While we’re in the middle of talking about Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating, I just want to offer a little bit of encouragement and motivation once again in the area of eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. I think this is one of the most well known and understood aspects of healthy eating and still one of the most difficult for many people.
If only corn chips or french fries counted as a serving of vegetables. I’m not saying, “don’t ever eat corn chips or french fries”. I’m just saying they don’t offer much in the way of vitamins and other nutrients our bodies need.
We really need a lot of fruits and vegetables. I know this. You know this. (Right? You know this?)
I’ve talked about this here quite a bit, and I tend to bring it up during the times I feel like I myself am in a fruit and veggie rut. Writing this is my little way of kicking myself in the pants (which takes an incredible amount of talent; please feel free to picture me attempting this). I’m also hoping to kick you in the pants (which of course is easier, but not nearly as nice, so please be aware that I am only using that term figuratively, and also you don’t have to worry because I’m not very strong and don’t kick very hard).
All kicking aside, we all need to veggie up. Yes? Do you agree?
So how do we do this? How do we make fruits and vegetables more of a priority? How do we ensure that we are eating enough and feeding our family enough fruits and vegetables?
I’ve thought long and hard and come up with a detailed checklist for us to live by as we focus on eating more fruits and veggies. Are you ready?
- Buy fruits and vegetables.
- Eat them.
- Repeat.
Did you catch all of that? Go back and re-read the list as many times as you need to. Take your time. Let it all soak in.
I think that list sums it up quite well. If we don’t actually purchase fruits and vegetables, they are very hard to eat. Ever noticed that? But don’t just buy them and think they look pretty in your fridge or freezer. You’re going to need to actually eat them if you want them to benefit you the way that they should.
And don’t just serve them to your kids. You need to eat them too. Eating them in front of your kids is highly recommended. Saying lots of things like, “mmm this tastes really good” while you eat them in front of your kids is also a very good idea.
If you don’t really like many fruits or vegetables I’m going to go out on a little limb here and kindly and gently say, “Get over it and eat them anyway”. You’ve got to eat fruits and veggies whether you like them or not. Start with the ones you do like, then keep trying and adding new ones to your diet. I’ve learned to like all kinds of new foods as I’ve gotten older and as I’ve actually given good foods a fair chance. Sure, maybe I like chocolate better than artichokes. I can have chocolate too…I just need to focus on the veggies. I think not eating vegetables because we “don’t like them” is kind of silly, because we are grown-ups, are we not? I’d say “don’t get me started” but I guess I already got myself started. See what happens when I start trying to kick myself in the pants?
Here’s an older post I wrote, the first in the Simple Steps Toward Healthy Eating series I’ve been writing, encouraging you to eat more fruits and veggies. You’ll find several ideas to encourage you to eat more of these colorful foods, so I very much encourage you to go read that post. I also want to remind you that eating fruits and vegetables does not have to be expensive and is very worth the money.
Now, let’s chat together and motivate each other to eat lots and lots of fruits and vegetables.
My favorites are broccoli, green beans, fresh spinach and other leafy greens, carrots, frozen peas, asparagus, tomatoes, apples, peaches, strawberries, blueberries, watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe and probably some others I’m forgetting at the moment.
What are your favorites? Do you ever find yourself in a veggie rut? What will help you out of that rut?
Thank you so much for this post. It’s like you heard every excuse in my head and beat it down before it could even pop out :) I am so diligent about feeding my son healthy fruits and veggies, but I don’t treat myself the same… and if for no other reason, I need to be a good example, not a hypocrite… but really I need it for me.
Did I ever need to read this. I have not been doing such a great job of eating my veggies lately. I much prefer to eat my fruits. I will be going shopping tomorrow and fresh fruits and vegs are definitely on the list. So is menu planning. Time to get back on the ball.
I love your writing…you are so funny and witty…
Funny, I was having this same conviction today, that I become lax in serving fruits and vegis, encouraging eating them, and eating them myself. Gave myself a shake of the finger today. Thankful that summer is around the corner and hopefully, the garden will be bursting with lots of goodies for everyone to eat!
We started trying to eat 5 a day last summer and it was REALLY hard at first. It has gotten easier. One of my tips (tricks) especially when we have a meal like sloppy joes or something with ground beef (heck even spaghetti sauce and ground beef enchiladas) is to grate/shred carrots or a summer squash and throw it in with the beef while it’s browning. No one knows it’s in there (well, not really) and I can get more veggies in a meal this way, plus I stretch my grass fed/finished beef budget.
