It’s National Nutrition Month, so throughout the month of March I’m answering food and nutrition questions from readers including this one: “How do I make vegetables more appealing to my teenager?”
Toddlers can be picky and so can teens, so it didn’t surprise me when that question landed in my inbox. To answer it, I reflected back to the kitchen strategies that helped me feed Josh and Simon when they were teens, and I also reached out to fellow dietitian bloggers for their advice. Together, we have 12 ways to get your teens to eat their vegetables happily and without complaint.
As a mom of two grown boys, I’ve been there, done that. From turning steamed broccoli from drab to delicious to transforming beans into recipes my boys would crave, read on for wisdom from my kitchen and the kitchens of other moms and dietitians who’ve spent years of their own in the mealtime trenches!
(1) Dip your vegetables: Kids of all ages love dips. Set out small bowls filled with an array of crunchy vegetables including bell peppers, baby carrots and cucumber wheels and then put out a few dips: guacamole, tzatziki, and hummus. Watch those veggies disappear. {Liz Weiss, MS, RDN from Liz’s Healthy Table}
(2) Offer a few options to see what they like best: Try vegetables raw and cooked. My daughter doesn’t like cooked carrots but takes raw carrots in her lunch most days. Use a dip if needed for extra flavor. {Sylvia White, RD, CDE from Parenting Diabetes}
(3) Incorporate beans into teen-friendly meals and snacks: Did you know that beans are technically a vegetable? I tend to gravitate to canned beans for their convenience and versatility, and I use them in all sorts of yummy recipe creations that are familiar and appealing to teens. I add black beans to cheesy snack quesadillas, chickpeas to salads, and cannellini beans (and pasta) to my Macaroni Minestrone Soup. Beans provide fiber, protein, iron and potassium. For bean recipe inspiration, visit my friends at Bush’s Beans. {Liz Weiss, MS, RDN from Liz’s Healthy Table}
Ready for this? According to research from The Hartman Group, 50% of all eating occasions are snacks. U.S. consumers are snacking all day, and teens are certainly no exception. Make snacks count toward good nutrition by incorporating veggies into between-meal nibbles. Roast up veggies and then add to quesadillas with beans and low-fat cheese or set out a bowls filled with crunchy vegetables and a variety of flavorful dips.
(4) Vary the way you cook your veggies: Try cooking veggies lots of different ways. I was in my 20s before I discovered I prefer most veggies tender crisp. It took a lot of trial and error, but figuring that out really opened me up to new foods. {Stacy Parrish Lewis, dietetic intern}
(5) Experiment with fresh produce: Go to a farmers’ market and have your teens pick out some veggies that they haven’t tried. Then research some recipes for that veggie and get them involved in the preparation. {Devyn Magazu, MS, RDN}
(6) Roast your vegetables: Roasting veggies brings out their natural sweetness. Try tossing broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, diced butternut squash, halved Brussels sprouts, baby carrots, or diced zucchini with extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper, and then roast in the oven until soft, golden, and sweet. Add fresh herbs to jazz up the flavor. Try my recipe for Honey Roasted Rainbow Carrots. {Liz Weiss, MS, RDN from Liz’s Healthy Table}
(7) Encourage independent shopping trips: I’ll give my teens a budget and send them to the store to figure it out themselves. I’ll then go go on my merry way. {Julie Lanford, MPH, RD, CSO, LDN from The Cancer Dietitian}
(8) Combine new foods with something more familiar: I find it’s always helpful to try new foods when they’re combined with foods that are more familiar. For example, adding frozen cauliflower or a handful of spinach to a smoothie can help someone get past the idea of trying a new veggie and they can then try that veggie in another way that is more familiar, such as in eggs, and then finally on its own. Sometimes people think they don’t like a particular vegetable, but they’ve only tried it in one way and could be missing out on other ways to enjoy that food! {Alyssa Lavy, MS, RD, CDN, owner of Alyssa Lavy Nutrition & Wellness LLC}
(9) Boost protein intake with plant-based, veggie-rich options: I encourage parents of teen athletes to serve edamame as an “appetizer” at home. It’s ridiculously easy to prepare as you only microwave and sprinkle with salt. Most teens are interested in trying it or have tried edamame at Asian restaurants. It may help tame big appetites and get a veggie in before the meal even starts. As a bonus, it’s also a source of protein. {Jenna Braddock, RDN from Make Healthy Easy}
Spicy Hummus Veggie Tacos, Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN
(10) Follow the food trends: Teenagers today love global flavors, and trendy foods, such as those found in Asian, Latin, and North African cultures. So, think Asian grain bowls with greens and snap peas, Moroccan roasted veggies like chickpeas and cauliflower served with couscous, hummus dip with fresh veggies, and tacos filled with veggies, such as avocado, asparagus, and tomatoes. {Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN from The Plant-Powered Dietitian}
(11) Provide a few options: Letting them choose how to have vegetables makes them feel more independent. For example, having a self-serve taco station and they choose which ingredients to add, or asking how they prefer their vegetables: raw, roasted, or steamed. {Melissa Mitri, MS, RDN}
(12) Have fun with different cooking methods: Roasting (cauliflower, broccoli) brings out the sweetness. Try some sweet options like a carrot soufflé. And, try different cuts such as julienne strips. All of these things change texture and appearance. {Rosanne Rust, RDN from Rust Nutrition}
My teen avoids vegetables at all costs … won’t touch them, at all.
