10 Tricks For Sneaking More Fruits And Vegetables Into Your Family's Diet
We are frequently tempted to eat fast food and convenience foods. If your family is anything like mine, a bag of chips or a bowl of rice or pasta is far more appealing than an apple or a platter of steamed broccoli.
As a result, we have to think differently. Here are some suggestions for including more vegetables and fruits in your family's diet.
1. Start your day with a smoothie for breakfast. Simply combine some fruits with low-fat yogurt and ice in a blender. You might want to throw in a scoop of protein powder for good measure. Simply combine for a few seconds, and you've got yourself a delicious breakfast on the go. On the way to work, I like to drink from a warm cup. Use frozen yogurt or a dollop of ice cream in the smoothie to make it even more enticing to your youngsters. They will not trust you if you tell them they can eat ice cream for breakfast.
2. Dried fruit is a great snack for any time of day. Fill your child's lunchbox with little cartons of raisins, put some yogurt-covered raisins in your husband's briefcase, and keep some trail mix on hand for snacking. In the morning, you can also add dried fruit to your porridge or cereal. Banana chips are a favorite in my family's breakfast cereal.
4. At supper, set up a salad bar. Set out a selection of chopped veggies, cheese, and croutons, as well as a variety of salad dressings and lettuce for everyone to make their own perfect salad.
5. Allow children to consume their fruits and veggies in liquid form. Maintain a refrigerator stocked with a variety of fruit and vegetable juices and encourage everyone to drink them as a snack. Make an effort to be inventive. Pour everyone a glass of his or her favorite juice over ice to start "family cocktail hour." Place some straws and cocktail umbrellas on the table and sit down to discuss how everyone's day went.
6. For dessert, try this. In a bowl, place a tiny scoop of ice cream or frozen yogurt and a generous amount of fresh or frozen fruit.
7. As a snack, provide fruits and vegetables. Cut apples into wedges and spread peanut butter or cheese on top. Serve with grapes and cheese cubes. Serve some fresh vegetables with ranch dressing. On the inside of a celery stick, spread cream cheese or peanut butter and top with raisins (wow, fruit and vegetable in one snack).
8. Experiment with different fruits and veggies. Choose something exotic to pique your family's interest. Hopefully, their curiosity will surpass their trepidation about attempting something new. You may try artichokes, plantains, papaya, mango, star fruit, or whatever else you can find in your local grocery store's vegetable section.
9. Make a vegetable soup or stew with a lot of vegetables and little meat. When the weather becomes cold, both of these dishes make excellent comfort food.
10. On one of the weeks, each family member gets to choose a vegetable. They are eligible to select a vegetable if they tried each one the week before; otherwise, they lose a turn and Mom gets to select. If you implement a handful of these suggestions, your entire family will be eating more fruits and veggies in no time.
Here's another suggestion:
Make sure you always have lots of fresh fruits and vegetables available and ready to snack on now that everyone in the family has developed a taste for them.