5-a-Day and Beyond

Like many parents, I struggle to get my children to eat healthier. While traveling in the U.K. a few years ago, I was introduced to the “5-a-day” campaign, a national campaign encouraging people to eat at least five fruits and vegetables a day. Walking through a Tesco supermarket, I was amused at how many products were labeled with the 5-a-day logo, seemingly making it super easy to eat healthier. I was seduced by the marketing and daydreamed for a few moments of how easy my life could be if I lived in the U.K. and could buy all these sexy 5-a-day ready-made meals. Of course, eating healthily isn’t anywhere near that simple.

But back at home in Switzerland, I thought I could use the 5-a-day as a fun way to motivate my kids to eat more fruit and vegetables. I tried various charts and reward systems and after a couple years, I finally found something that worked for our family. Now I have a simple chart in a little frame behind glass that works as a dry-erase board. Each day, the kids can check off their 5-a-day on the chart, then the next day we simply wipe it clean and start fresh. If they get all five in a day, they get a marble, which is part of a larger reward system in our home. They get marbles for things like doing chores, helping without being asked, doing their extra English homework, etc. They can spend the marbles on things I want to restrict like computer game time and treats.

This system hasn’t magically turned my kids into super healthy eaters. But it does make them think about their food choices every day and we have more conversations about what makes a healthy diet than we would have had otherwise. My kids are constantly asking “Is this healthy?” and “Does this count for 5-a-day?” That doesn’t mean they always make a healthy choice, but their habits are slowly changing for the better. The program also reminds me to provide a fruit and vegetable option at every meal and snack time.

Since I’ve started this, I’ve read various articles attacking the 5-a-day “myth”, some saying that five a day is not enough, misleading, pointless, some on the fence. In any case, I agree that the 5-a-day program is a little limited and certainly doesn’t address all aspects of good nutrition. My kids often ask if they can get a check for oatmeal or beans or yogurt, all of which are healthier choices than sugar cereal, potato chips or candy. So I still have some work to do. But in the meantime, this program keeps my family talking about healthy food choices and helps my kids often replace unhealthy foods with fruit and vegetables. These are good things.

How to get your 5-a-day

There are many online resources supporting the 5-a-day campaign, with recipes, meal planners, and educational material. The UK NHS website is a good place to start. Every kid has his or her favorites, so you’ll have to experiment. Like many kids, my boys are picky eaters and don’t always eat the veggie-packed meals that I love, like a stir-fry or curry. But the following fruit and vegetable delivery vehicles work pretty consistently with my crew.

Fruit topping for oatmeal. Breakfast is the hardest time for us to fit in a fruit or vegetable. Happily my kids like to eat oatmeal, so occasionally I’ll mix or cook fruit with a bit of sugar and use this to sweeten the oatmeal instead of straight sugar or maple syrup. We like strawberries, applesauce, and stewed dried apricots.

Parfait. I simply layer yogurt with fruit, usually frozen berries, in a pretty glass and give it a fancy name. My kids think they are eating dessert instead of a healthy snack.

Guacamole. My kids don’t like traditional sour cream or yogurt based veggie dips. But they’ll eat guacamole on almost anything. So I always have a few avocados on hand in case we’re having trouble getting our five checks on a particular day.

Hummus. This is another dip option, like guacamole, that is healthy in itself. My kids only eat a small portion of hummus, but they end up eating lots of the veggies meant for dipping. So mission accomplished.

Veggie soup. I’m thankful my kids will eat soup, even if it must be pureed very fine so no one can complain of any offending “bits”. I usually boil up some ABC pasta for the kids to add to their soup, which distracts them. I also add a bit of milk or cream directly to their individual bowl of soup. You can even use the unsweetened spray cream, so it looks more fun. The dairy not only mutes any strong “veggie” flavor, but my boys think that it’s a treat to have cream on anything. Recipe below.

Recipe: Super Simple Veggie Soup

Adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

You can make more complicated nuanced soups for guests but as a weekday meal for the kids, this is good enough. My kids prefer carrot/sweet potato or broccoli/cauliflower soup. I usually make a double batch and freeze the extra for a future emergency veggie meal.

1. In a medium saucepan, combine:
     4 cups water or stock (if you use water, add 1 TB bouillon)
     4 cups of chopped veggies (e.g. carrots, broccoli, cauliflower,
     celery root, sweet potato, etc.)
     1 potato, chopped or 1 cup cooked rice or 1 cup stale bread (this will thicken the soup)
     1 onion chopped

2. Optionally add whatever seasonings appeal to you. For carrot soup, I usually add a bit of coriander, ginger and curry powder. For broccoli soup, I usually leave it alone so my kids don’t complain of herb bits floating in the soup.

3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook until veggies are tender, about 20-30 minutes.

4. Remove from heat, cool a bit then puree to desired consistency.

5. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.

6. Add about 1 cup of cream or milk. If you want a thinner consistency, add 1-2 cups more water or stock until desired consistency.

By Tanya Deans

Tanya is the mother of two picky eaters, who enjoys cooking as a hobby but dreads cooking weekday meals. She has a food blog, Expat Chow, that has been neglected of late but still has helpful info for expats living in Switzerland.