Eat your greens!

[sheoaouhra]

really, what has happened to this old staple? It used to be taken for granted that greens would be offered and encouraged to be eaten every day. I just don't see this now - many children I know are going a week or more between mouthfuls of green, as far as I can see- surely it is well known that fresh greens are crucial for a balanced diet and good health?

please tell me your children and young people are eating greens!

I am also the mother of a child on the autistic spectrum but oddly enough in our house she was the non-picky eater and her brother (not ND) was the one who wouldn't touch many of the the things the rest of us were eating. His father was apparently the same growing up. Both of them eat a good varied diet now, including plenty of vegetables, because they know about the health benefits. I understand that for parents of children with eating issues (and adults who were/are similar) this is a very emotive issue. But as several of us have already said this is not an issue for most of the world or even for the majority of the UK population. Eating real food is always going to be better than getting nutrients from supplements, not least because of the fibre content. I'm not a scientist or HCP but if I had to hazard a guess at why rates of bowel cancer are going up in younger people across the rich countries of the world, I'd pick low fibre diets as a good place to start.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g I suppose all diets have their downsides. My own is way too carb heavy as I get older, so now I have modified it to some extent, keeping the veggies but reducing the carbs.

Mine both eat a ton of green and other vegetables. Dc2 loves them, and will eat raw cabbage given the chance. I am very lucky though, as I know other families who's children refuse vegetables and I literally don't know how you're meant to deal with it without force feeding them. My eldest is vegetarian by choice, and I'd never force feed her a steak, despite worrying about the things she may be lacking from abstaining from meat, just make sure she takes a daily supplement and sometimes we do have to have talks around making sure she's getting enough protein elsewhere in her diet, if she's to not eat meat, although she loves beans and lentils so I try not to worry too much. Never done anything special to make them like greens, they just always have, and will often ask for green veggies when I give them the choice on what they want with dinner.

Yes, but fibre comes not just from carb-heavy sources like brown rice, wholemeal flour, pulses and potatoes, but also the less calorific fruits and vegetables like spinach, celery and watermelon.

The other motto to put alongside this is 'pick your battles'.

The first green veg my dd would eat was samphire.

She grew up fit and healthy.

No, not obviously. Many people don’t know the difference. Kids at school have asked my DS if he’s eaten too many sweets. It’s infuriating.

I wanted my kids to have a very varied diet and made lots of vegetables the norm since the DC were weaned: the evening meal will typically include at least two portions, sometimes more: broccoli, spinach, cabagge, kale, rocket, sweet potatoes, peas, edamame, tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots are staples. They have their favourites and some like some things more than others, naturally, but they get served and eaten.

But most of my DC's friends do not countenance most vegetables and a couple even claim to dislike all fruit. We have recently hosted a vegetarian exchange student who disliked most vegetables and only wanted pasta with pesto. No greens seems a fairly common approach amongst the kids I know, sadly. I should add that the particular kids I am thinking of do not have SEN or allergies and come from families in (very) substantially better financial situation to our own.

My ds eats broccoli most days...if not, peas or carrots.

DD is less keen on cooked veg. She loves salad though so at least has some form of lettuce every day with grated carrot, cucumber etc.

This is Mumsnet where everyone will have either a child that eats 2044 of their 5 a day every day or won't eat a single bit of it and no inbetween.

I think you are very keen to read your own imagined emotions and motivations into my post, where I am just quite worried, and chatting about it

Why are British kids so opposed to eating vegetables? I've lived in continental Europe and it is (very rarely) an issue there. I don't understand it. Is it embedded in the nations DNA? I loved all vegetables as a kid and considered them as nice as everything else on my plate. I gave my son fresh pureed veg from a young age and he loves his veg too. Ditto everyone else in my family.

@sheoaouhra No I also think you've been quite patronising. Why are you so concerned? Will there be an enormous dripfeed where your DIL isn't feeding your DGC enough veg?

I do wonder if school dinners have something to do with it. Overcooked veg and so many cheap carbs. We tend to have veg with a bit of crunch. I’d struggle to politely eat soggy broccoli if someone else cooked it. Quite often the Dc will say they like my version of Mac cheese, bolognaise, home made burgers, mince type meals but not schools.

My dd insists on broccoli with every meal- spaghetti, chilli, fajitas etc, even if it doesn't go. But most of my nieces and nephews never eat veg, apart from the occasional portion of peas.

@Abitorangelooking @ginasevern Agree with this, I'm not the world's best cook by any means but DC much prefer my veg at home and will try anything, including things like kale and cabbage, because I've not boiled them to death first.

That was one of my hateful father’s many rules. I even had to eat anything I gagged and spat back up.
I still don’t eat any of the traditional 70’s veg I was force fed. Can’t even look at them.
It makes being vegetarian tricky at times.
The only veg I eat are things I was never fed in childhood.

I never made a big deal about eating their veg, it was just served up as part of the meal and the kids mostly ate it. One of mine hates mushrooms and another not keen on aubergine but they all like cabbage stir fried with garlic and spices or kale or spinach. Roasted broccoli and cauliflower also a favourite!

I insist on some fruit & veg being eaten, but it doesn't necessarily need to be green. DD isn't keen on any green salad vegetable, but will happily eat either carrot sticks or tomatoes, I'm fine with that (other DC would live off lettuce & cucumber, but won't go near a tomato)

With cooked veg, generally there'll be something green, but if they choose carrot, colliflower & sweetcorn, that wouldn't bother me. Some days the veg might be tomatoes & pepper (eg. In pasta sauce), and that's fine to. They will also usually have fruit, which is hardly ever green, but still a good source of vitamins (as long as you don't over do sugger).

Maybe it's because there's more variety of fresh fruits & veg available now, whereas in the past most fresh food would be locally grown, so in our climate it was mostly greens or nothing.

Do you actually mean the vegetable, greens, or do you mean green vegetables in general? Surely as there is such a variety of vegetables, green or otherwise, eating greens, and cabbage for that matter, is not much of a thing any more.

Veg come in lots of different colours. Variety is key. I personally love lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, kale etc but you can easily have a balanced diet with other fruit and veg. A lot of kids eat peas, but they're not that fantastic nutritionally.
I always thought the old school matra of 'eat your greens' made it sound like a punishment. Like you were doing it under duress in order to be allowed pudding!

My kids eat lots of vegetables including ones grown in our garden so yanbu because I can kind of see your point of course it's impossible...

But yabu for being 'alarmed that some parents don't insist'. That attitude seriously lacks empathy. My friend is a great mum but her 4 year old doesn't eat vegetables. He is awaiting an autism diagnosis and all the insisting in the world would not make him eat them. I imagine if she read this thread she could feel quite judged and crappy. Sometimes there really is nothing u can do.

DS will only eat peas and would act like I was trying to poison him I I gave him any other kind of veg of any colour. Wont touch them.

DD's favourite foods are broccoli and Brussels sprouts and she will eat any kind of green with pleasure

slightly alarming that there are some on here prepared to admit they don't insist

Only ever said by those who've no experience of a child with good issues.

Food not good.

I'm slightly alarmed by parents who 'insist' a child eats something they dislike.

Mine got over her dislike of green veg, but retains a strong dislike for butter and a real aversion to fish and seafood. She'd probably be sick if she accidentally ate some.