Encouraging a variety of fruits and vegetables in your child's diet is very important for developing fantastic lifelong food habits (they may stray in the teenage years but research shows habits formed in the younger years will typically prevail in adulthood!).
Toddlers can be particularly fussy when it comes to trying and accepting new foods and it is critical you introduce and then re-introduce on up to a dozen more occasions for a new fruit or vege to become familiar and eventually 'accepted' into their diet.
A great idea is to talk with your child about 'eating a rainbow everyday' this means eating a selection of different coloured fruit and vegetables ( think 5+ different servings; and a serving is generally the size of the child's fist).
You may even consider drawing up a chart like the one pictured above and work with your child to tick or stick stars on it every time they choose to eat a colour group. Giving your child this sense of control to decide what colour or fruit/vege to eat and seeing their chart fill with stickers may help to develop eating patterns that will prove to be beneficial for health now and in the future.
Why eat a Rainbow every day?
Different coloured fruits and vegetables contain different vitamins and minerals, so it important to eat a variety of these in order to get the right amount and blend of nutrients!
Whats in the Rainbow?
This table may give you some useful ideas to offer your child as part of their rainbow!
Here are a few handy tips for parents:
- Children model what they see at the table and in the kitchen, so parents...if you want your child to try new things sit down and show them just how yummy these new foods really are!
- Serve a new food first while the child is still hungry
- Encourage just a taste (or lick!) and allow your child to decide if they will have more
- And perhaps most importantly! Avoid using food as a reward or punishment. It is important for your child to form a healthy relationship with food, rather than forming positive and negative associations with certain groups such as sweet foods for behaving well.
Don't forget, if you are struggling to implement a healthy diet for your child or have any queries don't hesitate to get in contact with us and we will happily assist you in working through any feeding issues!
All the best,
Jessica
Nutritionist
I would like to credit www.wegmans.com for this excellent chart and vege list. Check out the other resources too!
I would like to credit www.wegmans.com for this excellent chart and vege list. Check out the other resources too!
