My child is eight years old and doesn’t like green leafy vegetables. What should I do?
1. Green leafy vegetables are an essential source of nutrients such as water-soluble vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber and are difficult to replace with nutritional supplements.
If a child does not eat green leafy vegetables for a long time or does not eat enough, it may cause a lack of these nutrients and affect growth and development.
2. Children who do not eat green leafy vegetables can be solved by changing the variety of vegetables, changing the cooking method, and letting children participate in cooking.
3. If your child doesn’t accept certain types of green leafy vegetables, instead of rejecting all green leafy vegetables, try letting them eat other green leafy vegetables.
For example, if they don’t like Spinach, you can replace them with Lettuce, Cabbage, Kale, Swiss Chard, etc. The nutrients provided by these greens are very similar.
4. You should blanch green leafy vegetables in water before cooking to remove most of the oxalic acidity, and then stir-fry them or stir-fry them.
Some green leafy vegetables are high in oxalic acids, such as Spinach, which tastes bitter, which is why many children don’t like green vegetables.
5. If your child cannot accept green leafy vegetables, forcing them to eat them is not recommended.
Forcing a child to eat the food he doesn’t like will only increase the child’s aversion to the food.
6. Try mixing green leafy vegetables that your child doesn’t like with other foods and cooking them differently. Do not let children see green vegetables directly, which is more conducive for them to try.
For example, blanch green vegetables, mince them, mix with minced meat and mushrooms to make stuffing, wrap them into wontons, dumplings, steamed buns, etc.
7. You can also swap the leaves for stalks or use tiny sizes instead of large veggies.
Children also have different receptivity to different parts of the same food, and most children reject vegetable leaves but are more accepting of vegetable stems. Rest assured, many stalks have no fewer nutrients than leaves.
8. Involve your child in the process of making food.
For example, teach him to choose and wash vegetables together. Children are usually very willing to get involved.
9. Try telling stories, rather than reasoning, to teach kids about the health effects of leafy greens to increase their receptiveness.
10. For example, a lack of green leafy vegetables will make you more likely to have bad breath, more likely to have constipation, and more likely to gain weight and affect your appearance.
Telling about these consequences can help them understand the importance of these foods.
11. Children who do not eat green leafy vegetables for a long time, or eat less, may cause constipation due to insufficient dietary fiber intake.
You must supplement your child with other foods rich in dietary fiber, such as cereals, whole grains, mushrooms, nuts, fruits, etc.
12. Finally, don’t forget that parents are the most critical imitators of children, and children will be more willing to follow suggestions if parents are not partial or picky eaters.
Ensure you’re eating enough green leafy vegetables before giving your kids more vegetables.
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