Getting teens to eat veggies

[mountaingal]

parents with teens pls rope een.

i've welcomed two teens into my household. they are used to a steady diet of processed fast food, with punctuations of cooked chicken with rice. no vegetables - well, except tomatoes and cucumbers, of which they will eat sparingly.

what can i do to entice them to eat more veggies? i made a great stir fry the other day with green and red peppers. the boy didnt eat it at all. the girl ate the chicken and throw out the good good peppa dem.

[Stormmey]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

stand over them with a wooden spoon..... licks if I didn't eat it...... worked on me .... sure someone will be along with some sensible advice

[Suesumba]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

veggies can be quite nice.
use cheese sauce on brocoli ;
raw celery with dressing;
salads;
cookup peas lentils rice and nuff butta

[Suesumba]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

noodles with veggies is good. use the taro noodles. yum

[mountaingal]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

thanks, sue, i'll try veggies with dip.

[Tulip]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

Considering that veggies are my favorite food on earth right now, you'd never guess that I went through my first 13 or so years hating them. (Doesn't mean I don't still love some meat too.) I've always liked salad though.

The key may be just finding the veggies they like. I hated canned string beans, english peas (til this day), mixed vegetables, and pretty much anything else that came out a can other than corn but that is what my mom would cook.

Aside from my grandmother's collard greens and my mom's cabbage, I was not down with veggies until my love affair with frozen spinach began. From there I moved on to find out I really liked broccoli, artichokes, mushrooms, asparagus, and cauliflower. (I have never met anybody with teeth who doesn't like corn on the cob so I'm just going to assume that is a given.)

It did take the less healthy route of plenty butter, cheese, and/or smoked seasoning meat to get over the hump but I did finally reach.

My niece came to stay with me for a month one summer. Now I know my brother obviously didn't marry her mama for her cooking skills lol. Anytime, you have Papa John's pizza on Thanksgiving then you know you dealing with someone challenged in the kitchen,

Anyway (I'm going to try to wrap it up because I can be wordy), I found that chopping veggies too small for her push aside in dishes that she likes like lasagna or chili mac and cheese was a good start. I even pureed some and included them in the spaghetti sauce. (Turned out pretty tasty). We had battered and deep fried zucchini strips (not my first choice but she seemed to love them).

On her last week, I made a stir-fry with shrimp and I forget exactly which veggies but she ate every last bite. She would have definitely only picked out the shrimp when she arrived. I guess what I'm saying is you have to get them hooked on the taste of the veggies first and lay all healthy eating concerns aside. From there you can proceed to healthier versions.

[Tulip]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

Here I come again lol. As for throwing out your peppers, I almost lean toward sending them to the store to go buy some. Maybe the price might give them some perspective.

It's kind of hard to compete with processed food when somebody loves it. I guess you could make nachos, top with chicken, and dice the peppers up so small that it's an integral part of the cheese sauce. Same thing with the rice. Make it so inconvenient to get it out that it is easier to just eat it.

Broccoli florets are perfect for this. You get them chopped right and they stick like glue to whatever you include them in. You have to make sure it's a dish that they would love anyway though.

Now you could take my mama's route and say eat what i cook or go hungry lol. No snacks or substitutions. Eat what I cooked!

It wasn't until two years ago that I found out my brother and dad hate spinach. I was like but as much as you ate it, I thought you loved it. I mean they were even going back for seconds. They said they were just hungry. As Eddie Murphy said, when you get hungry enough, a saltine can taste like a ritz cracker to you.

Good luck!

[ILP]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

sneak it into their food.

pasta sauce with diced veggies in it.
fruit juice (blend up carrots in it)
pizza (diced peppers on it)
cold cuts (spinach instead of lettuce)
chef salad <-- make it heavy on the food they do eat, splash di veggies in there.
soup (dice the veggies they "don't eat" and chuck the ones they do)
chinese carryout...then add more veggies to it.

