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.

[KwaziisEyepatch]

I don't believe the 80% figure either. I get the whole chaotic families thing, but I don't actually know how you cook meals for days on end without encountering fruit and veg. I mean, what would you actually eat? Fussy kids aside. I accept there are some families like this, but surely not that many.

[BackforGood]

Well, I'll fess up - we had fish and chips from the chippie tonight, and I had a boiled egg and soldiers for my lunch, so I've managed to get through the day without any veg today. I'm not poor in monetary terms or lacking education or unable to cook or any of the other suggested reasons here - it just happens there weren't any veg in any of my meals today.

It's probably not the most shocking thing about me/ my life if I'm honest.

[m0therofdragons]

I was shocked but then thought about it and my df only eats potatoes or peas and peas is only if he has to. He eats lots of rice and spicy meat etc but nope, no veg. His blood pressure is great for a 6yo and his weight is on the lower end of his bmi. He's a carnivore and has been since 16 yo.

Shockingly he smokes (which I hate) and drinks (not excessively) yet Dr check up shows he's very healthy. My aunt was a health freak eating lots of veg and exercising, no smoking or drinking. She died at 50 of cancer. I'm guessing this isn't the norm but how can I tell df he should be healthier and eat a carrot?

[m0therofdragons]

60yo not 6yo

[m0therofdragons]

Df not poor either and owns a successful business so nothing to do with his class he's just very fussy re food!

[base9]

I can't actually think of a day - ever - when the dc had no veg at all. And they aren't that young anymore.

[BlackeyedSusan]

I am surprised that it is that many, unless they are being pedantic and counting tomatoes/cucumber peppers etc as fruits.

I am intrigued at how many are offered and refuse compared to how many are just not offered at all because that is how the family eats.

I try to give the children at least five portions of veg a day plus two to five fruit portions. I can see why somone at school commented that they eat a lot of fruit and veggies in not such a nice way if so few eat veggies everyday.

as someone said up thread, it might have been a survey that was skewed to show the results they wanted by choosing a population that is less likely to eat veg.

[RedSoloCup]

See I do offer fruit and veg whenever and wherever I can BUT I know as a kid I didn't eat fruit (didn't like it there always was some fruit in the house I could have eaten) and my veg intake was literally a small side of peas / carrots / sweetcorn every day which I often got away with not eating anyway.

School packed lunch was marmite / jam / cheese sandwiches with a penguin bar and crisps....

My kids also avoid veg and it's a daily battle!

[ToadsJustFellFromTheSky]

It's not really that unbelievable. Even I, as an adult, don't eat fruit and veg every day.

Let's see, today I had a bacon and egg sandwich, some chicken curry and several packets of crisps. Yesterday I had toast, jacket potato with tuna (and I've heard potatoes don't count) and some cheesy chips.

Tbh, I find all this "we must eat more of this, less of this" and "we need x amount of x a day" to be a bit baffling. I wonder how we survived so long without this advice...

[funnyossity]

Potatoes count in reality just not according to leaflets about 5 a day. Potatoes still give you vitamin C and fibre.

[base9]

werejamming It would never occur to me to serve pasta pesto without a side of vegetables. Roast peppers or steamed broccoli or grilled aubergine or all and more. The dc eat the veg often before the pasta. Because vegetables taste delicious.

But I really love veggies and so did my parents. Maybe if everyone you eat with is eating veg at every meal, you just grow up liking them? Dunno. Maybe it is just luck.

[ToadsJustFellFromTheSky]

Good to know. In that case I have eaten some veg over the last two days.

[DustyMaiden]

I eat at least 10 different fruit or veg a day. DS no vegetables, occasional fruits. It does worry me but what can you do?

[BlackeyedSusan]

do they eat fruit jamming? [nosy]

[base9]

It is odd. I have no idea why mine like it. I guarantee it is not my amazing cooking or dh's! I always just thought they liked them b/c most kids do. But apparently most kids don't. They might like them when they grow up?

[BlackeyedSusan]

peculiar how they like some things and not others.

[fattymcfatfat]

im lucky in that I don't have particularly fussy eaters, except DD who is at that stage of eating something one day then a week later decides she won't. I will let her off though but we have veg with everything at tea time even if its just some sweetcorn on the side of the plate.
cauliflower and broccoli cheese is a favourite in my house.
we usually have salad with dinner aswell but not always so we have fruit instead (me and DD, DS has school meals so gets veggies and fruit there)

[StrawberryTot]

The links won't work on my phone :( just keeps going blank (I'll try again later).

But eating and being offered veg are not the same, I don't see the figures people have been stating as reliable.

I struggle getting my DD to eat veg, she's a fruit fan. Although she'll eat raw carrot and steamed carrot by the bucket load, never tinned!! She can sniff out a tinned carrot a mile off.
My DS is the opposite massive veg fan but it is a proper struggle to get him to eat fruit.

[Flowergirlmum]

It surprises me how blasé some on here are about their children's diets. My daughter loves veg. She didn't taste chocolate or sweets until she was way past 3 years old. Her taste buds were allowed to mature and develop without being corrupted by sugar. Getting your kids to love veg is about weaning well and avoiding the rubbish all together. Don't even label choc etc as a "treat" (this implies that it's better than other things!).

[Mominatrix]

Not eating veg everyday is a lifestyle which bemuses me. I grew up with a traditional Korean diet. Rice, kimchee (pickled veg) and banchan (small plates of vegetables prepared in various ways) was the backbone of every meal, and a poor person's diet in Korea consisted of just these things. Children refusing vegetables is not heard of there - frankly, they would have nothing to eat!

Vegetables are cheap, nutritious, and versatile. I think that part of the problem is that many people don't know how to do much with them beyond boiling or stir frying. My husband has a mum who dislikes veg and did not know how to cook them resulting in my husband thinking he did not like certain veg. When I did interesting things with the veg, he discovered that he did like them.

[base9]

My youngest was raiding her siblings' chocolate buttons before she could walk. She loves veg best of them all. I don't think there's a single smug answer.