Do Your Kids Protest Veggies?

Just learned a fun fact from my pediatrician this week: we should be aiming to get thirty different plant varieties in our family diet EACH WEEK! We are definitely a health forward, veggie friendly family, but that came as a slap in the face for sure :)

Falling into a Veggie Rut

Diversity of food helps our family’s gut flora thrive, which is the foundation of our physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing.

Fitting in that many different plants takes a lot of time, money, and mental energy to execute on, and maybe isn’t achievable by all, especially if you’re in the season of life where your kids are team beige foods only!

It is often easy to fall into a groove and serve the same five veggies on repeat because guess what? They're easy, and we know the family will actually eat them so they're less likely to go to waste.

But this week we’d like to share some strategies for increasing the quantity and diversity of your family veggie intake, in hopes that a couple of them may inspire you and meet you where you’re at!

Tip:

Involve the family each step of the way! Greater participation in shopping and prepping will often result in greater participation in eating.

This week we’d like to share some strategies for increasing your family veggie intake, in hopes that a couple of them may inspire you and meet you where you’re at!

1. Take your kids grocery shopping! Let your kids choose colorful produce at the store.
   

2. Bring them up to the counter to help prepare the meal (if they’re little, maybe give them less important tasks that won’t ruin your meal!)
   

3. Blend some veggies into a pizza, pasta, or mac and cheese sauce.
   

4. Bake them into muffins! Fun fact, my nephew was an awesome adventurous eater but refused to try zucchini. We shredded them, baked them into yummy collagen muffins, and he was all in :)
   

5. Add a little cauliflower to your mashed potatoes (and lots of salt and butter to be sure it’s delicious)
   

6. Turn those veggies into fun shapes. Use cookie cutters, try or try some zoodles..and you can always use pinterest for inspiration here!
   

7. Blend into smoothies and soups. For smoothies- I usually put in enough spinach or kale to turn it green so that he’s used to seeing that color, but plenty of fruit and/or peanut butter to make sure it’s tasty. If your kid is already anti-green, just start slowly so the color won’t change but the nutrients get in! Blended soups are a great option too, especially when the weather cools off. Broccoli cheddar, butternut squash, potato leek, and creamy tomato are all great options here.
   

8. Switch up serving styles, and offer often! Roasted, raw, steamed, mashed, stir fry, air fry, and add a favorite dip :)
   

9. Lead by example. The more they watch you eat a variety of foods, the more opportunities they have to become intrigued.
   

10. Brunch Burritos! We’ve got plenty of littles eating big bold flavors with mushrooms, kale, veggie loaded salsa, and more through our versatile tortilla vehicle ;)

Hope you’re able to spice up the menu this week!

Stay Free,

The Mac & Stees Family