**when mi seh dice, mi mean dice it to the point weh them cyan really tell what it is ahn the cyan pick it out. o, please to not ask mi how mi know all these &quot;secrets&quot; ahn how mi had to test them out on a <span style="text-decoration: line-through">grown man</span> teenager **** <span style="font-style: italic">bwuhahaha </span>

[Pepper]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

Try giving to them in small doses. The stir fry most likely had a medley of veggies.

The sweet veggies may be a good intro to the world of vegetables.
Corn
Pumpkin
Carrots
etc

[Dr.Dudd]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

parents with teens pls rope een.

i've welcomed two teens into my household. they are used to a steady diet of processed fast food, with punctuations of cooked chicken with rice. no vegetables - well, except tomatoes and cucumbers, of which they will eat sparingly.

what can i do to entice them to eat more veggies? i made a great stir fry the other day with green and red peppers. the boy didnt eat it at all. the girl ate the chicken and hthrow out the good good peppa dem.


</div></div>
Add a little sugar to raw veg and a little molasses to stir fried.

Work with even toddlers.
My <span style="text-decoration: line-through"> kids </span> adults still love vegetables, not to mention the all And sundry friends they always bring.
They always think i am some chef.

...at least They claim in my presence.

That is how my family got me to eat it as a child myself.

[Gen]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

Raxtone all a dem sinting yah just look like way toooo much work

[Gen]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

Agreed.

According to studies it will take someone about 8-10 times (or close) of trying/eating the &quot;food&quot; before they become comfortable with eating it.

Give them one at a time in small doses. Instead of a big heaping a brocoli, just 2 small pieces to try and offer them a choice of dressing (although mi not a fan of this idea).

Maybe offer something in return for trying and eating the new foods ? (within reason of course, like a book or half hour of fave show etc on the weekend)

Are they into sports/activities etc ? Cause mi always remind this one that if she don't eat her vegetables, she won't be a strong swimmer or she won't remember what she learned in school


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pepper</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Try giving to them in small doses. The stir fry most likely had a medley of veggies.

The sweet veggies may be a good intro to the world of vegetables.
Corn
Pumpkin
Carrots
etc </div></div>

[Q3210]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dr.Dudd</div><div class="ubbcode-body"><div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: MGee</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

parents with teens pls rope een.

i've welcomed two teens into my household. they are used to a steady diet of processed fast food, with punctuations of cooked chicken with rice. no vegetables - well, except tomatoes and cucumbers, of which they will eat sparingly.

what can i do to entice them to eat more veggies? i made a great stir fry the other day with green and red peppers. the boy didnt eat it at all. the girl ate the chicken and hthrow out the good good peppa dem.


</div></div>
Add a little sugar to raw veg and a little molasses to stir fried.

Work with even toddlers.
My <span style="text-decoration: line-through"> kids </span> adults still love vegetables, not to mention the all And sundry friends they always bring.
They always think i am some chef.

...at least They claim in my presence.

That is how my family got me to eat it as a child myself. </div></div>

Remember, coconut powder which is easy to add when stirring the vegis in the pot.

[Q3210]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Gen</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Agreed.

According to studies it will take someone about 8-10 times (or close) of trying/eating the &quot;food&quot; before they become comfortable with eating it.

Give them one at a time in small doses. Instead of a big heaping a brocoli, just 2 small pieces to try and offer them a choice of dressing (although mi not a fan of this idea).

Maybe offer something in return for trying and eating the new foods ? (within reason of course, like a book or half hour of fave show etc on the weekend)

Are they into sports/activities etc ? Cause mi always remind this one that if she don't eat her vegetables, she won't be a strong swimmer or she won't remember what she learned in school


<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Pepper</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Try giving to them in small doses. The stir fry most likely had a medley of veggies.

The sweet veggies may be a good intro to the world of vegetables.
Corn
Pumpkin
Carrots
etc </div></div> </div></div>

Ahhh! I was told without carrots, I`d lose my sight.

[H_O]

Re: Getting teens to eat veggies

take away there xbox
simple. -- dont cook for them anymore make them fend for themself. as a matter of fact, tell them to find part time jobs and do there own grocery shopping and buy there own ttc bus pass and pay rent.
then maybe they will find an appreciation for the food you wake up to go work for.
set the rules and dont let them take you for an idiot.