Is it really worth it?
By: Julia Navin, SLU Dietetic Intern and Graduate
Student
Okay, be honest- who has ever pushed your vegetables
around on your plate as a child in hopes of convincing your parents that you
ate more than 3 lukewarm carrots? It’s okay, we’ve all been there (myself
included!).
It is well known that vegetables are good for us,
however getting children to eat vegetables may be a hard task to conquer. There
has been a big push to increase amounts of fruits and vegetables that children
consume in the past few years. The Center for Disease Control reports that
fruit intake has increased by 67% from 2003 to 2010, but vegetable intake has
remained unchanged.1 This may be because children are more likely to
eat a something sweet and that fruit is easier to eat on the go.
Obtaining fruits and vegetables on a weekly basis is
not as easy as it may seem. Fresh produce has a short shelf life and children
are quick to change food preferences. Parent’s Magazine mentions how children’s
tastes change frequently, as what they like one day may not be the same the
next. Parents are busy people who probably don’t have an extra 30 minutes to
make a vegetable plate filled with colorful choices. While frozen or canned
vegetables are a convenient and cheap option, they are not often the number one
choice in many households.
That’s where creative chefs and parents step in and
try to hide vegetables into foods that children typically like to consume. Cauliflower
mac and cheese, sweet potato pancakes, mushroom meatball, and more! These
hidden vegetables can be fresh, frozen, or canned and often go unnoticed by a
child. The idea sounds great and is meant with no harm, ultimately getting
children one step closer to reaching the recommended 3 servings of vegetables
daily. However, as with most great ideas, there are always some unintended
consequences.
The
Good:
- Increase vegetable intake without child awareness- Not knowing vegetables are in make it less likely for kids to turn their nose up at foods. Sometimes, kids may go a whole day without eating a vegetable. If vegetables are hidden in foods, children will get those nutrients and be closer to the 3 servings of recommended daily vegetables.
- Picky eaters may be more inclined to eat vegetables- Looking at a plate with a pile of mushrooms on the side may not be the most enticing for a picky eater. However, when the mushrooms are chopped and mixed into a meatball, the child is likely to consume the whole meatball without thinking twice about what’s inside.
- Short-term solution- Hiding vegetables is a short-term fix to get your child to eat more vegetables. While sneaking veggies into foods is great when a child is younger, it gets trickier as the child gains independence and is able to prepare his or her own foods. It is more beneficial in the long term to educate and prepare vegetables for your child to give them the autonomy to choose fruits and vegetables later in life
The
Not-so-Good:
- Children can’t taste the vegetables- While your child may not have liked a certain vegetable at one point in time, taste buds change! Who knows if your kid will still have the same aversion, especially if they cannot taste the actual vegetable.
- Instill idea that vegetables are bad- Why do vegetables need to be hidden? Disguising vegetables so that the child doesn’t know what they taste like independently causes a mistrust and negative connotation to vegetables. This may lead to a decreased vegetable intake if children believe that vegetables are bad.
- Are you actually adding any nutrition?- One way parents try to hide vegetables is by masking it with other items like cheese. All those extra calories from the cheese almost outweigh the benefits from the vegetables. In addition, most recipes with hidden vegetables add less than 1 serving of vegetables. That is more than they would get normally, but is it really all that beneficial?
So,
how does this work in real life?
I decided it was time to get my hands dirty.
Primarily because some of the recipes looked good, but I also wanted to see how
easy it was to actually “sneak” vegetables into foods. Now, I don’t have a
child, but I do have a 23-year-old boyfriend who has similar taste preferences
of a child (we’re talking mac and cheese twice a week and avoiding most green
vegetables) so I thought he would be a decent substitution.
I combined a few recipes and ultimately ended up
with Cauliflower Scrambled Eggs. Cauliflower doesn’t have as noticeable of a
taste compared to other vegetables like broccoli and has a neutral color, so it
doesn’t stand out when combined with foods like eggs or mac and cheese. The
recipe I used is at the end of this blog if you wanted to check it out!
I started with a head of fresh cauliflower from the
produce section. After washing it, I chopped it into smaller pieces and steamed
it on the stove. Once it was tender, I drained the water and mashed it up with
a fork. Let me just say, prepping
from scratch is a lot of work! The whole process of cutting, steaming, and mashing
the cauliflower took around an hour. It would have been more time efficient if
there was access to a blender, however I got a mini work out in from mashing
the cauliflower, so that’s a win! I then cracked and scrambled 4 eggs and added
½ cup mashed cauliflower, along with ½ teaspoon of garlic powder and sprinkle
of salt and pepper to be split between the two of us.
The results? On a scale of 1-10 with 1 being
disgusting and 10 being best thing ever: appearance was a 4, taste was around a
7, texture was a 5. The eggs masked the cauliflower fairly well, the only
indication that there was a vegetable in the eggs were the smaller pieces since
I couldn’t puree.
The overall outcome was yummy, but the effort it
took to prepare the cauliflower and only increase my vegetable intake by ¼ cup
(or one-twelfth of the total recommended daily vegetable intake) was not worth
it. The whole process was time consuming and not practical for an everyday
breakfast. The main pro from this experience, is that my boyfriend sampled some
of the cauliflower before it was combined with the eggs and enjoyed it!
My recommendation going forward would be to buy a
premade mashed cauliflower (like this)
or simply a bag of frozen cauliflower to steam in bag. In addition, the
cauliflower would be almost unidentifiable if it were pureed, so having access
to a blender would be a huge help in making this recipe a success!
What’s
the verdict?
While disguising vegetables is a great way to
increase children’s vegetable intake in the short term, it fails to establish
the taste for vegetables and may not be sustainable long term. It’s likely that
your child won’t be adding pureed vegetables into dishes in college.
Personally, I don’t think that the effort it took to prepare the cauliflower is
worth getting a minimal amount of vegetables. It would be more beneficial to simply
add vegetables into dishes, like mushrooms in pasta sauce for example, so that
your child can taste the actual vegetable. Several dietitians from Parents
magazine noted that their children ate foods with visible vegetables. This could
be related to the normalization of vegetables or increased tolerance since they
had been previously exposed. (Remember:
it can take up to 15 tries for a child to accept a new food). You can also try
to add vegetables into smoothies, baked goods, and general dinners. If cost is
of concern, canned and frozen vegetables provide the same nutrients and are
often cheaper.
Ultimately, the decision is up to you and what works
for your family. If hiding vegetables is sustainable, then try it out. However,
I would encourage progressively adding some vegetables on the side to get your
child familiar with the smells and tastes to promote a healthy vegetable intake
throughout their lifetime. Who knows, they could end up liking more vegetables
than you think
Cauliflower
Scrambled Eggs
Serves 2
½ cup pureed cauliflower
4 eggs
½ t garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste
Heat pan over medium-high heat.
Crack and scramble 4 eggs in bowl. Add in ½ cup pureed cauliflower. Spray heated pan with nonstick spray. Add egg and cauliflower mixture. Season with garlic powder, pepper, and salt to taste. Cook until eggs are done and enjoy.
One portion: 150 calories, 9 g fat, 2 g carbohydrate, 13 g protein
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