To be staggered that only 1 in 5 children eats vegetables every day

[Beloved72]

Are there really families where children get no vegetables with their evening meal or packed lunch/school lunch?

Quite shocked actually. I can get my head around children and adults not having 5 a day, but NONE?

And 1 child in 10 refusing to eat ANY vegetables ever?


Yikes. I worry for our future health.

[nochocolateforlentteacake]

I'm vegetarian and am either very good with my fruit and veg intake, or stressed put and live on coffee, croissants and crisps.

DS will eat anything apart from mushrooms (unless he can't see them). He's not keen on aubergine either bit that is definitely an acquired tase.

I found that kids might not like veg prepared one way but will eat it cooked another way or raw (or in a soup, or curried). Personally I'd eat a scabby dog if it were coveted in cheese or in pastry.

[WorraLiberty]

Yes but every day? Jeez I'd get sick of the sight of it, even if I did mix it up.

I'm not surprised the majority don't eat it every day.

5 or 6 days out of 7 won't do them any harm, if they're otherwise eating healthily and taking exercise etc.

[ClumsyNinja]

My DS won't eat veg if he sees it so it's a constant battle with bribes and threats.

[FirstWeTakeManhattan]

Veg can also be expensive unless you are able to get it from a market of live near Lidl or Aldi

I disagree that vegetables are expensive. They are simply not. And they can be free if you put your name down for an allotment or grow them in the garden. And there's your exercise too.

not everyone is on board with the health benefits of fruit and veg. Well, that's a new one on me

[IHaveBrilloHair]

You could forage for blackberries and mushrooms and then it's free.
pisses self laughing

[26Point2Miles]

the problem isn't what they aren't eating but more what they are eating

kids yogurts
cheese strings
cakes/biscuits
crisps
loads of bread/baked products
squash
etc etc

[FirstWeTakeManhattan]

You can laugh Brillo, but my kids are trained to sniff out a preferably not pissed on by passing dogs patch of wild garlic in any given woodland

[IgnoreMeEveryOtherReindeerDoes]

Can you still get dominos pizza loaded with veg? Shit luck that they don't deliver to my area

[fatlazymummy]

Veggies are pretty cheap at Icelands. It's not all crappy ready meals and frozen pizzas.
I think probably most parents are on board with the healthy eating message and make at least some attempt to get their children eating fruit and veg. There probably is the hard core minority who don't bother. I have noticed on some forums that some people take a pride in rejecting health advice, though hopefully not too many of them are parents.

[BackforGood]

Might I suggest that if you are staggered by this, then you really, really have led a very sheltered life.

[IHaveBrilloHair]

When I go to Iceland it's for Greggs frozen food and interesting chicken shapes.

[MeanwhileHighAboveTheField]

Is this the survey where they asked the kids?

If so children are are not a very reliable source of information!

My ds told the dinner ladies that he never eats vegetables. He does.

[XiCi]

Children have refused to eat vegetables from time immemorial. I can't imagine it would be a shock to anyone that some children refuse vegetables. Every parent I know fights a daily battle to get vegetables down their child

[canyou]

We make smoothies every day, today I got spotted adding beetroot apparently they believed that all juices had the pink colour from berries, We had to do a blind tasting to prove they preferred the veg based juice.
I had a good laugh that the yucky veggies make the best juices (grin)

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

You know there are some families that don't get a meal for their evening meal, right? (Most of whom will be eligible for FSM but I don't see any ire directed towards the govt/schools for lack of veg in school lunches).

And some families with very fussy eaters?

And some families where the parents don't like/know how to deal with/can't afford fresh veg and haven't quite got the message about other sources of veg being OK?

I mean, obviously I think it's terrible that it happens but I'm a bit at the . Some families have it really bloody hard.

[canyou]

Was there not a study done about children and eating vegetables where they claimed DC would not eat fruit/veg as a defence mechanism as stone age children brains were wired to stop them eating berries veg leaves etc so that they would not eat poisonous foods

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

There was a kid at my DS last school who had malnutrition, you know? People use foodbanks to feed their kids, but that only lasts 3 days in most areas and most people have got to a pretty hard place to be eligible for that help.

[LonnyVonnyWilsonFrickett]

give this a whirl

[butterfly2015]

My 9 year old eats fruit and veg every day, probably more than required. She will ask for a bowl of peas as a snack or a raw carrot. But she is a very odd child, I mean it's just not normal. Mind you she threw a paddy last Friday morning because I wouldn't let her have rocky road ice cream for breakfast. Like I said, odd. I caught her trying to sneak extra broccoli into the trolley once.

Oldest loves peppers and onions and raw carrot. That's it.

Dsd likes cooked carrot only.

Oh hates anything green. Which is just greenist and he should be reported imo.

[base9]

We eat fruit and veg daily, and 5 portions is a minimum. So from my perspective it is tough to imagine going without. But I know for others it would be a nightmare to have to eat fruit and veg daily. Some people just do not like it. So it goes.

[Theas18]

I meet lots of teenagers with abysmal diets. I think free vitamins shouldn't have an age limit

[nottheOP]

I can see how it happens I suppose. Ds is a reasonable eater and happily eats fruit. Veg is eaten if he's hungry enough but I think most families eat spaghetti bol once a week and I suppose you could cook that without veg.

Same for pizza and curry. We're not really into meat and veg meals beyond the weekly roast but we do put veg into our saucy meals - mainly onions, pepper, sweetcorn etc

You can't underestimate how uneducated/disinterested a lot of folk are in food or nutrition. I'm certainly not wonderful but try to not eat ready meals as I find them bland. They're also often completely void of any veg.

[OMGmetoo]

I didn't realise I was doing so WELL. DC eats a tiny variety of veg - carrots, cucumbers and peas mostly covers it. He will occasionally gobble up broccoli but it's never a given.

Won't eat sauces so no "hiding" veg in this household.

Eats tomatoes like they're going out of style but of course they're a fruit!