How can I encourage my little brother to eat more meat and vegetables?!
How can I encourage my little brother to eat more meat and vegetables?
He refuses to eat meat, it's not that he is a vegetarian, he'd just prefer pizza really, he also eats McDonalds. He doesn't eat vegetables either, but lately he's started to eat broccoli (cos his friend's mother cooked it for dinner one night when he stayed over?!) How can I make him realise that constantly eating pizza's and trashy food is bad for him?? He's 10 years old.
Thanks in advance :-)
Answers: What a good sister you are..great job!!
Do behavior modification by focusing one one diet improvement per month adding a new focus each month while maintaining the old one.. when my kids were little I had a book called how to get your kids to eat what they ought to and it focused on one thing a month...eating more produce, less salt, more beans, more whole grains, eat more nuts, less sugar, less junk food, less chemicals, more fish, etc.
Set up a chart for the week one line for each meal for 7 days. and make a graph with squares. Have a goal like eating 1 cup of fruit or veggies etc and each time he does that, he gets a star or a sticker, At the end of the day, he gets a small reward, the reward should be something he really wants from an object to time with his mom or sibling to an activity. If he gets all three meals (and you could also do one or more for snacks), then he gets the daily reward. If he gets a certain number of stars for the week..say 16 or 17 of the 21, then he gets a much greater weekly reward. After many weeks, every so often skip the reward and just give verbal praise. Then start the reward system.
do this because if one stops the reward, the good behavior (in this case eating healthy things) also stops but if one occasionally does not do the reward, they behavior will continue a long time in the hopes of getting a rewards.
Here is how to understand this..they treated chickens..every time the chicken pulled a lever food came out..then they stopped the food..for some chickens they never did the food again..all these chickens eventually stopped pulling the lever with their beaks. Some of them they did get food say every ten or 8 or 4 tries (sparatically)..for these chickens the behavior did not stop as long as sometimes they got the reward (food), so this will influence if he continues the behavior.
the tricks to to find rewards he really, really like..for some little kids even the sticker is a reward, for others seeing the boards fill up with stickers is reward as well and so is verbal praise, but the big payoff is finding something he really loves and making these things the rewards..often it is things like playing a game with him he likes, dong something special with a parent, going to a favorite place, not having to do a chore or staying up late to watch a show.. This is how teachers motivate their students.
I also would educate in a fun way..do puppet shows with veggie puppets, or read storybook on foods or do game shows or field trips and think of creative ways to teach a kids to love nutrition. One thing that schools find is that when they let the kids grow their own organic gardens and prepare the food themselves, they find the kids eat things like kale and berets and love them something one would not suspect. I did a huge nutrition unit when teaching and once brought in seaweed (dulse) for a 2nd grade class when student teaching,,the teacher said none of them would eat it but over 2/3rfds of the class dd and most begged for seconds to our surprise. It is much a matter of how one presents it..excitement is important and fun.
Plus make the foods fun..he may be too old for this but I remember when my son was in kindergarten, I did celery cars with carrot wheels and peanut butter seats and raisin people and deviled egg boats with colorful paper sails..things like that and the kids not only ate them they loved them..other times I had them make the stuff like threading fruit kabobs and rolling in shredded coconut or crumbling graham crackers on top of applesauce and layering it..stuff like that..many kids like things like frozen corn or peas right from the package.
Also sneak things in like adding veggies or whole grains like oats into meat loaves 9if he will eat meat loaf). He may be too young but the movie supersize me and the extra footage is good for making some people hate fast foods or at least cut down on it.
Hope these suggestions help..and keep trying as getting good diet habits when young is VERY important.
I feed my son health foods and now that he is in his 20's, he and his girlfriends buy fresh freerange meats and organic veggies FRESH each day at the market which I think is so cool..luckily she is into it and that helps a lot. My other son in his 30s is recently losing a bunch of weight due to a health scare and is not only eating whole grains but loving things like whole wheat pasta for the first time ever. He used to hate this and only liked white pasta...he just mentioned a few days ago that he never eats white pasta now only whole grains..so you and your family need to try hard to change his ways as this is important..very important..what we eat makes a big difference in our health..especially when older and good habits need to start from birth if possible. I think you and he making some meals yourselves will help
also get some books on wild foods like Ewell gibbons books and gather and prepare these fresh (organic) veggies from nature..I like milkweed (you must boil in a few changes of water..tastes like corn kind of), cattails, and day-lily roots...and fruits and berries and supplement this with just caught fish, and other seafoods you might catch like crawdads, frogs legs (if you can stomach it), and mussels.
gibbons took a number of boys under his wing and started them foraging for wild foods and developed a life long love of it. You could also gather herbs that are medicinal or teas like strawberry leaves, mints, wintergreen, lemon balm,etc. go to field trips like farmer's market and let him cook and prepare some of the stuff you get, go to farms, health food stores and do games in the produce departments like finding all the red fruits, trying a new fruit or veggie each week, looking for different shapes..try to eat each color each day (red/orange/ white and brown/yellow/purple and blue/ and green)..this is something you need to do fro yourself too, go to health coops and volunteer--working around the health foods makes them seem more natural and snacking is easier..go to pumpkin patches and roast the seeds after carving with oil and salt and make pumpkin pie and soup..look at herb gardens, study the veggies and fruits online, if you have no place for a garden, look into community gardens or just find a piece of meadow or field somewhere and grow a few plants. read the book stone soup and make it with some organic meat and lots of different veggies. Do different countires a week parties for the family..do a Chinese day and make a big stir fry and decorations and music and Chinese foods and plates..when you do Italy, use whole grain pasta, and pizza crust (bobeli has one at krogers)..keep thinking up ideas like these. Ask your mom to make dishes with meat and veg that look appealing.
Then he will take these with ease. let him show people who are suffering for eating pizza's all the time.. i think there are people are very young age who are suffering from inbalance diet... and let him realize and remind him constantly... why not try making a homemade pizza with all the healthy toppings on it.surely its not that hard. Show him this: kids love foods like spaghetti bolognaise and shephards pie. chop the veggies up small,and its hard to notice!. i guess if there is no pizza and junk in the house,he can't eat it,and soon his taste buds will change. involve him in buying and preparing the veg as well. does ur little brother watch comics like he-man? Tell him one day he too would grow big n be ready to fight bullies. the idea of making home made pizzas is a great idea. veggies taste so good (and look so nice) on home made pizza. you can make the crust using half white flour and half whole wheat/ whole grain flour to try and make that a little more nutritious. i also love dipping the crust in olive oil. i personally dont eat meat or cheese but obviously both would make the pizza taste good. you could also use pesto as a sauce if you wanted. home made pizza is such a versatile thing and you will know what is in it. and your brother already loves pizza so there you go :) 1st - restrict his access to the fast food. Keep it as a convenience only and don't use it as a reward.
2nd - Sit down with him and a couple of the cook books written for kids (see your local library). Allow him to choose one or two meals per week that he gets to cook. Make a fuss with the table setting (get out the good china etc) and be sure to praise and ask for cooking tips and advice from him when the meal is eaten.
Maybe you could allow him to invite a friend and they can get creative together. Don't offer advice unless asked and if it tastes awful don't let it show on your face! Encourage, encourage, encourage...
Good on ya Sis. Let him be hungry and the trashy food unavailable,he will eat.Hes old enough to understand that the choice is healthy...