Kids eat what their parents eat. And it should be one meal for everybody. Once you start giving your kids choices of this or that ? You are teaching them how to be picky eater. And also snacks, I heard grown ups asking kids to have snacks, even they say no, still insisting that it’s snack time. Save that hunger for real food.Snacks shouldn’t be always. I read a comment from an American mother recently moved to south france that over there kids don’t eat between meals. Because they are hungry , been looking forward for that meal, they don’t have time to complain like : I don’t like asparagus ! We should change the way we eat, too much feeding ! Every turn kids get asked : are you hungry ? All day long!!
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@Volafotsy
I could not have said it better. Parents stop giving snacks to your kids and have real meals.
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My kids "snacks" are the leftover food they didn't eat at lunch.
Agree, thank you @volafotsy. Tough to eliminate snacking and establish regular mealtime when neither community nor spouse seem in favor - and when toddler regularly sees others snacking at park or another public place. Yesterday he procured snacks from three other children at the park - strawberries, dried beet and chips!
I love this study! Visual behavioral nudges are astonishingly powerful. Have you seen the study that showed if every in Pringels can, if there was a red chip in every 10 normal ones reduced consumption by 50%! I love this stuff...why i'm spending my life building visual behavioral nudge software. Advertisers know how to use it - bring back the nudge units!
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Anything to help! I've found that suggesting, say, carrots isn't nearly as effective as asking my kids if they'd rather celery or carrots. The perception of choice can be powerful.
The same thing happened when I wanted to lose weight.(Thankfully, I've been able to easily maintain it for years now!)
The idea of eating veggies made me cringe. It was questions like that, along with others, from my coach at MyBodyTutor.com that helped.
The simple and powerful questions along with countless proven strategies is why MyBodyTutor worked like nothing else. I’ve tried everything to lose weight. Believe me! LOL! It’s the only thing that was able to keep me interested and progressing until I reached my goal of losing 50 pounds.
I'm forever grateful to Adam (the founder of the company) and my coach. I can't recommend the program enough to anyone who wants to improve their eating, lose weight and keep it off.
Coincidentally, Adam just wrote a wonderful article the other day, "I don't eat veggies, how can I lose weight?"
Worth checking out, as is his program: https://www.mybodytutor.com/blog/i-dont-eat-veggies-how-can-i-lose-weight/
@Stephanie
It seems that you posted your comment for the specific purpose of plugging a particular weight loss program. You devoted 3 lines to the article.
and six PARAGRAPHS to the weight loss program,
which included two links. . This is supposed to be the New York Times Comments section, not a place for posting infomercials.
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I think the best way to influence children to eat more fruits and veggies if for parents, and others in the household, to eat a diet rich in those nutritious foods. As for veggies, they range in appeal from awful to scrumptious, depending on their quality and the care taken to prepare them. The sight of an adult truly enjoying a fruit or vegetable can be more inspiring than a basketful of admonitions to eat healthier food.
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It's very difficult for parents to compete with the barrage of advertisements pushing sugary garbage factory "food" to children.
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@Pat Sure it is. Don't let them watch programs with commercials.
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There are no health benefits from eating vegetables. All that epidemiologic evidence derives from their displacing dense carbs, like potatoes, from your dinner plate.
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@Charlierf, really? Where do you get your information? Do you have any evidence for your statement? There are all kinds of benefits from consuming vegetables. Here is just one of many, many examples: DNA repair. https://nutritionfacts.org/video/fruits-vegetables-boost-dna-repair/ Check it out.
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@Dr. J
Health Benefits of Fruits and Vegetables
http://advances.nutrition.org/content/3/4/506.full
doi: 10.3945/ an.112.002154
Adv Nutr July 2012 Adv Nutr vol. 3: 506-516, 2012
Conclusions
... Fruits, vegetables, and legumes vary widely in nutrient content so should not be expected to have similar physiological effects. Although dietary guidance is supportive of a more vegetarian eating pattern, including increased servings of fruits and vegetables, the scientific support for these recommendations is mixed in an evidence-based review. Prospective cohort studies find weak support for the protectiveness of fruits and vegetables against chronic diseases, yet intake of fruits and vegetables in U.S. cohorts is low. Additionally, few randomized controlled trials have been published on the addition of fruits and vegetables to the diet and changes in biomarkers or health status. Nutrients in fruits and vegetables, such as dietary fiber, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, including polyphenols, all provide support for the biological plausibility that fruits and vegetables play a role in health.
@Charlierf
This is unfortunately a typical view in our culture, which bases the perceived health value of foods based only on what they lack (carbs, sugar, etc), rather than on what they contain (micronutrients, minerals, fiber ...) Most people think of food as something inherently bad that can be made less bad by omitting certain components. Maybe instead we should think of food as the raw material of your body's tissues (which it is). Especially with growing kids whose bodies are forming their bones, teeth, and brains, you want to provide them with lots of nutrients and the best quality raw materials. This means lots of veggies (among other things, of course, but veggies are particularly rich in many micronutrients.)
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