigh on impossible to get them to eat anything vaguely resembling a vegetable!
Five a day - is this enough?
By now you’ve probably heard the news. Five a day is old hat, redundant, frankly not enough. Yep, that’s right. We should all be eating TEN portions of fruit and veg a day. Oh and don’t forget that the majority of your ten a day should be veg. So having two large fruit smoothies a day isn’t going to cut it. Sorry.
If this is news to you, you can read more in this article that I wrote for metro.co.uk, which also includes some simple tips for how you can up your fruit and veg intake.
Now if your family is anything like mine the possibility of actually getting your child to eat ten portions of fruit and veg a day is laughable. When I told my almost seven year old about the change in guidance he cried. Yep, he knew that he didn’t ever eat five a day and he was cool with that. But ten a day? Now that’s just too much pressure.
Could you get your kids to eat ten a day?
Many families I know would find this very difficult indeed. Including us.
When considering this issue I found that most of the news stories and advice around this new guidance focused on adults. I had a lot of questions about how this relates to kids.
What is a portion size of veggies for children?
An adult sized portion is roughly 80g - meaning that we need 800g a day of fruit and veg a day to be healthy.
To give you a little perspective, if you ate the contents of the photograph above you would have way more than 800g a day - the carrots weigh 120g, the broccoli 465g - even that little bunch of grapes weighs 96g.
But when it comes to veggies for kids how much do they need? Surely not 800g a day?
And what about different sized kids - a two year old is different to a seven year old - yet my toddler eats WAY more fruit and veg than my older son. Does he get his ten a day though?
Veggies for kids - what the experts say
After many wasted hours spent trawling the internet I decided to bite the bullet and ask a nutritionist just how much veg kids should be eating.
I spoke to Alice Fotheringham, the very lovely infant nutrition specialist at Piccolo, the organic baby food range.
As you'd expect from someone whose day job is making baby food she had rather a lot of useful stuff to say.
Variety is key
“Whilst any promotion of eating more vegetables and fruit can only be a good thing, a lot of people find it hard to get in their five a day, so the new research suggesting we need to get more in might actually make families more discouraged than inspired to eat more fruit and veg. A good way to ‘digest’ this research is perhaps to look at it in terms of variety – the more variety the better. If you can start the day with some fruit or even a bit of veg in a smoothie, and make it a habit to include a couple of vegetables with lunch and dinner, you are getting a good range in without having to change your eating habits too dramatically. You could also serve a small salad before, or with every dinner – Mediterranean style!
“It shouldn’t be a chore, no one wants to have to remember to count how many pieces of fruit or vegetables you have had each day. Try starting small by adding one extra vegetable to one of your meals, and work up from there. By making simple additions that are easy to do, you can start forming a habit. It is also a good idea to think about the range of different fruits and vegetables you have over the week. Getting in a wide variety of colours throughout the week is a much more realistic way than a fixed number a day, you will hopefully find the numbers stack up without having to think about it.”
Eat the rainbow
So when it comes to veggies for kids eating the rainbow is what to aim for - lots of different colours and lots of variety. I love what Alice says about not wanting to count up what you’ve had each day and I think her advice makes it seem more realistic.
But I was still wondering about this portion size issue. So I went back to Alice again (sorry Alice!) and she advised me not to get too fixated on a portion size - it’s far better to think about variety. However, she then went on to say:
"If you really want to follow a portion size, I quite like the visual tool of going by the size of your palm. So, your toddler's palm is a sort of portion size, and your seven year old's is a little bigger etc. So for loose leafy veg like spinach or salad, only a leaf would fit in their palm. It’s not a perfect guide, but a little pot of salad that fits in your little one’s hand would be more realistic. But as a tool and a fun way to engage your children into having a portion, it’s quite a nice way of working it that isn’t intimidating and doesn’t involve using the scales!"
To be honest with you I'm still worrying about the long term effect that not eating anywhere near enough fruit or veg - as we don't even manage five a day very often - will have on R's health. However, I will just carry on doing what I do and hope for a change in the future!
Here are some of my favourite sneaky veg recipes if you need a little helping hand to get the good stuff into your kids.
Hidden fruit recipes
Because yes, some kids don't like fruit either!
Pin veggies for kids - how many portions of fruit and veg a day should kids eat? for later
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Eb Gargano
Oh your poor 7 year old! That's a tough one, when you are not much of a fan of veg!! Actually it's a tough one for us all - it's not that I don't like veg - I love it! But it's not easy to get up to 10 a day unless you really think about it or have a lot of snacks/smoothies etc. I think variety really is the the key though isn't it? Not just 10 different plain boiled veggies, but veg in stews and soups and pasta sauces, some fruit too, some dried fruit, a glass of juice...beans and pulses count too, and so do things we routinely lob into everything like onions and garlic! And I love salads - that's always a great way to add a whole load of different veggies into the diet! It all adds up, and I think if we aim for 10 and actually only get 5, it's not the end of the world - is it? Better than eating none!! Thanks for linking up with #CookBlogShare 🙂 Eb x
Hijacked by Twins
It is so hard to know what to do to be right, there are so many conflicting opinions and they are constantly changing. I have to say that I am a true believer in everything in moderation. Thankfully all of my kids love their veg but having hidden veg recipes also helps on the days when they don't want them. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks Kirsty - I think the key is variety and keeping on serving them up in different ways - hopefully one day they'll get eaten x
Gillian Thompson
Very interesting article. I agree that 5 a day was just a beginner level. In Australia I heard they promote 7 a day and in Japan they eat about 17 a day. So 5 a day wasn't really being ahead of the game is it? I have a son who eats virtually no vegetables either and hardly any fruit. I just hope a that one day things will change. We cannot force them but encourage and offer the fruit & veg every day in the hope that one day they will.
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks so much Gillian. When you think about 17 a day it makes my son's two or three portions a day seem even worse! Still, hopefully our boys will get there one day x
Mel - Healing Gracie's Gut
Really great article, we eat A LOT of vegetables but life with toddler is unpredictable and some days are better than others. I just hope this isn't going to cause stress with parents as at the end of the day you can't force a child to eat something.
Mandy Mazliah
Absolutely not! I eat a lot of veg but certainly can't get my kids too if they don't want to!
Rebecca
I ALWAYS worry about this what with one kid restricting his diet due to autism and the other being plain fussy, really useful to know, thanks Mandy x
Mandy Mazliah
Glad you found it useful Rebecca - it's so tricky isn't it!
Corina
That is really helpful advice and good not to stress too much about it. My children definitely don't eat enough vegetables and I'm feeling a little guilty right now as we're having lunch!
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks Corina - no point feeling guilty! All you can do is offer it up and try to normalise it as much as you can without getting stressed x
faye colegate
This is a fabulous, honest and well balanced approach to the whole 10 a day thing. I'm not surprised your kid cried when you told him; I nearly did. I'm just not sure giving people another 'rule' to follow is the answer - we need to educate and encourage a holistic approach to health and nutrition. We need our kids to learn to cook, to understand where food came from. Some really fab advice here! Thanks for including my article too!!
Mandy Mazliah
Thanks Faye - we have a long journey ahead of us but I'm hoping we'll end up with a grown up son who enjoys fruit and veg!!!
Vicki Montague
I love this post! It is so helpful. I worry that mine don't eat enough either. I can't get them to have any at breakfast which means trying to cram it in at other meals...and they won't eat it as a snack either. Gah!
Mandy Mazliah
It's so hard isn't it! I'm working on getting them to drink homemade smoothies at the moment - sticking with fruit for now but hoping I can move on to including some veg at some point.