Love this idea. Husband and I were just talking about how we could get our son to eat more vegetables and this is big help. Will definately be trying. Thank you.
Thank you for your post. It helped remind me that the best answers are the simple ones. We live in a time when we want complicated answers for everything – weird fad diets, highly processed “health food” with every added nutrient imaginable, and high tech everything. Really, the answers are simple, as you put it so well. Veggies: Buy them and eat them.
I’ve been horrible about eating fruits and veggies. It isn’t because I don’t like them. In fact, the only veggie I won’t eat- nor will my husband- is lima beans. Are they really a veggie or a legume? Hmmm. Doesn’t matter. They will never cross these lips! I love, love, love, cooked spinach. Swiss chard is awesome too- probably because my grandmother cooked it for me in milk and butter the first time I ever tried it!
I think the problem in our house is that I just don’t think about adding veggies to the meals I serve. I don’t want canned products from the store. I avoided frozen and try to stick to fresh vegetables, but then I forget about them or they are actually quite expensive here in Las Vegas.
I decided that frozen may have to be the way we go for a lot of veggies. Although I did find a you pick orchard in the area that also has vegetables. I think right now they have beets. I’m thinking I will try my hand at lacto fermentation with some vegetable if I can get them cheaper in-season here.
I’m working on it!
Laura,
I’m in the Las Vegas area, too! We’ve been using http://www.bountifulbaskets.org for almost a year as our main source for fruits and veggies. I pay the extra $10 for organic, but even if you don’t do that, it’s only $15 for a large basket of fresh fruits and veggies. Check them out!
–Jennifer
We were doing bountiful baskets, but it really wasn’t all that useful. There just aren’t enough fruits in it- we get 3 oranges and 5 bananas. That lasts us an hour. I just didn’t really feel it was such a great deal. I prefer to have my kids help me choose our produce. Then they are more likely to eat it. Thanks, though!
Do you bake your own bread and other baked goods? I am worried about all the heat in the summer. This is only our second summer here and I wasn’t doing a whole lot of baking last summer.
I started grinding wheat for bread in Jan, so haven’t done it during the summer here either. Probably going to have to get up really early and get started so it’s not baking in the heat of the day. And maybe make a double batch and freeze the extra so I don’t have to bake as often?
Costco has started carrying more organic fruits and veggies, so check them out, if you haven’t already.
I’m in Vegas, too! We went to the new farmer’s market at Tivoli Village on Rampart/Alta. There was a farmer there with organic strawberries. I sampled one… and about died! They tasted NOTHING like the ones I get at the grocery store (or through Bountiful Baskets!).
I came to the conclusion that if I have really yummy produce in the house, I don’t forget it! I do , however, often lack motivation to cook ANOTHER thing. It’s just easier to throw the main dish on the table and call it good! :-)
University of Nevada has an orchard on Horse that sells fruit and Gilcrease Orchard will ramp up in a few weeks here and offer tons of great produce for $1/lb.
My friend was just at Gilcrease and said they had beets and swiss chard. I think we might head over there on Tuesday. We’ve only lived here for a year now, so we are finally discovering a few places. I’d never heard about the University of Nevada orchard. I will have to check that one out.
I’m not really all that into bountiful baskets. I’ll have to check out the new farmers market at Tivoli. I just read about it the other day.
Thanks!
Do you bake a lot? If so, do you stick with it during the hot summer months?
Yes, I bake all the bread we eat so I bake a lot! For the summer, I try to stock my freezer full of bread/buns/scones/muffins before mid-June. When I run out, I try to bake everything in my toaster oven, on the griddle or preferably on our grill outside (I’m going to try bread out there this summer). We stick to a lot of flat breads in the summer! :-) My daughter’s b-day is mid-July and I just suck it up and bake early in the morning for her cake.
Thank you for the much needed “kick in the pants”. Loved your checklist. My problem is I buy, eat some, then throw out the rest. I will be doing more than dressing up my shopping cart. :o)
Thanks! We are in a CSA, and this time of year I hate buying veggies, because I know the fresh ones are coming… Good to get intentional about it, again!
