How can I get a 5 year old to eat vegetables and fruits? All she wants to do is eat meat products.?

Question

I need some recipes or something to get fruits and veggies into this kid. She will not eat them. If I only offer them then she refuses to eat.

Answer 1

Take your kid to a slaughter house and he'll think twice the next time he sees meat...

Answer 2

If a mother has eating problems then so will the daughter because she mimics you. You can grind up the vegetables and mix with meat in a meatloaf and she will never know the difference. Not sure what to do about the fruit unless you put it into ice cream. Very few children turn down something cold and sweet.

Answer 3

Give her what's good for her and LET HER GO HUNGRY if she does not eat it.

No, it will not kill your kid to skip even a few days meals (though it is unlikely she'll miss any more than a day's).

Americans are completely screwed up about food because we can have what we want when we want it. Perhaps giving her a 3rd worlder's point of view (though you needn't tell her that you are doing it) will help.

However, you want to do this earlier rather than later - this becomes very difficult to do when she has access to other food (through school, etc).

Sounds cruel, but it works well in the long run.

And we should all know what it is like to be truly hungry.

Answer 4

Smoothies are definately a fun way to get fruits into them (mix with a bit of vanilla or plain yogurt & milk)...

Introduce fruits & veggies slowly. Kids have 10,000 taste buds compared to our measely 3000 - 5000 (i.e. more than we do) so they are WAY more sensitive to new tastes, and it takes them on average 10 "tastes" of any particular food before their body will accept it (don't be discouraged if it takes more than that though).

In light of that, I have a rule with my son which is that he has to TASTE everything on his plate, at least one bite. If he tastes it and doesn't like it, I will remove the offending food from his plate, and praise him A LOT for being a good boy and tasting the food. I remind him that I won't force him to eat anything he doesn't like, so his rewards are the praise, and the removal of the food if he doesn't like it.

It works very well - there are times he surprises me and says "hey, that's good", and he proceeds to eat it - and other times he sticks his nose up at it. But the great thing is that since I don't force him if he doesn't like it, he is more willing to try everything once, and as time goes on, I know his tastes will grow to like more and more foods. He now willingly eats broccoli, carrots, potatoes, zucchini, & salad! And you have to believe me when I tell you he is a PICKY eater!

Answer 5

My kids aren't picky eaters but, it's difficult to get them to eat all the recommended servings of fruits/veggies.... SO, I hide them in everything that I can ! Fruits are generally easy.. Make banana bread OR pancakes but, substitute the oil in dry mix to applesauce or mashed banana. Spagetti sauce is an easy "catch all" I like to use babyfood puree in spagetti, macaroni/cheese.. OR you could just cook till soft and mash. Meatloaf you can add all sorts of goodies... Puree works best since your little one won't see/detect anything. Also, adding veggie puree or minced veggies keeps the meatloaf moist.... Lasagna is another one.. I like to put frozen chopped spinach in the ricotta cheese to get some veggies into everyone.... Just be creative, you can make just about anything with veggies in it and if she's hungry enough she will eat it.... Good luck

Answer 6

You might get better answers in parenting. Basic thing is that kids tend to copy behaviour they see, so the more she sees you and your partner eating fruit and veggies, the more likely she is to try them.

In the meantime, juice and smoothies are good, and you can put quite a lot of carrot and celery (chopped v small) in bolognese sauce and kids will still eat it happily.

Answer 7

Ok here is a good idea... i presume u put gravy on her meat... well why know put the vegetables in the gravy and blend it down... that way she wont know she is eating them but you know she is getting them

Why not try making it fun and make smiley faces out of the food and use (for example) tomatoes as eyes... celery as a mustache... i think u get the idea

hope this helps :)

Answer 8

My mum gave me an "either or" choice - so at least it was my decision. Corn on the cob is an adventure in itself! The other good way is smoothies - frozen strawberries and icecream blended up is a winner every time. There's lots of recipe books available for them and you only need a whizzer.

Answer 9

check with her doctor first and make sure that she is not anemic, or any other health issue that may cause her to crave meat. If its nothing just tell her that she has to eat all or half of her vegetables, before she can have anything else. If and maybe add some vitamins.

Answer 10

You can either make them really fun. Like cutting the fresh fruits and vegetables up into fun shapes and letting them dip them in yogurt or peanut butter or cheese. Or.....you can hide them in baked goods like zuchini bread, puree vegetables such as squash or other vegetables and add them to spaghetti sauce. All kids like spaghetti.
Make fruit smoothies.

Answer 11

Just make her eat them! Put your foot down! YOU are the parent so YOU need to let it be known that YOU are in control. Geez. She can't eat anything else or play until she eats her fruits and vegetables. It's that simple, yes?