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.

see this is why i had to change my diet.
so before, I'd eat

a (full to the brim) bowl of cocopops & fullfat milk
chocolate bars/crisps/cans of coke
canned soup/cheese & broccoli pasta w/full fat milk for lunch
yet more crisps & coke
then for tea i'd have like, boiled fish, steamed veg and a sauce. whats that all about.

Today, starting from today, going cold turkey with coke (as i get shakes when I don't have it.)

today's been: bacon samdwich, half a tub of grabes, 3 apples, chicken and veg soup, lean Ham, more fruit, and for tea will be something yummy.

I like with my parents and all, so they do the shopping and I just eat whatever's in. So I don't really ever have fresh veg, because there's only me who eats it!

I bet fewer kids eat liver and brain than broccoli though Jilly :o

Sweet potatoes count, btw!

So do baked beans, I know they are high in salt/sugar, but most children like them.

Doesn't shock me, my DD will only eat sweetcorn and can't eat fruit (medical reason), won't have soup or sauces and can spot a 'hidden' veg in anything, even picks out chopped onion. Thank god for multi vitamins!

So do kidney beans in chilli.

I don't really like cooked veg but I love salads.
I do serve veg with food but to be honest, I don't enjoy it. I'm happier grating veg into mince so it's not noticeable. I'll mash other veg with potatoes and put veg in stews and curries. I'll always add frozen mixed veg or peas to rice.
But I just don't like a side of veg.
My kids will eat veg and salad thankfully although toddler dd won't unless it's soup. She's started to eat carrot and the edges of cucumber but she'll spit out veg in stews and rice even though she's always been given what everyone else has.

Egg is a superfood packed in vitamins but nobody counts how many eggs their children eat or getting smug that dcs had a boiled egg.
Poor eggs!

I agree with the poster earlier who said that some veg are probably not too healthy and sprayed with God knows what. I mean those ready salads in the bag for example i am not sure they are 'healthy'.

The thing is with the health benefits of veg-not all veg are created equal!

If you/DCs are having a diet with red meat, oily fish, eggs, dairy, wholemeal bread, nuts, a variety of fruit including citrus then there is very little extra nuitrition you need from veg.

Leafy green veg is the exception- it's hard to replicate the benefits of this elsewhere.

But how much of veg kids are eating is leafy greens rather than sweetcorn/beans/tomatoes etc?

It wouldn't surprise me if only 1% of DC were having leafy green veg every day.

My kids will eat cabbage above all other veg.

Thank fuck - it's cheap and nutritious.

Does broccoli count as leafy or is it just stuff like kale?

It's not about restricting their diet- my oldest daughter had a huge range of food. There's no way you could argue that she had a restricted diet because she didn't have chocolate! What nonsense! She's 9 now and will eat anything but lacks much interest in sweets and chocolate, drinks mostly water- hates juice. She's very healthy and incredibly bright and I put a lot of that down to her diet.
I have another child who is 7 months old and is in the process of weaning. Again with a broad diet and no junk intended. Why would you??

jackie is right -" If you/DCs are having a diet with red meat, oily fish, eggs, dairy, wholemeal bread, nuts, a variety of fruit including citrus then there is very little extra nuitrition you need from veg."

Make with the eggs every day.; If you can start with a breakfast which is mostly eggs (not jam on toast or milk or cereal) then that's a really good start.

Well if you cooking the fuck out of that cabbage its pretty pointless serving

How can people say they eat curry or bolognese but no veg? Surely without veg that would be just meat then?

I cannot get my 5 year old to eat any kind of vegetable. A complete and utter nightmare.

His 2 year old sister on the other hand can't get enough of them.

Tinkly - technically peppers and tomatoes and courgettes and aubergines are fruit, mushrooms are fungus - so it is very easy to create a bolognese or curry without veg

onions are veg - but rarely enough to form a full portion for everyone.

Nobody actually considers any of those veg to be fruit though. Lots of things are technically classified differently, but commonly those are all vegetables.

I am quite evangelical about tomatoes actually being fruit. You may even say anal.

"Well if you cooking the fuck out of that cabbage its pretty pointless serving"

I don't!

" If you/DCs are having a diet with red meat, oily fish, eggs, dairy, wholemeal bread, nuts, a variety of fruit including citrus"

I do scrambled eggs with smoked salmon for breakfast for the kids three times a week. A big green smoothie on the side (made from coconut milk, spinach, mango, avocado, banana), and you can relax for the day.

Our bolognaise just has garlic, onion, a tin of tomatoes and some tomato purée in it as far as 'veg' goes. I don't think that's enough to constitute a portion. We do use wholemeal spaghetti though.

For a curry I get a chicken korma. The sauce is smooth so I can't imagine there are any veg in it. I'd maybe have a pakora or onion baghi but I don't think that'd count either.

When DP makes tomato pasta he'll blend veg into the sauce so none of us notice but we don't eat this much (I'm not a big pasta fan).

I don't even eat the gherkins in a McDonald's burger!

Oh well, most of the veg we eat is technically fruit then. We are obviously going to hell in a handcart.

More swede anyone?

This link might help www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Portionsizes.aspx
Tomatoes are vegetables, according to this source.So are beans and pulses.
They don't include potatoes though, probably to stop people counting crisps as one of their 5 a day. I think I also read somewhere that popcorn is a vegetable.
A couple of people have mentioned onions in curry and pasta sauces. Half a goodsized onion per serving = a portion of veg, and most curry sauces do contain quite a bit of onion, though it's usually cooked down a lot, it's most likely in there!.

Do pickles count? :o DD is having a "lazy lunch" today...crackers, some cheddar cubes, bratwurst, mixed fruit, and pickles. (Only a tiny bit of each thing; she will eat anything but only in small amounts.) And she had scrambled eggs and toast with jam for breakfast so no veggies there.

We will have some at dinner though. I'll make a big veg soup to balance it out.