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Get Your Children to Eat Vegetables

Jun 24 10:14am

When the 7^th edition of Dr. Spock's Baby and Child Care came out, some people were upset by the nutrition advice. Dr. Spock, who was born at the very beginning of the 20^th century had, by the last years of his life, become a vegetarian. He believed that the typical American diet, high in cholesterol and saturated fat, was bad for children. This was years before the obesity epidemic became a household worry. Dr. Spock was not afraid to urge parents to raise their children on little or no meat, even though he took some heat for saying so. And he was right.

These days, I see lots of obese children in my clinic. Many of them are addicted to TV and video games, to chips and pop and sugary breakfast cereals. And most of them eat two or three meals a day which have meat as the main dish. Lunch is hot dogs or bologna.* Dinner is a slab of beef or half a chicken. It's rare for the portions to be as small as a deck of playing cards - the serving size recommended by most experts. My young patients eat two or three times that much at a sitting. And many of their parents approve.

Parents often think children need more protein than they really do. A child who's walking only needs about one half gram of protein per pound of body weight. So a 30 pound 3-year-old only needs about 15 grams of protein a day. A single hard-boiled egg has about 6 grams. Two tablespoons of smooth peanut butter supply another 8 grams. It doesn't take very much protein-rich food to meet a child's protein needs.

Of course, meat has protein, too. A broiled hamburger made with ¼ lb of lean beef (80% lean) supplies 29 grams of protein. Notice that this is nearly twice as much protein as a normal 3-year-old needs for a whole day. And with its protein, the burger packs about 20 grams of fat, including 7 grams of saturated fat, and a big dose (103 mg) of cholesterol.

A little meat isn't necessarily a bad thing. But the point is, it isn't necessary either. Children can get all the protein they need from beans, nuts, eggs, and whole grains, without any of the artery-clogging fats. Egg yolks do have cholesterol, but it turns out this is safer than the cholesterol in meat. And, a diet with less meat also costs less. I can buy a one-pound bag of dried kidney beans for about 90 cents. Soaked overnight and boiled for 30 minutes, it makes about 3 pounds of beans, good for about 124 grams of protein. The same amount of protein from good hamburger will set you back $2, if not more.

There are lots of ways to get your children to eat more vegetables and less meat. You don't have to nag, plead, reward, punish or bribe. All you have to do is cook with less meat, and learn to enjoy what you cook. And you don't have to change all at once, either. You can start a bit at a time, putting a little less meat on the plate, and a little more vegetables, beans, and whole grains. After a while your kids will stop complaining and you'll all be healthier, and richer, too.

*My nutritionist friend tells me that bologna has so much fat that it isn't even counted as meat, it's counted as fat!

36 Comments Report Abuse

1. bbnsherry - Jun 24 01:00pm

I applaud your comments about increasing the amounts of veges in the diet of children. I would add that every effort should be made to make the food you eat be organic and as much as posible be locally grown. It is not cheap to eat well, but much of what we spend money on is neither essential nor healthy for us. Eat well, sleep well, and exercise alot--a recipe for good health and long life.

2. bbnsherry - Jun 24 01:00pm

3. joline_hubbard - Jun 24 01:45pm

I have an idea. How about more fruits and vegetables and less chips and soda and candy? What about real fruit instead of fruit snacks? What about real lean meats instead of meat like products? Protein and meat consumption is not responsible for the obesity epidemic. Protein has no more calories per gram than carbohydrates.
The title was "how to get your child to eat more vegetables" but the actual topic was "how to use the obesity epidemic to advocate for vegetarianism".

4. bimbeot - Jun 24 10:15pm

Joline Hubbard -- All thing being equal, meat products displace fruits and veggies. Further, meat is dense in calories and has a lot of fat even when lean. 3 ounces of lean beef brisket (a very small serving in North America) trimmed of all fat is 174 calories with 53 of them coming from fat (which does have much more calories per gram) and 59mg of cholesterol. However, 3 ounces of black beans has only 108 calories with negligible fat, zero cholesterol and a healthy serving of cholesterol scrubbing fiber while 3 ounces of cooked asparagus, or 3 ounces of raw carrots or cucumber have just 18, 33, and 24 calories respectively. It's certainly a bit easier to entice a child to eat a few plants if there isn't an excess of calories and fat sitting dully in the tummy.

