I’ve written in the past about what exactly a balanced diet for babies and toddlers looks like but today I want to focus just on fruit and veg and their many benefits for our health.
Fruits and veg offer unique health benefits to us humans and this is strongly backed by a body of research that is growing all the time. Studies have found a strong link between higher consumption of fruits and veg and a lower risk of getting ill later in life from serious illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. This is the reason why governments, the WHO and the World Cancer Research Fund and many other organisations have campaigns encouraging us all to eat our ‘five-a-day’ (and more!). But this is just one of many important benefits to eating a rainbow of fruit and veg.
Nutrients in fruit & veg
Fruits and veg are full of fibre, vitamins and minerals (like vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin K and folate), as well as water. You can read all about the vitamins and minerals your baby needs during weaning, fibre for babies and toddlers and the best fruits and veg for hydration in my separate blogs.
Fruits and veg also contain lots of plant compounds called ‘phytochemicals’ and ‘antioxidants’ which are both known to have beneficial effects on the cells in our bodies. You may have heard the advice to “eat the rainbow,” and that’s because different coloured fruits and vegetables contain different phytochemicals, as well as vitamins and minerals.
For example, orange veg, such as butternut squash, carrots or sweet potato contain lots of beta-carotene which converts to vitamin A in our body. Red fruits and veg, like tomatoes or watermelon contain lycopene, whilst peppers contain capsanthin. Green veggies like broccoli, spinach and avocado contain chlorophyll and carotenoids. Blue and purple fruits and veggies such as blueberries, aubergine, plums and red cabbage contain anthocyanins. All these different phytochemicals and antioxidants help our bodies to be at their best, by protecting our cells from damage, supporting our immune system and helping to protect against our risk of health conditions like high blood pressure, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
We also know that when children are exposed to and become familiar with plenty of fruit and veg when they’re young, are more likely to carry on eating more of them as adults, which confers lifelong benefits. This is one of the reasons I encourage offering a variety of foods right from the start of weaning.
Helping your child to eat the rainbow
Now I know as both a parent and a nutritionist how common fussy eating is – and so encouraging your child to even try different veg, let alone eat five-a-day, may seem an impossible task. However, portions matter, so a child’s palm sized piece of fruit or veg is roughly ONE portion – hopefully five of these a day seems a little more manageable when you think of it like this. Think of a small ramekin of peas, ½ a grated carrot, a child’s handful of squashed blueberries and a large floret of broccoli and you’re already pretty much there! Check out my factsheet on portions for more on how much your little ones should be eating.
If it seems impossible to get your little one eating ANY veggies, you’re also not alone – if you’re struggling with a fussy eater, please do read my blogs on why toddlers can be fussy eaters and mealtime language tips to help with fussy eating. You can also check out my fussy eating crash course, too.
Please don’t feel under pressure to feed your little one a perfect diet crammed full of different daily fruit and veg. Start by trying to find those that they *do* like, offer plenty of these, and over time you can work towards them becoming familiar with, and accepting a wider variety.
Here are ten tips to help you build in more variety in your kids’ fruit and veg intake:
- Fresh, frozen and tinned all count towards their five-a-day (provided the tinned varieties are in water or natural juices, not salted water or syrups).
- Do include beans and pulses which can count as one portion – they also count towards your little one’s protein intake.
- Don’t count potatoes. These are considered a starchy food so they don’t count as one of their five-a-day.
- Dried fruits can be sticky on your little one’s teeth and are a concentrated form of sugar so it’s recommended that you only offer them as part of meals.
- Fruit juice also counts although it’s best to go for 100 percent juice and dilute with water to reduce the amount of sugar your toddler consumes in one go. It’s recommended to dilute one part juice with ten parts water for under-5s. Keep in mind that the best drink you can give your little one other than milk is water. You can read more about drinks for babies and toddlers and water in my separate blogs.
- Offering your toddler fruit as part of a savoury meal may help them develop a taste for savoury veg as well as sweet fruit and less hierarchy for the sweeter options – that is in my experience with my two children at least!
- When you’re introducing new veggies or those that your little one is less familiar with, offer them alongside foods that they ARE familiar with, rather than going all in with an unfamiliar meal. Start SMALL when offering something new or unfamiliar to avoid them becoming overwhelmed by what’s on their plate.
- Think outside the box when serving veggies. You can add them to sauces, pestos, muffins, pancakes and vary the way you cook and serve them to make them extra tasty for your kids. Read more tips in my post 7 ways to make vegetables taste great for kids.
- Although you can hide vegetables by blending them in sauces or soups, it may not help your child accept them in the long run if they’re a fussy eater (and you may just be making a rod for your own back). Instead follow my advice on how to serve vegetables to fussy eaters, including adding them grated to things like fritters, or mixing them with sweeter foods to tone down any bitter tastes.
- Finally, check out my top tips to get your toddler eating their vegetables, from rolemodelling and getting them involved in cooking, to avoiding pressure on your little one to eat.
Don’t forget to take the pressure off yourself too! Encouraging your child to eat a balanced plate of food can often seem more like a marathon than a sprint but I hope this blog post has given you some ideas and inspiration when it comes to cooking with fruit and veg. For recipes and further ideas, do have a look at the recipe section of my blog where you’ll find lots of simple and realistic baby, toddler and family-friendly recipes full of nutritious ingredients.
Fussy Eating Crash Course
Do you have a baby or child showing signs of picky eating? Or perhaps they’re frequently pushing their plates away no matter what you serve – and you’re going a bit mad! Then this Fussy Eating Crash Course is for you.