How to lose weight fast

How can you help your children eat more fresh fruits and vegetables ?

You want to provide your child with a healthy, varied and balanced diet rich in fresh fruits and vegetables. Sometimes you run into refusals? Here are a few tips to help your child understand new flavors and take good dietary reflexes from an early age. First virtue to develop (in parents): consistency. Learning is done over time. Don't get discouraged! Another major pedagogical virtue is to lead by example! Take stock of your own diet.

Prepare the ground: the variety on the menu

If you are breast-feeding, you should know that your milk will be perfumed according to what you consume; the more varied your diet, the more likely it is that your child’s diet will be varied later. He will have already “tasted” a beautiful variety of flavors.

Diversify your baby’s diet without too much delay (6 to 9 months) with “home-cooked” vegetables and adjust the texture of the preparation: puree and soup to start with.

The variety of tastes, apprehended at an early age, will be a good asset for the future; a child can momentarily refuse certain foods but, having already tasted them, it is very likely that he will resume consumption later, this small episode of refusal past.

First, present the vegetables and/or fruits one at a time before combining or combining them with other foods. Thus, the child can well differentiate the taste of carrots, zucchini, etc. A well-identified, well-known food will remain in the child's taste repertoire, even if it is refused for a short period.

When novelty scares

Ever since food diversification, your child eats everything. That is good news.

But, from the age of two, your little one refuses, rejects his plate, trepidates in front or sulks at the table.

Also, he doesn't want to taste new foods. Don't panic! About three quarters of children pass through this stage.

A few tips to help him overcome his food neophobia

- Patiently offer at least 8 times the same food: the more you eat, the more you like.

- Present small amounts: first just a spoonful, without insisting more and always in the same form so that the food is more easily identified.

- Taste the rejected foods in front of the child: by mimicry, he will be encouraged to taste them again. - - Try as much as possible to get the child to express his or her reasons for rejection: flavor, texture, temperature, etc. This will allow you to better adapt the preparation of the vegetable and/or fruit to suit his or her preferences.

- Alternate a dish that is spontaneously appreciated (and well known) with a new and/or momentarily rejected dish.

- And above all, stay zen! It's just a passage. The time of the meal must remain a good time, quiet, with the family.

Introduce them to a new food

A little culture!

When you have a little time, explain to your child the history of the fruit or vegetable: its name, where and how it grows (in or on the land, on a tree or shrub...).

Sensory experiences

Develop the pleasure of eating a vegetable or fruit by calling on the 5 senses: I look at it, feel it, touch it, taste it and listen to the noise in my mouth. It crunches, it melts, it is sweet, it is sweet, it is salty... The more the child expresses himself on what he feels, the more he appropriates his sensations, the more he develops his curiosity in terms of tastes.

Color and variety

A good reference point for creating an appetizing and balanced dish: the more colorful and varied the contents of the dish, the more likely it is to be enjoyed. The variety of colors is also a good guarantee of the diversity and complementarity of vitamins (and other beneficial micro nutrients). The aesthetics and appearance of foods are also very important for children, because they are attractive and thus promote appetite. Care as much as possible for the presentation of the plate. Some children do not like mixtures: separate the food well on the plate.

A playful approach: how much do I eat?

Help the child count the fruits and vegetables they ate during the day (at home and in the canteen). This makes them aware that fruits and vegetables are present at every meal and they get used to eating them.

Example

For breakfast: a squeezed fruit, a nuts, to be chewed...

For lunch and dinner: a raw vegetable as a starter and a raw or compote fruit as a dessert.

Taste: a squeezed fruit and/or a chewable fruit.

In the kitchen: the desire to do like the big ones

Involve your child as soon as possible in the preparation of the meal: squeeze an orange, mix a fruit salad, wash the radishes, position the apple slices on a pie paste, cut vegetables, remove the feet from mushrooms, strip the endives, etc. Be sure to entrust him with tasks adapted to his motility and to offer him, during the preparation, to taste the fruits and/or vegetables that can be consumed raw.

Sometimes buying a small chef’s apron with a hat can help her get interested in cooking, get into the role.

The more he prepares with you, the more he will taste his “small dishes” with envy and pride!

Tasting methods: some tips

The liquid form is well appreciated: juice, soup, smoothie. Tell the child which vegetables or fruits are hidden in the drink. To make a soup more appetizing: offer a self-service (under control anyway!), some croutons, grated gruyère and a little light cream.

Straw soup! Your little guy's sulking his soup plate? Serve him in a mug with a straw garden vegetable dip.

Eating with your fingers in dip mode! Prepare vegetable dips (carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, endive leaves, mini bouquets of cauliflower, etc.) to be enjoyed with a cottage cheese and fresh herb sauce. Fruit side: slice fruit to soak in a compote, a sweet white cheese with vanilla sugar.

Good associations

A novel food is more likely to be accepted with a known and valued food.

Combine vegetables with pasta: vegetable tagliatelle (courgettes or carrots), small sautéed fresh mushrooms, broccoli bouquets, etc.

Think of pies, quiches and pizzas where it is very easy to slip small vegetables: pepper, tomatoes, artichoke, mushrooms, zucchini, lamb’s lettuce or watercress.

It's gratified! Are cooked vegetables not a big hit? Spend a few minutes under the oven grill with a little grated cheese.

Mashed potatoes are always very popular: dare mashed celery (with apple), parsnip, pumpkin (pumpkin, buttenut, etc.), eggplant, zucchini, etc., which can be combined with mashed potatoes in the first place. Gradually, change the proportions so that the vegetable dominates.

Home-made compotes, which are less acidic than raw fruit, have the edge: apple compote (often the first banana fruit to enter the pups’ diet) will allow new flavors to be gently discovered (rhubarb, mango, etc.).