We have a large garden, not a CSA – but I find myself using the a similar excuse – I don’t want to buy fresh ones when I am watching mine grow!!! Grow, grow, grow!!
We eat a good amount of veggies but I could always do better. Our favorites are carrots, summer squash, zucchini, green peas, broccoli and green beans. Oh and we like onions, especially lightly sauteed in coconut oil!! My two year old will pick the onions out of sauteed squash and eat them all! I’m also a huge salad fan (spinach and all of the other yummy types) but no one else in my family is big on salads. I attempt to always have two veggies at dinner and one at lunch.
As far as fruit we eat a lot of bananas, strawberries, grapes, apples, pineapple, and cantaloupe. I love blueberries (in my morning oatmeal or on yogurt especially) but my family only eats them in muffins! We eat fruit at nearly all meals and as snacks too!
That is almost exactly what I would have said. My kids were just complaining tonight about the two veggies at dinner. I told them what Laura said, “Get used to it!” This is what my Mom told me and I think eating fruits & veggies all these years helps me to enjoy them. Some. I’d still rather have ice cream, but my health is important. I’ve got some great little kids to raise!
Thanks for the kick. You must have a looong leg to reach out to CA ;).
Personally, eating more vegies and fruit has been my goal too. I love cucumber, green bell peppers, tomatoes, celery, avaocado, strawberries, watermelon, honeydew, blueberries, raspberries, mangos, bananas, grapes, etc…
I find that with the vegies, it helps to eat them with hummus or to put peanut butter and raisins on my celery (ants on a log!).
And fruit, well, if I’m craving chocolate but really need fruit or want to give my kids a somewhat healthy snack I melt chocolate and drizzle it on bananas or strawberries. yummy
Veggies are the hard part for us. The kids would eat fruit all day long if I let them. I have really been trying to get our servings in lately. I’ve been making smoothies with lots of frozen spinach (loose, not a brick) in them. Bought a big bag of carrots from Azure so the kids have been munching on those and I chopped a bunch up and froze them on a cookie sheet and then bagged them up so I can add a couple handfuls to whatever I am cooking. I’ve been adding spinach to whatever I’m cooking for dinner, chopped asparagus, chopped celery or broccoli. When the warmer weather sticks around, salads are nice. I need to make a good salad dressing though since all of mine have yucky ingredients in them- we just started our real/ whole foods way of life. I am trying to buy extra produce when it is cheap to chop and freeze for later.
Try Laura’s dressing recipes- we love the ranch and I am always asked for the recipe when we have people over!
Yeah, I have veggie issues over here too. It’s not that I don’t like them–it’s that I prefer eating other things to them. It also might be me being contrary to the women in my husband’s family raving over them all the time too…
I have been wrestling with this for so long and have recently implemented eating green smoothies on a daily basis. I LOVE them. Vegetables are not a problem for me, I love all of them, and could eat them all day, but I am not one to pick up a piece of fruit other than some chopped up on oatmeal or mixed in with a salad. Green smoothies are amazing and I feel like I am getting more than enough fruits and vegetables every day now.
My kids are a tough nut to crack! However we are planting a vegetable garden this year, which my daughter and I started seedlings for and also planted a peach and two apple trees I am praying this will help them to consume more fruits and veggies!!
Making smoothies in the Vitamix with spinach, other greens, carrots, and fruits has been a huge help in getting the family to eat more produce. Gardening together has also has been a big help in encouraging the kids to eat veggies, as they can’t wait until the seeds they put in the ground are producing things they can eat. Sometimes the carrots get pulled up when they are only an inch long, but that’s o.k.!
Yes, key word is ‘intentional’… :-)
I’ve been convicted about this too lately. As someone mentioned earlier, it’s just about changing my mindset. I always serve a carb with the meal; why can’t I do that with veggies? Last week, I was desperate to do something healthy so I threw some raw broccoli on my boys lunch plates (and mine) instead of goldfish. They ate it right up! They loved the crunch. It was an encouraging moment that has made me more excited to dole out the veggies.
We have a new favorite: grilled veggies! We used a red bell pepper, onions, celery, and yellow squash (all cut bite-size), tossed with olive oil & spices (we used garlic, parsley, oregano, and marjoram), then grilled on one of those trays with the holes in it. They were awesome! We are looking forward to trying lots of other combos.
