Kids palates change all the time, so constant exposure and introduction to foods is a must. If a kid doesn't like the taste of boiled broccoli, serve it to them steamed with garlic and a little butter. It's not hard! Any parent with access to television or the internet, have no excuse about not being able to find a way to prepare certain foods to their kids. People dedicate cook books and blogs to cater towards kids too for crying out loud.
Produce is so essential to a kids health, they literally need great food to grow! Why would you feed kids cookies that have been manufactured with Vitamin D and C, and looks just like an Oreo? They will grow up thinking that all cookies are healthy and develop a bad diet into their adulthood. Those cookies contain negative calories and are a health lie. Either eat them in moderation or don't eat them at all.
You can take supplements and shove vitamin gummies down your kids throats, but what they really need is a hearty diet. There are vital nutrients in vegetables and fruits that you can't get in the pill form. You can concentrate vitamin C all you want, but you will get more benefits from eating an actual orange. There are special enzymes inside fruits and vegetables that aid in digestion and repair your body, that are just non-existent in pills.
When I have kids, I want to take them to local markets that open up around my town and inform them of what they are eating. They should know where their food comes from! Kids are so impressionable, for all they know produce comes from the store when it really comes from a farm that's only 50 miles away! Having kids harvest produce themselves, I think it makes the best impression of all. They see how the foods are being grown, how much effort and time it takes to grow them, and have a better appreciation for what they get served at home.
Local farmers from neighboring cities come together at beautiful markets to provide colorful and vibrant produce to people who have a great appreciation for food. Any child would be amazed to know that not all watermelons are red, some are yellow! Also, bell peppers aren't just red, they are also orange, green and yellow!
Take a little time to show your kids or go on a field trip to a farm or local market. Let them see how these foods are grown and the people who grow them! Heck take them to your local grocery store and introduce them to produce. You know how cool a leek or a pineapple would look to a kid? Here's some pics just to show you:
Leek
Pineapple
Jamie Oliver made an attempt to go across America and teach elementary students about healthier foods, but I don't feel like it made much of a difference. I give him mad props for trying, but our nation is in dire need of a radical food change. Kids don't realize that chicken nuggets are ground with preservatives and deep fried and just warmed through and served at their school. I would much rather be served an actual piece of chicken like a leg or thigh that has been baked.
Did you know that in Japan, kids eat their lunches in what they call "Bento Boxes"? Inside them are a wide variety of foods such as rice, tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkin etc. They are beautifully decorated and make eating them so much fun! These kids are encouraged to eat up to 20 different foods in a day and up to 100 different foods a week, crazy right? It's a big change from the boring pizza or spaghetti night. That could be you or your family! Here's something to make that a reality! If you shop seasonally, not only will you eat a wider variety of foods, you will also spend less on produce. A lot of grocery stores will stock produce in their stores outside of their normal seasons in order to meet customer demands. It's nice to eat summer citrus in winter but we really need to demand seasonal produce. You can pay 4 times more for out of season produce than produce that is in season. To me it's just common sense! If you really want out of season produce splurge on the frozen stuff like berries, those are much more reasonably priced.
There are tons of websites online that tell you what produce are available and at what time so I won't bore you with that lol. But here are a few produce that I feel are commonly associated with particular seasons:
-Apples are associated with the fall, along with pumpkins and a variety of squashes.
-Citrus fruits like oranges and lemons are summer time produce.
-Asparagus and strawberries are tender spring produce.
Just listing off those few produce makes me excited I just love fruits and vegetables so much! LOL I was that weird kid growing up who ate her broccoli and spinach. I feel so blessed to have been fed those foods despite the fact that my mom didn't like them. She knew that those foods were beneficial for my health and my sister's health.
Take this blog to heart and consider opening up your child/children to produce. Don't try and hide foods from them either because it will turn against you some day. If kids wonder why their favorite spaghetti sauce tastes so good and you tell them that it has onions in it, how are they going to react? Especially if they won't eat onions when they are visible in other foods. Take them on a field trip to a farm or local produce market and teach them about produce! When kids get hands on experience, they will carry that knowledge with them throughout life.
I would love to read comments about kids having great experiences with fruits and vegetables! Thank you for reading. :)
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