How to Encourage A Fussy Eater To Eat Vegetables

By Nutra Active Team

Filled with nutrients and antioxidants, vegetables help to ward off diseases and boost your overall health. Plus, their rich fiber content is essential as it not only helps to maintain your well-being, but also fills you up and helps with appetite control.

The problem is, not all of us enjoy eating them.

But what if your veggie-woes are not because you just don’t like them, but because you’ve not tried the right type? Here are a couple of tips to not just improve your tolerance of vegetables, but to actually make eating them exciting!

Don’t Eat Your Vegetables – Drink Them

Simple to make and containing multiple vegetable servings, soups can be an effective way to get in more greens than you realize. They also cater to different tastes – whether you prefer cream- or broth-based soups. Puree the vegetables, add spices and you’d have the “base” of your soup ready to go. For a little extra fiber, you can even mix in additional vegetables such as broccoli or top with vegetables garnishes.

If you’re pressed for time, you can opt for green smoothies instead. There are plenty of recipe variations online to suit your liking, and you even have the flexibility to add in fruits or other healthy ingredients for a taste-boost. Here’s a recipe to try out for yourself:

Banana Berry Green Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh greens (i.e. spinach, arugula etc.)
• 1 cup frozen fruit (i.e. mixed berries, banana etc.)
• ½ - 1 cup of milk (i.e. almond, coconut, soy etc.)
• ½ tablespoon flax seeds (chia seeds can work as well)

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender, until smooth

You can also add vegetables to your sauces. For those having a hard time getting their family members to eat their greens, this is one way you could sneak in some vegetables into their diet while they remain none-the-wiser. Toss in some onions or bell peppers into the mix the next time you’re making your signature marinara sauce – it’s great for health and adds some flavor as well.

Tweak Your Recipes

Having “vegetable tweaks” for each of your go-to recipes can be both a fun and unique experience in trying to promote green-eating in the household.

It doesn’t take much for you to turn unhealthy dinner favorites into something more optimal for your body.

Give this Cauliflower Pizza Crust recipe a try, for example:

Cauliflower Pizza Crust

Ingredients

• 1 head cauliflower (remove stalk)
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• ¼ cup tapioca or almond flour
• 2 eggs (lightly beaten)
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• Sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Pulse cauliflower in food processor until it is finely shredded (this might take multiple batches to do, depending on the size of your processor)
3. Steam the cauliflower for about 3 to 4 minutes before draining, letting it cool and straining away excess water with a towel
4. Add the cauliflower, oregano, garlic powder, eggs, dried basil and almond flour to a bowl. Season with salt and pepper before mixing everything together well
5. Transfer mixture to baking sheet or a pizza pan and shape it to form a pizza crust shape
6. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes

From here, you’re free to add in toppings and sauce of your choice before baking for another 8 to 10 minutes! (Might we suggest using a vegetable-based sauce like we mentioned earlier?)

You don’t even have to bring out your inner chef to implement these tweaks. Other actions you can do include:

Vegetables are a crucial part of our diet, yet many of us don’t get enough servings on a daily basis. With some of these tips, however, you can make vegetable-eating a more accessible and fun experience – motivating you to foster the habit over the long term!