Thick question re beans and five a day

[JoshandJamie]

Do beans like cannellini, kidney etc count as part of the five a day? I don't consider them veg - but are they? Sorry if this is a really thick question.

Have created a five a day chart for my boys in a bid to get them to eat more fruit and veg. They get a sticker each time they have one of their five and (bad mummy I know) if they get all five they get a chocolate button (but the buttons are safe).

Also, for a 14 month old and an almost 3 year old, what constitutes a portion of fruit or veg? I feel victorious if I get them to have a few peas each but am not convinced it even makes up one portion

they do

even baked beans count

Yes they do count as 1 portion J and J

I will get you a link for the giv guidelines, hold on....

some useful info here

oops sorry "gov" ie government guidelines

a portion is about the size of your fist, so scale it down for a 14 m o and a 3 y o

Iota's link is perfect for basic guidance and this one is more detailed if you want to get really in depth with it

Thanks for those links. Right, so DS1 is entitle to another sticker - sort of. When he has 5 cannellini beans, and 2 teaspoons of peas and corn and about 3 teaspoons of potato and sweet potato mashed together, it probably only constitutes one portion. Yet that alone has taken a huge effort. And he's not even a particularly fussy eater. I just find getting enough veg into him impossible as he HATES fruit.

The 14 month old obviously doesn't have a clue about what the stickers are for but it's a good spurring on incentive for the older one when the younger one has more stickers.

sigh.

sorry but potato and sweet potato don't count towards the 5

Smoothies are a great way to get lots of fruit into children

a plate of raw veg with a dip can be popular

and a meal based around a veg soup or stew dish can pack in several portions in one go.

Roast dinner is also usually a hit with children and can have loads of different tasty veg with it.

I don't know if you have seen \link{the 10/10 thread} but some of us are trying to eat 10 portions a day. There are usually lots of recipes and ideas on there, aviatrix just posted a fab fruit cake recipe which was packed full of dried fruit, and if you feel like joining us, of course eating lots of fruit and veg yourself would be a great example to the children

Oops 10 / 10 thread

Potato and sweet potato don't count?? Well I am going to tell that to my DH who has been adamantly telling me for ages that they do. Think I'll try to aim for the 5 at the moment - work on the 10 later

All of the suggestions you gave we actually do and veg soup is the one surefire way of getting veg into them, that and the hidden veg pasta sauce I make but by the volume they consume is much less.

From iota's link:

"One portion of vegetables is, for example, 3 heaped tablespoonfuls of cooked carrots or peas or sweetcorn, or 1 cereal bowl of mixed salad. Beans and other pulse vegetables, such as kidney beans, lentils and chick peas only count once a day, however much you eat. Potatoes don't count towards the 5 A DAY target because they are a 'starchy' food."

Someone found a link that explained sweet potatoes are a starchy food too. I think sweet potato is very nutritious so I would count it if you feel like it! You can make the rules - decide what veg you want the boys to eat. Sounds like you are doing a great job anyway. I personally would go more for making meal times an enjoyable family time and modelling healthy eating, rather than rewarding with stickers etc. Children quite quickly pick up on the fact that if they have to be 'bribed' to do something, it must have some drawback / unpleasantness associated with it.

Thanks for all the info F&Z. I agree, I don't like to resort to bribery - in fact the chart was more a thing to help me keep a track of how much they really are having in a day - because although I serve veg, I can never remember how much is actually eaten. So come the end of the day, I have no idea how much fruit and veg they've actually had.

Today was the first day we tried this. By afternoon things were looking seriously bad - the younger one had had about 2.5 portions (and that was me being lenient as to what constituted a portion) and the older one had just one. So when supper came, I gave them veg soup to boost up how much veg they'd had. Younger one did fab and had had some banana so we were good. The older one refused the soup.

He then saw his younger brother get five stickers and a chocolate button and he was devastated. So I said that he could either eat his soup or have a portion of carrots and broccoli. He chose the latter and scoffed the lot. Earlier that afternoon when I had pointed out his lack of stickers he asked for a banana - and ate it. HE NEVER EATS FRUIT!!!

So the novelty of this system may not work but it has encouraged them to eat their veg today and it has helped me keep track of how much they're actually having. Am sure some people will say that using chocolate as a reward is creating some kind of food issues - but sod it, all kids love chocolate and if it's an incentive that actually gets them eating veg, I'll go with it

Well it sounds like it has started really well, I am pleased for you. Do you think it might work to phase out the sticker / chocolate part after the habit of healthy eating is entrenched? People often say they do this with potty training and I never really understand how you stop the bribe bit after they have got the hang of it?

We used the same principle for potty training. And everytime my son used to pee, he'd demand a 'pooh bear button'. We basically just gave him a lot of praise and would say: you're a big boy now - you;ve got the hang of it and don't need buttons anymore. We also just said that they were all finished and would have to buy more - but we didn't and he got out of the habit of having them everytime he peed. Am hoping we can do the same with this, just using praise once they've eaten their veg