We hear all the time that we should be having 5 servings of vegetables a day - but what have they got that we cannot get in other foods? A recent survey in Australia found that 1 in 10 adults eat 5 or more serves of vegetables per day.
So that makes me wonder just how can kids get their recommended daily serves if their parents are not? As babies, one of the first solid foods we are given is mashed or pureed vegetables.
You would think that by developing our taste for them at such an early age we would love them! But this does not seem to be the case for long.
As we include more and more foods in our diet as babies, toddlers, then children and adolescents it seems that our tastes change and we prefer sweet, fatty, salty tastes rather than the natural flavours of fresh vegetables.
And there are so many other foods to eat - so why eat vegetables when they do not taste as good as other foods? The truth is that vegetables contain nutrients that no other foods do.
It is the colours in vegetables that provide us with so many phytochemicals.
Fruits and vegetables of different colours - green, yellow-orange, red, blue-purple, and white - contain their own combination of phytochemicals and nutrients that work together to help "fight" to protect our health.
For example - green vegetables such as broccoli are rich in the antioxidants, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and folate, all of which can protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that can protect against harmful free radicals.
Here is the recipe for a delicious Alphabet Soup 2 litres water 4 tsp chicken stock powder 4 tsp vegetable or green herb stock powder 4 tsp butter 1/2 cup alphabet noodles (these are fun for the kids but any small noodles can be used) 2 medium onions - diced 2 sticks celery - chopped 2 carrots - grated 2 potatoes - grated 2 tomatoes - chopped 1.
Put hot water in saucepan, add stock powder and butter.
2.
When the water is boiling add noodles.
3.
Add prepared vegetables in the order given.
4.
Boil for 10 minutes.
5.
Serve with chopped parsley sprinkled on top and some chunky toast.
Get more vegetables into your day with these 5 easy tips 1.
Most kids already eat 2 or 3 vegetables so get them eating them more regularly in different ways - corn- barbecued or steamed on-the-cob or canned or frozen - carrots - raw sticks, grated in salads, boiled - tomatoes - sliced in sandwiches or burgers, cocktail tomatoes in salads 2.
Introduce new vegetables one at a time in small quantities.
3.
Make sure you lead by example by eating vegetables yourself.
4.
Refrain from saying "my child will never eat broccoli" or "he does not like carrots", even though you may think it.
Kids often change their minds.
What they do not like one day they may like a few days or weeks later.
5.
Get your kids to help grow some tomatoes or baby carrots in a pot or garden then they will want to eat them.
Do it for your kids health.
So that makes me wonder just how can kids get their recommended daily serves if their parents are not? As babies, one of the first solid foods we are given is mashed or pureed vegetables.
You would think that by developing our taste for them at such an early age we would love them! But this does not seem to be the case for long.
As we include more and more foods in our diet as babies, toddlers, then children and adolescents it seems that our tastes change and we prefer sweet, fatty, salty tastes rather than the natural flavours of fresh vegetables.
And there are so many other foods to eat - so why eat vegetables when they do not taste as good as other foods? The truth is that vegetables contain nutrients that no other foods do.
It is the colours in vegetables that provide us with so many phytochemicals.
Fruits and vegetables of different colours - green, yellow-orange, red, blue-purple, and white - contain their own combination of phytochemicals and nutrients that work together to help "fight" to protect our health.
For example - green vegetables such as broccoli are rich in the antioxidants, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and folate, all of which can protect against cardiovascular disease and cancer.
Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, a powerful antioxidant that can protect against harmful free radicals.
Here is the recipe for a delicious Alphabet Soup 2 litres water 4 tsp chicken stock powder 4 tsp vegetable or green herb stock powder 4 tsp butter 1/2 cup alphabet noodles (these are fun for the kids but any small noodles can be used) 2 medium onions - diced 2 sticks celery - chopped 2 carrots - grated 2 potatoes - grated 2 tomatoes - chopped 1.
Put hot water in saucepan, add stock powder and butter.
2.
When the water is boiling add noodles.
3.
Add prepared vegetables in the order given.
4.
Boil for 10 minutes.
5.
Serve with chopped parsley sprinkled on top and some chunky toast.
Get more vegetables into your day with these 5 easy tips 1.
Most kids already eat 2 or 3 vegetables so get them eating them more regularly in different ways - corn- barbecued or steamed on-the-cob or canned or frozen - carrots - raw sticks, grated in salads, boiled - tomatoes - sliced in sandwiches or burgers, cocktail tomatoes in salads 2.
Introduce new vegetables one at a time in small quantities.
3.
Make sure you lead by example by eating vegetables yourself.
4.
Refrain from saying "my child will never eat broccoli" or "he does not like carrots", even though you may think it.
Kids often change their minds.
What they do not like one day they may like a few days or weeks later.
5.
Get your kids to help grow some tomatoes or baby carrots in a pot or garden then they will want to eat them.
Do it for your kids health.
SHARE