If you don’t have a grill wok, you can also grill veg’s straight on the grates. For example, with bell peppers I just cut them in half and put them straight on. They get some fire that way and come out with nice grill marks. After they are done I take them off and cut them into strips or whatever size I want. It works great with lots of veggies. I do chicken, peppers, and onions all on the grill and then bring it all inside and slice it up: grilled chicken fajitas!
I love butternut squash! It’s so versatile and can be mixed into lots of things – pasta, risotto, muffins, etc. My mother in law has a huge garden in Minnesota, and the squash that comes from her garden is amazing. My son has always loved squash and sweet potatoes and he will eat them just roasted with a bit of butter and that’s it.
Roasted veggies are a favorite at our house. Toss some chopped broccoli, carrots, onions, bell peppers, summer squash, and zucchini in a pan with some olive oil, sea salt, and pepper and roast at 400 for an hour or so. The flavor is wonderful and it is the only way I can get my dad to eat veggies. Also, I love tomatoes and kale in my scrambled eggs in the morning-a great way to get some extra leafy greens in my diet.
As spring is turning the corner into summer (here in N. Texas), I’m finding more spring and summer fruits in the grocery. We’re talking berries of all kinds, melons, more pineapple, mangoes, and cherries, plums, peaches even…oh my mouth is watering now. But then I noticed your post was about VEGGIES. Eat your VEGGIES. It wasn’t eat your veggies and fruit.
My note to self: Veggies are cheaper, they contain as many (and sometimes more) nutrients. Eat as much fruit as I want. AFTER I EAT MORE VEGGIES.
I hear that bowl of cherries calling my name. I’m coming! After I finish this broccoli.
If you are stuck at the rank beginner stage of eating daily vegetables, one way to overcome this is to buy an appropriate amount of frozen mixed vegetables for consumption every single day. For us this was 1-lb bags. A 1-lb bag of frozen mixed vegetables went into our main meal for the day, every single day, until we got used to the idea that eating vegetables was not distasteful. It may sound funny to put mixed vegetables in something like spaghetti, but what is ministrone soup but spaghetti with vegetables and a lot of water added? I called our spaghetti-with-mixed-vegetables “maxistrone”.
If you find that you are constantly wanting to make a dinner from something that the mixed vegetables won’t blend with, such as double cheeseburgers with fries, or large platters of microwaved pizza rolls, then it is time to consider finding different sources of meat and starch.
The wonderful thing for us was that after a time we began to appreciate the flavor of the vegetables in the dishes we were making. Even under spaghetti sauce you can taste the individual flavors of the vegetables if you pay attention. Alternatively, on days when you don’t want to notice the vegetables, you can ignore them under the sauces. Curry is good for this, as is Mexican Picante sauce. Pork tenderloin, cubed and simmered with mixed vegetables in a mixture of Mexican Picante sauce and water, is delicious. Chicken works just as well, if for some reason you don’t eat pork.
We have since branched out into brocolli every other day (but not in spaghetti!), and some days we even have healthful sandwiches that involve salad materials instead of just meat and cheese. We would never have gotten to this stage without having forced ourselves to eat the 1-lb bags of frozen mixed vegetables at the beginning.
The longer I am on this road to eating healthier (about a year and a half now), the more I crave and enjoy fruits and vegetables (and other more healthy food like oatmeal). I LOVE fruit, so that is something I have to try to refrain from eating too much. A green salad with romaine and spinach leaves is one of my favorite ways to eat veggies. Stirfry is also really great. My kids are becoming more open minded too, but I make a lot of broccoli and carrots because those are two of the only veggies they eat.
I actually *bribed* my children to eat their veggie with dinner last night with a veggie!! My kids will eat just about anything when I offer orange bell pepper for dessert :) How crazy is that?
Fruit I have no problem with – love me some fruit. It’s veggies that I struggle with. To help me up my intake of vegetables I’ve recently instituted a little rule for dinner time – 3 vegetables required, no matter what we’re having. It’s a little challenging when I want to have a lazy dinner night, but it’s definitely helping me get more veggies each day.
Two words: Ranch Dressing!!
