It takes a lot of time, effort and heartache to get our kids to eat more fruit and vegetables, according to new research.
Parenting on Female First
The findings show that parents with children under the age of 11 spend 11.08 minutes every day persuading their children to eat fruit and veg, which is the equivalent of three days a year.
Well under half of parents say that they are happy with the amount of fresh fruit and veg that their child consumes.
To understand how parents overcome this struggle, the research looked at techniques used to encourage and coax little ones to eat their greens with UK parents identifying the best tricks as:
Dietician and Nutritionist, Jo Travers, commented that: "The research shows that parents often feel the need to hide fruit and veg in order to get their kids to eat it, so it’s encouraging to see a product that actually celebrates the flavours and shows children that healthy foods can be delicious too -learning this early is really important for their developing food preferences. While most children will eat raw fruit, it is notoriously difficult to get them to eat raw vegetables so these juices are a great addition to a meal to increase their vitamin and mineral intake."
Designed to overcome turned up noses, the new Vegesentials ‘Fresh Kids On-the-Go’ range is the UK’s first 100% raw fresh fruit and veg drink brand for children. The lunch box sized, 150ml range is available now from Whole Foods with flavours including Cool Cucumber & Pineapple, Groovy Beet & Strawberry Juice and Cheeky Carrot & Peach.
Patience Arinaitwe-Mugadu, co-founder and Managing Director of Vegesentials, said: “We totally understand the struggles parents go through to get fruit and vegetables into their children, it’s a daily battle which any Mum and Dad is familiar with. We wanted to create a range of healthy smoothies and juices to make the chore easier for parents but which would still be tasty to little pallets. It was important to us that we designed the flavours with the help of those who would be drinking them, by listening to our children we were able to understand healthy food and drink from their perspective and get the perfect balance of what they want and what they need.”
Tagged in Parenting children's health