Every Friday on FoodPlay Productions Facebook Page, ToBe Fit, Ace Food Detective, will answers kids’ questions about food and nutrition. Here’s today’s post:
Dear ToBe Fit,
My dad keeps bugging me to eat more vegetables, but I don’t like them. Any ideas?
–William S, New Orleans, LA
Dear William,
First, make sure you check out this link for some fun free activities like my “Tickets to Fresh Adventures!” – colorful recipe cards for yummy and easy to make snacks with fruits and veggies! https://www.foodplay.com/_OLD/kidzone/
Well, William, I didn’t like vegetables either until I learned more about them, and how they are like superheroes to our bodies – they give our bodies so many vitamins and minerals and fiber that keep us healthy. Sometimes I can tell if someone doesn’t eat vegetables, their skin is bland, their hair is dull, and it’s like they don’t seem very alive! And, then I see people that eat lots of vegetables, and their faces are so bright, their skin is glowing, and their hair is bright and shiny! Plus, vitamins and minerals boost your immune system, help you feel happier, and even can make you smarter! If you don’t like vegetables, it may be because you haven’t been properly introduced!
So, here are a few of my tips for kids to get to love their veggies!
Go on a Fresh Adventure! – explore and discover by tasting different vegetables. Try to find vegetables that are super fresh, grown near you, and are in season. If there’s any way you can even try to grow a garden, that’s the best thing ever! If you’re able to visit a farmers market, that’s so much fun! You can meet the farmers that grow the food near you. Veggies taste the best that way.
Then, after you wash them well, have your parents help cut them up, and you can eat ‘em raw, perhaps tossed in a salad that you create, or cut up in fun shapes and dipped into your favorite dressing or dip.
Make a fun chart to keep track of every vegetable you try, and rate it with a happy face, sad face, or just ok face. And, I learned that it may take more than 10 tries to come to like an unfamiliar food, so if you don’t at first love it, try, try, try again. Or, keep exploring by trying out a new vegetable every week – fresh from Mother Nature! Try to eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables every day! Yeah, I’m up to 9 a day!!!
My favorite veggies to eat raw with a dip or favorite dressing or tossed in a salad are:
Baby carrots or cut carrots into “Carrot Coins”
Cucumbers especially the smaller cukes that they turn into pickles.
Snap peas – sweet and delicious
Broccoli – cut into little “trees”
Watermelon radishes – slice them and surprise the colors you’ll see
Red, green, yellow, and orange peppers – can be cut into “pinwheel” shapes
Tomatoes, and cherry tomatoes -who doesn’t love cherry tomatoes?
Romaine lettuce – that’s what’s used in fancy salads in restaurants, and the leaves are most nutritious of all lettuces, and they’re crunchy and taste best to me!
Another favorite of mine are “Edamame” – they’re soybeans in a pod, and your folks can buy them frozen in a bag, and they’re easy to cook up, and then they’re great to eat as a yummy, protein-rich snack full of vitamins and minerals!
Let me know how you’re doing, and eat those veggies! They’ll make you strong, and me proud!
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Love, ToBe Fit, Ace Food Detective
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