Well, Ranch doesn’t go well with fruit, but dip a veggie in it, and YUM! My kids love to eat their veggies this way, and if you whip up a batch of homemade Ranch dressing, they’ll be nourishing their little bods with a bit of creamy, cultured goodness! :)
Oh, I love cantaloupe so much, but lately I’ve been getting a lot of duds at the grocery store. I choose them by smelling the rind at the little “belly button” up top, but for some reason, they are never as sweet as they should be… Seems to take forever just to pick out a so-so fruit at the store too. Any suggestions on how to choose and then store certain fruits and veggies (most specifically a cantaloupe?
It’s not quite canteloupe season yet. In the winter it’s hard to get a good canteloupe, but they are coming soon! I let mine ripen on the counter just until it smells musky, but before it gets soft. If it is really cold the melon won’t ripen right and won’t be very sweet… just have to wait for warmer days! I was told that large netting on the outside (as opposed to thin tight netting) is a good indicator of ripeness. Good luck… I bought one just today hoping that the time for sweet canteloupes is upon us!
I also let mine ripen on the counter. When I can smell it when I walk by, I usually put it in the fridge for a day or 2. I’ve gotten a lot of good ones here lately!
My husband and I have really been trying to serve more veggies. I have found that if I wash and cut up carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and celery and have them ready to snack on, then the kids will really go for them. Just like any adult, the kids don’t want to wait (for me to do it or heaven forbid they do it) so if its not ready they go for crackers instead.
And when you need extra help, eat chocolate WITH your fruits and veggies…
I have recently (finally) come to like strawberries. First, I ate lots of whatever “strawberry-flavored” things I could stand. I’m talking gum here.
Then I upgraded to “tasting” every “real” strawberry item I could stand. Free strawberry smoothie samples every time I walked into the mall, and I ate (drank?) it.
But what worked? Was the chocolate-covered strawberries. Mmmmmm! And yesterday I bought a box of huge, bright red, delicious strawberries from Aldi (for only a dollar!) and happily ate three for dessert. No chocolate needed!
Next up: broccoli with cheese…
Much agreed! Fruits and veggies are in season and cheaper this time of year. I love visiting my local farmers markets. Some venders have samples for you to try. It’s a great way to try new veggies, yummy :)
I have found the more veggie and fruits I eat the more I like them/crave them. I now love going into the produce section, I get happy just seeing all the beautiful colors…It’s the little things in live that make me happy :-)
I’m also blessed to have a 10 year old son who loves veggies and fruit. Our current favorites are fruit smoothie and baked asparagus, but not at the same time! :)
Thanks for all your posts, I check here everyday and always enjoy reading them!!
Have a blessed day!
We have found frozen veggies to be the easiest way to eat more vegetables. I only buy the plain vegetables (no added sauces or anything) but I don’t have to worry about fresh vegetables going bad. I also don’t do much to them- steam, boil, or roast– saves alot of time and makes it easy. I try to serve 2 veggies with dinner, because it makes it easier to eat alot if it isn’t all the same thing. I also make sure lunch includes a fruit and veggie.
Everytime I gone to your site for the last 3-4 days my computer tells me I need to install a Chinese language pack! Hmmmmm…..
We have an adult friend who is 50 and he NEVER eats fruits or veggies other than potatoes. He is always feeling bad with body aches, headaches, sinus, etc. I really think this is the problem but he would not even consider eating something he doesn’t want to eat.
We have been trying to increase our consumptiuon of raw fruits and veggies because they are better for us. Don’t microwave your veggies! It kills all the enzymes!
Me too on the Chinese language pack:(
Thanks for the reminder! I upped our veggies at lunch this afternoon (throw some frozen peas & carrots in the mac n’ cheese) and addes some snow peas to their plates as well. We just joined a CSA so I have been challenged with some new veggies and so have my kids palattes!
I love all vegetables, especially in the summer, fresh from the garden or farmer’s market. My husband and I like spinach, but I don’t really know how to cook it because my mom never made it when I was growing up. If you have a good spinach recipe could you post it please?
I also wanted to add, for people who don’t like vegetables, try roasting them. It softens up the flavor and carmelizes the natural sugars so roasted veggies are a totally different taste experience. I like roasted cauliflower the best :)
Don’t forget sweet potatoes!!! Spinach, broccoli, asparagus, strawberries, blueberries, avocado, banana, apple, fresh salad lettuce and greens, sauteed onions and garlic…in everything, corn, peas, and carrots–cooked in a little butter–my son loves ’em! Fresh salsa is another of my favorite veggies–I think it counts as a veggie! :-)
Kale-banana smoothies aren’t bad either.
