{"id":2433,"date":"2010-08-11T19:29:23","date_gmt":"2010-08-12T01:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/wordpress\/?p=2433"},"modified":"2013-08-21T19:56:06","modified_gmt":"2013-08-21T19:56:06","slug":"struggling-to-get-your-preschooler-to-eat-fruits-and-veggies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/e\/struggling-to-get-your-preschooler-to-eat-fruits-and-veggies\/","title":{"rendered":"Struggling to get your preschooler to eat fruits and veggies?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a dietitian and mom, friends will often ask me how to get their preschool-aged child\u00a0to eat fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 The question always brings back memories of being a kid and sitting at the dinner table long after everyone was done with a plate of peas in front of me.\u00a0 My parents wouldn\u2019t let me leave the dinner table until I ate my vegetables.\u00a0 I\u2019m sure it was exhausting for my parents to struggle with me.\u00a0 All I can remember is becoming even\u00a0more determined not to eat my vegetables.<\/p>\n

The good news is that the techniques of yesteryear aren\u2019t particularly effective.\u00a0 But what\u00a0techniques are effective?<\/p>\n

That’s the question\u00a0a study published in the July 2010 issue of the\u00a0Journal of the American Dietetic Association sought to answer. \u00a0The researchers asked 889 health professionals and registered dietitians from six different countries to share their opinion on the effectiveness of specific parenting practices in promoting fruit and vegetable intake.\u00a0 The overall finding is a relief for many parents.\u00a0 Instead of trying to control your child, focus on controlling the ENVIRONMENT in which your child eats.<\/p>\n

How do you control the environment?\u00a0 Here are five specific things you can do that the experts deemed as the MOST effective at increasing fruit and vegetable intake in preschool-aged children:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Eat together as a family.<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/em>2.\u00a0 Include some form of fruit or vegetable in most meals.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Show your child that you enjoy eating fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Use fruit or vegetables for your child\u2019s snacks.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Buy fruit or vegetables instead of cookies, chips and candy.<\/p>\n

You’ll probably need to think through specific ways you can make each of the above work for your family.\u00a0 One of my friends can’t make family dinners work, so they always eat breakfast together before going to school and work.\u00a0 For me, including fruits and vegetables in most meals is a lot easier if I prepare\u00a0enough ahead of time for several meals.\u00a0 I also keep canned fruit on hand for times when I don’t have time to\u00a0cut up\u00a0fresh fruit.<\/p>\n

\"fruit\"\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \"vegetable\"<\/p>\n

Curious about the\u00a0five parenting practices the experts deemed the LEAST effective at increasing fruit and vegetable intake?<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Physically struggle with your child to get them to eat fruit or vegetables.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 Yell at your child for not eating their fruit and\/or vegetable.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0 Make your child feel guilty when they don\u2019t eat fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 Reward your child with sweets if they eat their fruits and vegetable.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Beg your child to eat fruit and vegetables.<\/p>\n

I get drained just reading those practices.\u00a0 Focusing on the environment sounds a lot easier for us parents and a lot more\u00a0pleasant for our kids.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a dietitian and mom, friends will often ask me how to get their preschool-aged child\u00a0to eat fruits and vegetables.\u00a0 The question always brings back memories of being a kid and sitting at the dinner table long after everyone was done with a plate of peas in front of me.\u00a0 My parents wouldn\u2019t let me leave the dinner table until Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":8477,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,780],"tags":[49,60,418,168,145,51,179],"class_list":["post-2433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e","category-nutrition-2","tag-children","tag-family-meals","tag-fruits","tag-fruits-and-vegetables","tag-healthy-eating","tag-kids","tag-vegetables","cat-42-id","cat-780-id"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/meal1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2433"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8183,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2433\/revisions\/8183"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nutritionknowhow.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}