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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!

37 Comments Report Abuse

11. missy_tiffany_1999 - Jun 25 05:48am

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. =)

12. missy_tiffany_1999 - Jun 25 05:48am

13. joline_hubbard - Jun 25 06:02am

I also have no problem with the occasional less healthful meal. If you keep in mind that a child has 21 meals in a week. If the vast majority of them are healthful and they are eating healthful snacks, even a weekly trip to the drive thru isn't going to make that much of a big deal. But if you are feeding your kids junk at home, and junk in the drive through that adds up really quickly.
Oh and even my veggie loving kids ask for Pizza at their birthday parties. It's a party! We don't eat like that every day.

14. bimbeot - Jun 25 09:21am

Joline Hubbard -- I apologize as reading over my comment it seems confrontational which wasn't my intention. I do think we'll often read an article such as this one and tend to take it personally as though it's being written directly about us; we end up in defense mode then feel we need to point out how it doesn't apply to us. The title is "Get Your Children to Eat Vegetables" not "How to Combat Childhood Obesity" or something else. So I don't understand how it's being misconstrued to be advocating vegetarianism other than just because it mentioned Dr. Spock's diet choices (it is an article from DrSpock.com). I have noticed that dedicated meat-eaters seem to go on hyper-alert and then attack mode if the "V" word even comes up. Frankly, there's no trick to it. Just keep serving them instead of other things and eventually children will start eating them. The trick comes from the manufacturers of processed foods (including meats) and those who undermine diets for children that aren't theirs such as aunts, grandparents, schools (especially school parties and provided snacks), camps, sitters, and most certainly friends as well as advertisements in every place possible and not just tv (which is usually off in our home). They pushed, shoved, cajoled meat, milk, cheese, grease, treats on my daughter and she struggled with weight until she went vegetarian. POOF! Weight started to melt away and all the lessons I'd tried to teach her became grudgingly accepted. Now she's really happy, never been healthier, and hasn't had any meat nor much dairy for four years. Even her doctor insists on testing her for deficiencies at every visits because of the freaky diet she's chosen (the concept is difficult for many -- and it was to me at first even) and is always shocked by how good the results all are (she's mad he keeps taking blood from her). One of the great side benefits is how difficult it is to get meatless items at fast food places so she rarely visits those even without me nor does she eat meat that's iffy; dangerously tainted with e.coli or mad cow, or salmonella, or...

15. joline_hubbard - Jun 26 01:15am

Silvie, I didn't take your post to be confrontational. I understood why you would defend his advocacy for vegetarianism as you yourself have strong feelings about it. Again, my issue isn't with vegetarianism or with advocating for a vegetarian diet, or even with detailing it's virtues. My issue was simply that the title of the article was about getting children to eat more vegetables and the opening paragraph was about the lamentable issue of childhood obesity and children eating horrific diets, but the text of the article was about reducing or removing meat from the diet which is simply not relevant to his original premise. Since when is there meat in soda, chips and sugary cereals?
I'm not a "dedicated meat eater" nor am I on hyper alert or attack mode. The article was poorly written, that's my only "beef". He sets up a straw man with small children eating huge "slabs of beef" and suggests they at beans instead. Why not advocate for portion control and choosing lean meats?
Why not discuss eliminating fattening and nutritionally devoid snack foods such as chips and soda and replacing them wth a fruit bowl and a veggie tray?
Claiming vegetarianism to be a panacea for getting children to eat vegetables and combating childhood obesity is inaccurate and ignores the primary causes of both issues.

16. dawnwhite2004 - Jun 26 05:31am

So many people feed there kids junk and say they just won't eat anything else. If people will feed their kids healthy foods and discuss with them why it is important to eat healthy, they will understand and eat the food. It may be harder than giving them junk, but they will eat it - they are not going to starve. They will learn to like the food without any other choices.

17. cmdaiber - Jun 26 08:17pm

Terrible example of boiling beans to eat. Come on! Even I won't eat that! I can't think of one family that would eat beans as the main course.

18. peppertinaw - Jun 27 12:27am

Can anyone recommend some recipes or ideas for meals? I grew up eating whatever I wanted. I now try to eat healthy and to feed my toddler healthy things. He LOVES fruit and veggies. I don't have a problem with him eating them. The problem I run into is that I don't know what to cook. It seems as if we eat the same things over and over again. Can someone recommend a book or a website or something? Thanks!

19. slat@verizon.net - Jun 27 09:26am

My son is sooo picky and I have a horrible time getting him to eat fruits and veggies. He is not over weight but is acutally a bean pole but I'm still very concerned about his health. When I was a kid we had to sit at the table until we ate all of our veggies and I used to hate it! It only made me resent dinner time and I don't want to have to go through that struggle with my kids and make them dread dinner time like I did sometimes. When I make a meal my son has to take at least a couple bites of everything but he still only mainly eats his meat. Any suggestions on how I can get him to eat more fruits and veggies with out making it a daily argument or fight? My son is nine.

20. hozrnbz22 - Jun 28 02:33am

I just regained custody of my son after ten long years. He was raised by my Mom and Dad, and bless their hearts I know they did the best they could, but my son now has a weight issue, and he's back in my home now, and I read this article to see if I could find help in introducing him to new veggies w/o th "eewww, yuk!!!" reaction... also, so far I have been just having him eat smallish servings of unfamiliar foods alongside larger portions of veggies he's used to, which helps him not feel forced. I love my son so much I will do anything possible to help him reach a healthier lifestyle.