Veggie Strike? Never Fear, Fruit is Here

Does the struggle to get your kiddo(s) to eat their vegetables seem like a daily, uphill, ultimately unwinnable battle?  Have they sworn off ALL. THINGS. GREEN. FOREVER?  Whether it’s an issue with taste (kids pick up on bitter flavors more than adults), texture (which can vary depending on ripeness) or both, we’re here to tell you, you’re not alone, especially in the toddler years. 

But rather than force feeding, it can be helpful to reframe, and realize that many of your littles favorite fruits offer nutritional equivalents to those “pesky” veggies. Take Vitamin C, a super supplement for immune support, which can be found in bell peppers (fun fact: the amount actually increases as they mature) but also in strawberries. Following suit, many foods of the same color have similar properties as illustrated by one of our favorite feeding blogs, kidseatincolor.com; for example, green beans and kiwi both contain Vitamin K while cabbage and grapes offer antioxidants. And apples, bananas and oranges offer fiber, an often overlooked yet critical component to your child’s nutrition to help avoid constipation.

So keep the veggies on your kids plate and they may even eventually try them but meanwhile know that they’re getting a variety of vitamins, nutrients, minerals, fiber and antioxidants from the more familiar, and friendly, fruits they know, love and most importantly, will eat.