And what would be wrong with vegetarianism? Why is it so important to you that children consume meat?

We eat far more now than we ever have and in North America we eat more than twice the average of the world even when considering we push the average up with our high consumption. We are gluttons.

Check out the 20 minute video of Mark Bittman (who writes for the New York Times) talking about how meat consumption is killing us in many ways. The planet, our bodies, and more. Not to mention modern methods of raising these animals are intensely cruel:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/ta lks/view/id/263

It's a societal pressure pushed by industry but in the next few years the costs are going to skyrocket so there's all the more reason to start easing up on it and treat it as a condiment or even avoid it completely.

5. irishman055 - Jun 24 11:20pm

I agree with the doctor on this one. Most of my friend's kids live on hot dogs and PB&J and always say "My kids won't eat anything else". What a crock! My kids (7 and 4) eat what is put in front of them or they go hungry. That has been the rule in our house since they started solids. Be a parent! YOU are responsible for their diet! If they won't eat, fine, wrap it up and present it at the next meal. We are WAY too lenient with our kids over food and look where it has gotten us, obese children who grow into fat adults. Take the time to cook a meal for heaven's sake! Re-heating a frozen lasagna is NOT cooking!!!!

6. joline_hubbard - Jun 25 01:11am

I have nothing against vegetarianism. If the author wishes to promote vegetarianism good for him. HOwever the premise of the article was childhood obesity and getting children to eat more vegetables. He began by discussing children's overall poor eating habits, but instead of actually solving any of the problems he mentioned, he went straight to meat, which I believe on it's own is irrelevant. Meat CAN be lean. A child who is eating lean meats and plenty of fruits of vegetables is not to be equated with a child subsisting off of chips and soda and all of the junk in the standard american diet. My kids eat a TON of fruits and vegetables because that is what I serve them. They don't eat them because they don't eat meat. They eat them because they don't have the option of having a granola bar, bag of chips, or fruit snacks instead.
Meat does not displace fruits and veggies unless it is served in excess to the detriment of fruits and veggies.
I do not believe it is "important" for a child to consume meat. I do however believe that when discussing the problems with the Standard American Diet and childhood obesity, meat itself is not the problem. A child never became obese on a diet of boneless skinless chicken breast, 93% lean beef, or salmon and broccoli.
Meat is a choice. Vegetarianism is a perfectly legitimate choice as well. However meat can and does fit perfectly fine in a nutritiusly dense whole food diet.

7. joline_hubbard - Jun 25 01:23am

Saying that because some parents give their children bologna and hot dogs that a better diet is to be vegetarian is like telling parents to eliminate all grains because some parents give their children twinkies and pop-tarts.
It isn't difficult to make good choices within any food category. The problems over all are the poor choices not the category.

8. jthomure66 - Jun 25 01:56am

I agree with Joline, I thought this was an article on fun ways to get your kids to eat more veggies. Not take meat away and they'll be forced to eat them. Duh, ya think?

9. jane_4_sam - Jun 25 04:52am

I think that the larger problem is fast food. Never before have I seen lazy parents who don't or won't even cook dinner. My husband and I work full time but we NEVER, reallly NEVER go out for fast food dinners. The key is to plan ahead and to take the time to make the veggies and whole grains that your children like. In the long run, you will have more alert and healthier children.

10. missy_tiffany_1999 - Jun 25 05:46am

I agree w/ Joline. I also agree w/ jane_4_sam. I thought this article would be about fun ways to get kids to eat (and maybe enjoy) veggies, but instead it is simply advocating vegetarianism without any real hints on how to succeed. I don't believe that the "meats" category, as a whole, is the problem. I do believe that we all should eat LESS meat and more veggies. I also agree that fast food is a major issue. I personally see no problem w/ fast food as a ONCE-IN-A-WHILE quick fix when in a rush, but I know people that practically live on the stuff and it's disgusting - not to mention how FAT it makes them! My daughter actually enjoys many veggies, thank goodness, but she likes chicken nuggets every so often too. I see no problem w/ that as long as she is remaining active enough to compensate for the extra fat. All in all, I try to feed her as healthy a diet as possible, and that does happen to include some meat. =)