We love veggies, and I want to share a wonderfully EASY and DELICIOUS veggie salad. Good for every day, pot lucks, family dinners, etc… It’s simply diced (or I like thinly sliced)red, orange, yellow bell peppers, a sm onion and sm head broccoli, then add a third to half a bottle of spicy Italian dressing. It can be made a day ahead, to be sure all the flavors marinate, but fresh is fine too. It keeps for several days in the frig, and is good plain, or over a helping of cottage cheese, or bed of lettuce, etc. It’s addicting, if you like bell peppers at all! I clean and quarter the peppers, onions, etc, then whiz them and the broccoli thru the food processor using the slicer blade. If you don’t like broccoli, use a green pepper for the green color, if you don’t like onions, use sliced water chesnuts for the white. It’s just a beautiful delicious salad. Good to include leftovers on sub sandwiches too!
I enjoy all types of fruits. I also eat most vegetables when my mom cooks them as well as when they are already cooked so all I have to do is reheat them. However, I lack the inclination of prepping and cooking the vegetables myself.
I like to make desserts with fruits and veggies: zucchini bread, banana bread, three-berry cobbler, cake carrot, etc. Although none of these are “healthy,” if you are going to make a dessert, it can have a bit of health in it. Better than let’s say a chocolate cookie or ice cream sundae.
Another way to get the family to eat veggies is too pour on the butter! Butter is a healthy fat, at least I believe it is. Therefore, feel free to pour some melted butter of broccoli or green beans in order to get them to taste better.
I have found the “GREEN SMOOTHIE” to be a great solution for me as far as getting quantity of fruits/veggies into my body.
I try to have one several times a week.
I freeze bananas regularly along w/ other cut up fruits that haven’t been eaten quickly enough. I use a combination of those along w/ 2 handfuls of greens (baby spinach or spring mix are my typical choice). Blend it up w/ some water until it’s the consistency I am looking for and drink up. I like it because I can get a lot of fruits/veggies into my body quickly.
I also find I can eat large quantities of veggies when they’re ROASTED.
Lastly, I find when I eat or even spend time with particular friends who share my vision and joy for eating healthfully, I make better choices than when left to myself.
Having read some other comments, I would add that joining a CSA or some kind of produce co op has been THE biggest factor in our family eating more produce, simply b/c it’s in the house and I paid ‘good money’ for it, so I’m driven by my strong aversion to waste.
I try to think veggies and/or fruit at every meal now rather than how I grew up thinking that veggies were really just a dinner food.
Throwing veggies into eggs is a great way to get them in at breakfast.
I think ONE of the reasons fruit gets eaten more than veggies (At least at our house) is that veggies seem to take more preparation. I have been falling back a lot on frozen veggies. 1. They don’t go bad while you are working them into your menu. 2. They are quick to prepare (usually a quick steam makes them yummy. 3. I’ve read that they contain more of their original nutrients than those that have been shipped unfrozen from across the country. 4. They are often cheaper.
In a week or so, we will start getting veggies from a local farm in our CSA box. THAT is a huge stretcher of veggie comfort levels, and we end up eating a LOT of very fresh veggies all summer long. Plus, we are supporting our local farm. I think it is definitely a win-win, especially until we start getting serious about gardening.
But yeah, post this again next February and remind me that SOMEHOW, I need to be eating green things!
This may sound dumb, but what is a CSA?
I like salads and some other veggies, but I have a hard time eating them every day. I do grill carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, and bell pepper at times, but I only eat part of it.
A good way to eat lots of fruit is to make a fruit salad. I have been doing that for breakfast off and on for several weeks. I use crushed pineapple, bananas, apples, grapes, strawberries, unsweetened coconut, and walnuts.
CSA = Community Supported Agriculture.
It’s a crop share in which you prepay for 4-5 months worth of fresh,
farm-grown produce. It’s really amazing if you can find one. I live in
Minneapolis and there are well over 100 farms offering a CSA program.
I really love the idea of your fruit salad. I bet my 2 year-old would love it!!
We have been doing a great job with fruit. My triplets love strawberries, bananas, blueberries. A trick is to make a smoothie with these fruit and then “sneak” a veggie or 2 in the mix. Also, every now in then I buy a veggie tray with ranch dip…. they seem to think this is super fun :)