If getting your student to eat their fruits and vegetables poses a problem,
then you’re not alone. If you want to avoid those long battles at
the dinner table, then there are some fun and innovative ways to get your
students to love their greens. Fruits and vegetables are essential for
providing vitamins and minerals. When students learn good eating habits,
they will be healthier and happier.
Salad bar
Instead of serving cooked vegetable or ready-made salads, cut up raw ingredients
and let your students make their own combinations. Very often, just giving
them a choice is enough to convince them to try something healthier. You
can also get them to make pictures from their salad bar choices by arranging
ingredients on the plate.
Get cooking
Nothing works better than getting your students to prepare their own dishes.
When they have been part of the process, they are more likely to eat the
finished product. You can get them to go shopping with you and select
the veggies they like best. Get them to wash and dry the veggies. Older
students can cut and prepare veggies or make soups and pasta dishes.
The ‘one bite’ rule
Remember how you hated mushrooms or olives as a kid, but loved them as
an adult? Most kids are resistant to new foods or new flavors. When your
kids don’t like a fruit or vegetable, employ the ‘one bite’
rule to slowly get them used to the flavor and texture. Don’t force
them to finish large portions, ask only for one bite. Studies show that
student can take up to eight attempts at a new dish before they are willing
to add it to their ‘like’ list.
Rewards
Studies show that tangible rewards encourage students to eat more vegetables
and fruit. Students who were offered a reward (in this case a sticker)
ate twice as much as students who were offered no reward. Students who
received praise for eating veggies also ate more than a control group
who weren’t offered any praise or rewards.
Rebranding
Creative reinvention is a great way to add pizazz to dishes your students
don’t like. My brother hated carrots and I refused cauliflower,
but when my mother mashed the two together to make an orange mash she
called power paste, we were both hooked. Change the way you prepare vegetables
that your students don’t like, add a snazzy new name and voila!
They will be inquisitive enough to give it a go.
Lead by example
Eat well yourself and mention often how much you love your fruits and vegetables.
Create a happy family atmosphere at the dinner table rather than a sombre,
anxious setting. Be enthusiastic about the meal you have prepared and
give your students the choice. Simply asking them what veggies and fruit
they want may be the best way to provide meals that they will enjoy. Don’t
force them to finish; instead let them leave the table and have some water.
Offer them a half portion of their meal later on if they are hungry.