He has a nut allergy.
Loves meat but avoids all vegetables … so I grate into my made up tomato sauce it’s the only way he’ll eat onion tomato and carrot. He is very fit & healthy.
Any way you can incorporate fruits and veggies is great. Keep plugging along! And if veggies are off limits for your son, go heavier on the fruits 🙂
I add carrots, peppers, onions, zucchini, celery….whatever veggies we have in the fridge to my tomato sauce and then purée it so my picky teen doesn’t know what’s in there and will eat it all.
That is a great way to add more veggies to the diet! Does your picky teen like smoothies? That’s another yummy strategy. A few baby spinach leaves into a blueberry smoothie works wonders.
These are great ideas but not for a picky eater. My son would eat none of those items. He has a lot of problems with food texture, so nothing mushy, no hummus, no beans, nuts or nut butters. He eats salad but doesn’t like it- he says. He eats steak and venison. He will eat green apples and smoothies. I can’t add any protein powder because he can detect the grit right away. He craves carbs and sugar- of course! We are a healthy eating family, so he’s kind of the odd man out. I feel so frustrated that I can’t figure this out. The biggest problem is that he doesn’t care out eating healthy. He just wants good tasting food. Everyday, all day it is a mystery as to what I can feed him that he’ll eat. I’d love some help from anyone!! Thank you!
Hi Kristen: Thanks for reaching out. It sounds like your son has a lot of food aversions and textural aversions. While most kids and teens benefit from strategies like cooking together, introducing foods slowly, experimenting with different ways to present the same food (i.e. sweet potatoes can be presented as mashed, baked, diced and roasted), your son’s challenges may need a more nuanced approach. Food chaining is a technique that might work for him. https://www.arnoldpalmerhospital.com/content-hub/if-you-have-a-picky-eater-try-food-chaining (Google it .. and you’ll find lots of resources). And perhaps you can work with a dietitian who specializes in this topic. It’s usually used with young children, but I’m sure there are experts who can help a teen as well. https://youngwomenshealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Food-Chaining-for-ARFID.pdf There is a condition experts refer to as ARFID (Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder) and this may be what’s happening with your son. ** Many dietitians are working virtually these days. If you need a referral, let me know and I’ll dig into this for you.
My son (now entering 11th grade) had the same issues. Carbs, sugars and select meats.. That’s all he would eat. He didn’t know that everything he picked was in those categories. He will eat a cheeseburger with only cheese, meat and bread or a home made or deli made thin sliced ham with cheese and bread (nothing else in it). Now he will eat thin sliced turkey in bread if we don’t have ham. I bought vegetable capsules and told him that he had to take them everyday, and that had helped as long as I remember to remind him. Oh one vegetable that all my kids eat is cucumber. I guess because it just tastes like water. Maybe not a lot if vitamins but I think it gets some fiber in him. He loves fresh raspberries and also plain applesauce with no sugar added so I try to get that when I can. He liked scrambled eggs when he was little but won’t eat them anymore, however he likes boiled eggs so long as he can just eat the white and give the yellow to someone else. However, I’ve found that he will eat whole eggs that are cooked into rice pudding or French toast, and he doesn’t require much or any syrup. He argues with me that cinnamon and vanilla are sweet, even when they are without sugar so he perceives it that way and I can reduce sugar or cut it out if recipes if I add vanilla or cinnamon. One thing I haven’t tried yet but my friend with 7 kids did: If a kid won’t eat the dinner you prepared, they always have the option of a plain peanut butter sandwich (no jelly). That made it easier for her and the kids learned to manage their choices a little. Couple that with choice some carrot or celery sticks or some “leaves” (usually 3-4 plain spinach leaves) or cucumber slices can work. Oh And I forgot, He will eat ants on a log- celery sticks with peanut butter and a few raisins in the top. My boy doesn’t even care if they are raisins or grapes or raspberries or if it’s just plain peanut butter in celery.
Liz…..great ideas, I plan to try them with my daughter. But one of your other readers posted about a problem I personally have dealt with and never knew it had its own name. ARFID (Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder), which I developed in my early 20s. I brought this up to many therapist’s with no help and you have given me some new info that maybe will help me too. Thank you.
Thanks for stopping by! My colleague, Jill Castle, RDN is an ARFID expert. LMK if you want me to connect you with her.
I desperately need help. My 12 year old son sounds as though he is definitely developed this disorder, ARFID. He has all the classic symptoms and more. He absolutely refuses to eat anything remotely healthy. No vegetables whatsoever and only a few fruits, small amounts of berries, apples and tangerines if I’m lucky. He craves only carbs and sweets. His diet consists of pasta, rice, cheese, meat and milk, and of course tons and tons of snack items, like chips, crackers etc. Iv’e tried everything and when I’ve scolded him for ‘sneaking’ the junk food, he simply doesn’t care. Im at the end of my rope and I need help. Im now resorting to putting a lock on the junk food cupboard, so he cannot “help himself whenever he’s hungry”.
Gosh. It sounds like you have your hands full. I’m sure this is quite difficult for you. Here is an article about ARFID that you may find helpful: https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/1015p70.shtml
And there are registered dietitians around the country who specialize in this area. Perhaps you can find someone in your area or find someone to help you virtually. I would suggest you start with Google and see if you can find someone in your area. But I definitely you find a dietitian with this specialty. You should not be in this alone. Keep me posted. Happy to help.