Is Hiding Vegetables in Your Child’s Meals a Good Thing? (or Just a Band-Aid Solution)

Tue, 21 Jul 2020 05:17:16 GMT

As an accredited Nutrition and Health Coach, Karla Gilbert knows how to keep families healthy – and as a mum of two girls, she knows a thing or two about smuggling veggies into your child’s dinner!

Why we start veggie smuggling…

Masking one vegetable flavour for another begins with a baby’s first food. A combination of three or four different pureed veggies can form a mishmash meal. Apple sweetens otherwise disliked pumpkin and broccoli can easily be disguised in a tomato-based pasta sauce. It’s tempting to get the ‘good stuff’ into our kids any way we can.

However, we need to remember that children develop their taste preferences from a very early age. This is why I strongly believe that we need to let veggies speak for themselves and give our children the chance to experience each unique taste.

Why veggie smuggling backfires

Realistically, constantly hiding veggies is not the best solution. It’s a short-term solution to a long-term problem. When we hide vegetables, we limit our ability to work towards creating good eating habits that take our children into adulthood.

For the most part, it’s best to serve salads, stir-fries and vegetables as a standalone part of the meal. Vegetables are certainly not bad or criminal, but this is the reputation we give this wonderful health-giving food when we sneak and hide them.

That said, there may be some nights where you’re coming home to a tired and grumpy household – and there is a time and place to maintain the peace, where you might like grate up some veggies and add them to a dish to avoid further arguments.

The key is having a workable balance between smuggling and serving veggies separately.

How to incorporate more veggies in meals

Building our child’s trust around food is undeniably important. Developing a repertoire of different foods encourages their adventurous side to try and experience new tastes.

If you choose to add in veggies (notice I didn’t say sneak) every now and then for less fuss at dinnertime, there are clever ways of doing this. Here are some of my favourites:

Grating more vegetables into a spaghetti sauce and adding to a bolognese or a lasagne
Adding vegetables to mini quiches and muffins
Substituting regular rice for cauliflower rice
Cooking up vegetable fritters

Don’t forget pulses, (including beans, lentils and peas) are a cheap, low-fat source of protein, fibre, vitamins and minerals, and count towards your recommended five daily portions of fruit and vegetables!

The bottom line

Instead of hiding, glorify the humble veggie. Put it on a pedestal and make it a part of life and something that we should enjoy eating. It just may be wise to choose your battles!

Have a go at this delicious recipe…

Mini Pizza Muffins – The Healthy Savoury Snack

Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour (or gluten free self-raising if you wish)
½ cup milk
1 egg, beaten
Handful grated zucchini
3 rasher bacon, diced
1 tsp Italian herbs
2 tablespoons tomato pesto
½ cup cheese + more for sprinkling

Directions

Place all ingredients into a large mixing bowl in order as per ingredient list above
Mix together well into a thick batter, or alternatively place into an electric mixer and mix until well combined.
Spoon into a well-greased muffin tray and top with extra cheese
Bake in a moderate oven (160 degrees) for approx. 20-25mins or until the cheese is a golden melted brown.
Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Store in fridge or freezer and serve as a snack or lunchbox filler.

By Karla Gilbert

Early Education Matters

Wed, 22 Apr 2020 05:22:42 GMT

A child’s participation in an early childhood education program assists in the development of children’s skills and abilities. Can you believe that 85% of brain development occurs during the first five years of a child’s life? It is also the development of secure relationships with responsive adults that can actually help shape a baby’s brain circuitry.

Access to quality early childhood education is important. A child’s participation in an organised early childhood education program assists in the development of their cognitive abilities, and also helps with enhancing social and emotional skills while interacting with their peers. When children receive high-quality interactions during these early learning years with a parent or carer it provides a foundation of social skills including emotional and physical health, literacy and numeracy that will continue into adulthood.

There is a shared responsibility among parents, the community, services and governments, to ensure access to early learning for more children. It’s in the interests of families, early childhood services and community groups to support children to attend Early Childhood education, to assist with their preparation and transition to school and to optimise engagement in organised learning environments.

Research strongly supports the benefits of enrolling children for 600 hours in the year before school so they arrive at school ready to participate in ongoing learning. Early childhood education helps children by:

creating a life-long passion for learning
helping them develop social skills
encouraging the development of fine motor and sensory skills
fostering language development and vocabulary
priming children to be creative
equipping them to cope with problem solving.

How to incorporate more veggies in meals

Parents are encouraged to strengthen their child’s educational journey by learning more about why enrolling them in an early childhood education program is important for future learning. The Cottage is one of the smallest occupancy Childcare Centres in Ashmore, so we guarantee your child will get the fullest care possible. To learn about our holistic approach to learning please contact us here.

the-cottage-ashmore

Is Hiding Vegetables in Your Child’s Meals a Good Thing? (or Just a Band-Aid Solution)

Why we start veggie smuggling…

Why veggie smuggling backfires

How to incorporate more veggies in meals

The bottom line

Mini Pizza Muffins – The Healthy Savoury Snack

Ingredients

Directions

Early Education Matters

How to incorporate more veggies in meals