Our toddler doesn’t like to eat her vegetables. Like many kids in her age group, she avoids as many green foods as she can and will take painstaking measures to eat everything on her plate except for the green pepper, or avocado, or green beans. Her brother, on the other hand, can’t get enough of them. Go figure.

So besides begging, pleading and cajoling – along with gently pointing out that her younger brother is eating them – we’ve devised a few tricks to get her to eat her vegetables.

4 Ways To Get Your Kids To Eat Vegetables

• Hide them. Instead of serving her a plate with clearly identifiable veggies, we hide them – whether in or underneath the other food. However, we also make sure to provide some green matter in an identifiable form on the plate as well, to give her the option of eating it willingly. The Sneaky Chef is a great book of recipes that may help you perfect this concept.  (No this is not a sponsored post.)

• Transform them. Rather than serving our daughter a plate of steamed asparagus, we might try a dish of creamed asparagus or – in desperate times – fried asparagus. Same goes for green beans, broccoli and other plant food. In addition, some snack foods such as Terra Chips, are a form of vegetable and more pleasing to her palate. Everything in moderation.

• Spin them.   Instead of calling it scalloped potatoes, we might call them chips or even coins. Broccoli is trees. Carrots are also coins, or sticks, or mush. We’ve found that simple semantics like renaming items can help us to sometimes get our toddler to do what we want her to – whether she knows it or not.

• Make it FUN! Be entertaining and make a game out of it. Children respond to silly antics far more quickly than simply being told to do something. Did you ever see A Christmas Story? Remember how a piggy eats?  If so, you get the picture. (If not, you must immediately step away from the computer and go rent yourself a copy.  Seriously.  Right now.)

Kids know what they like – and dislike. Sometimes a little bit of creativity is in order to get them to try something they might otherwise turn their noses up at.  It helps husbands sometimes too!

Have you been successful getting your family to eat vegetables?  Please, let us know how you did it!

A recent report entitled ?Healthy Food Campaigning Could Be Putting Toddlers’ Health At Risk?from the U.K. indicated that the recent awareness and concern about childhood obesity has led to some toddlers to be categorized as undernourished. The focus on fruits and vegetables and high-fiber in lieu of carbohydrates (including sugars) and foods with a high fat content (particularly in nursery schools and day care centers in the U.K., where children may spend as much as 12 hours in childcare centers) is what has led to this reversal. Experts are cautioning that while providing a healthy diet is important, toddlers (ages 1 to 5) need different nutritional requirements than adults, and the diet they are being given is more appropriate for older children and adults.

An average-sized toddler should consume between 1,000 and 1,300 calories daily according to nutritionist, Sue Gilbert. According to Gilbert: “Toddlers? caloric content should come from a combination of 16 g protein (64 calories), 44 g fat (396 calories) and 210 g carbohydrate (840 calories). It is also important that toddlers get 800 mg. of calcium: 800 mg.” She continues, ?Even with two cups of milk a day, toddlers still need another 200 mg. Offer yogurt, cheese, tofu, and leafy greens.? Toddlers who are four and over should consume 1,800 calories per day. ?Regardless of the total intake, the composition should resemble the following: 50 to 60 percent of calories from carbohydrates, 25 to 35 percent of calories from fat, and 10 to 15 percent of calories from protein. It should be remembered, however, that this is simply an estimate, and intake may need to be adjusted to suit each child,? according to a report by Kristen Herbs at Faq.org.

Those figures* may seem high, but toddlers expend a lot of energy (as any parent of a toddler knows) and therefore need food to support that energy. The energy expended comes from the physical and intellectual (cognitive) development that occurs between one and five. Because their stomachs are smaller, toddlers also need smaller portions distributed more frequently throughout the day. Whole foods, including fruits, vegetables and foods with a high fiber content are important, but so are clean carbohydrates and unsaturated fats. The key is to avoid foods with empty calories as in sugary snacks and foods laden with high-fructose corn syrup. Toddlers should never be given soda/pop or ?diet? foods for a variety of health-related reasons.

Herbs also asserts that Basal metabolic rate, growth, and physical activity all affect a child’s daily energy. Protein, for example, is vital for preschoolers and toddlers and is needed for optimal growth. Toddlers at this stage may become finicky or picky eaters, asserting their independence over their lives. Even so, it is still important to strive for the recommended guidelines for caloric intake and nutrition by serving five to six small meals (including snacks) per day.

Being aware of your toddler?s nutritional needs is as important as the concern over childhood obesity. Your child can still eat fun, healthy foods while developing sound, life-long nutritional habits by following these guidelines:

• Fruits/Vegetables: 4 servings (one serving should be high in vitamin A another high in vitamin C)
• Protein: 2 servings such as meat, poultry, tofu, cheese, fish and eggs
• Dairy: 16 to 24 oz. such as whole milk, cheese, yogurt and pudding or custard made with whole milk
• Grains: 4 servings such as bread, cereal and rice.

One serving size for a toddler is a quarter of an adult portion or one tablespoon per year of age. (Your one-year-old gets 1T but your three-year-old gets 3T.) To calculate how many calories your child needs, the American Academy of Pediatrics also recommends that for toddlers between one and three that one allows for 40 calories per inch of height to determine the best number of calories for your child.

*Note: these figures are not necessarily the same for toddlers who are still nursing or in the process of weaning.