Help with kiddos enjoying vegetables!

When I am choosing wisely to eat more fruits and vegetables, it's easy for myself, but I feel spread thin when I'm making different meals and snacks for my husband and kids too because my kids are sooo picky, especially with vegetables. Many fruits they love. I am in the process of moving them from the junk we've had readily available to them to the good stuff. It's a STRUGGLE, I'm talking- they are in tears to not even try a bite.
Any suggestions are helpful and appreciated!

Our kids are picky as well, but just trying 1 new thing (or two) can go a long way. At least 2 a month usually stick.. it might not feel like a lot but we’ve been doing it for a a year and now their diets have so much more healthy foods they didn’t want to know about before.
We make it an adventure of sorts. Trying something new is now met more with excitement, and we also like to make it fun (apple slices with 1/2 and 1/2 peanut butter and raw honey dip is now a preferred snack)
We still have our junk food and we still aren’t where I’d like us to be, but we’ve come a long way and it’s been a fun journey!

My twins can be picky too. We got out of the rut by slowly adding new foods in. You could start by adding 1 new food at every meal for a week or two then move on to another new food. So you’d serve a small piece of broccoli on the plate with all the other foods. Don’t make a big deal if they want to try it or not, just have it on the plate. Just make sure to always serve a safe food for them to stock up on. It can take kids at least 19 times to even touch a new food, then another 19 to try it then more to determine if they like it or not. You could also (depending on kids age) get kid knives and other cooking utensils so they can help you prepare food. Kids are more likely to try if they help make a meal/snack. If kids are young, let to play and explore with a new food, then they may even try it! If you have Instagram there are many kids eating accounts that give helpful advice! Good luck

Research shows that kids who get to help shop for and prepare foods are significantly more likely to be excited to give it a go! We helped our middle son learn to love more Whole Foods by reading sections about them from Medical Medium to give him some ideas about what certain foods could do for his body and mind— after reading a section on kiwis we immediately went to the fridge, cut one in half, grabbed a spoon and knocked it back! This was a miracle as he was HARDCORE opposed to kiwis for years! Sometimes knowing the “why” and getting to be part of the “how” empowers our kids to have more excitement about foods! We have also watched several documentaries as a family about nutrition that have really opened our kids eyes and made them SUPER invested in outsmarting the marketing machine in nutrition to make empowered choices instead that will feed their well being. Heck— this has even made them hold Andrew and I a ton more accountable. "That Sugar Film" is one we always slip into the mix right before Halloween and the holidays to help us remember… "The Kids Menu" is another one that is good to share with the kids… "Hungry For Change" "Food Matters" "Fed Up""Food Fight" "Supersize Me" are just a few top of mind that bring up good conversations and empower parents and kids with knowledge to know and then do better…

We also always call little veggie "trees" frozen mango or berry or grapes or avacado chunk "popsicles" etc. "earth candy" which makes it feel a lot more like a fun treat than a required check mark for dinner plates only!

You can also use "sneaky chef" tips to start integrating more veggies into your kids diets and get their palate more ready to accept the tastes and mouthfeel of Whole Foods as you integrate them more too. Sneaky chef was a good inspiration for us when I was literally dying of digestive disease prior to 2013 when we had to make BIG shifts in our "average American diet" lifestyle as a matter of life and death!

Hope these ideas help!

Thankyou so much for this question and for all the answers.
Knowing the WHY sure goes a long way when you are faced with decisions 💕

So we use the Yuka app it’s not completely accurate, BUT my kids have fun scanning stuff and looking at why things are bad or healthy!! It makes it fun!

Thank you all! This is amazing tools you just gave my family and others I can share it with!

Roasted vegetables are a great option, they caramelise and taste sweeter.

Thank you for all the tips! It's so eye opening to learn how 80% of the foods in the grocery stores are not good for us! It's definitely a lifestyle overhaul but a very important one!
Love the Medical Medium too !

Engagement and modeling. When my kids were younger we shared the joy of cooking together. I know how hard it can be with busy schedules, so we had whole food snacks readily available in the fridge all the time. As a teacher my students loved Kindergarten Cafe day. Once a week we would prep and enjoy an easy to make recipe. They loved following the visual recipe directions and most tried the simple but nutritious snack (I did have to swap out ingredients occasionally to up the "nutritional" value).

@sandi-mcmahon medical medium is amazing he has a 20 day brain shot challenge coming up this next week!! I am going to follow along!

@Mindy Thanks for the tip - checking on it now!

thank you for the tips! my kids are super picky about veggies too - but they will drink them in a smoothie or juice

The tips are superb! Almost…… Almost wish I had children in the house :]

Really great ideas!