How to plate for picky eaters.
If you knew 3 insanely easy ways to get picky eaters to eat more fruits and vegetables…
Would you implement them today?
Sure, studies aren’t always 100% correct…
But what’s important is to try different ways to increase the chances of your little picky eater to munch on greens.
“I’ve tried all the known tips for picky eaters, why should I read this now?”
Because you won’t find these in the usual “how to get kids to eat more fruits and veggies” posts.
Not that there’s anything wrong with those. They are still helpful but I wanted to give you more methods to try.
How to present food to picky eaters:
1. Appearance matters!
In a study by Cornell University and the London Metropolitan University, researchers found that children have the following visual preferences during mealtime:
- entrees located on a plate’s lower portion
- arranging food in a pattern or design
- 7 different components or kinds of food
- 6 different food colors
Keep these in mind when you plate for the next meal and see how your child responds to the food.
2. Portions and plating
These definitely go together, and shortly, you’ll find out why.
An article from Huffingpost suggests offering small portions when introducing new food to children. And it makes sense because doing so avoids overwhelming them.
Delbouf illusion: The more white space surrounds the black circle, the smaller it appears. In reality, both black circles are of same size.
Take advantage of optical illusions to make food portions seem smaller than they really are, making the plate more inviting to your child:
Use large plates for fruits and vegetables to create the perception of less food, and increase the likelihood of consumption.
On the other hand, if you want to discourage consumption of not-so-healthy food such as cakes and other sweets, use small plates to trick the eye into thinking the serving portion is larger than it is.
This form of trickery – in the name of healthy eating – is backed by a study from Cornell University on how optical illusions cause us to incorrectly approximate serving sizes.
3. Serve water with raw vegetables
Yup, you read that right: serve water.
A study done by the University of Oregon and Michigan State University found that preschoolers consumed more raw vegetables when served with water.
According to one of the researchers from the study, Bettina Cornwell, “Our taste preferences are heavily influenced by repeated exposure to particular foods and drinks.”
Sodas are usually associated with unhealthy food.
Sodas or colas are usually associated with high-calorie and salty food – pizza, burgers and fries – while iced tea is associated with restaurant food.
If your child has these associations, serving soda with veggies at home may result to her wanting high-calorie food, and reject greens.
To prevent this from happening, have water to wash down food as much as possible.
Serving water also provides fewer distractions so your kiddo can focus on the healthy stuff.
4. Bonus: Smile
According to this study published in the British Journal of Developmental Psychology, children’s desire to eat certain food is influenced by an adult’s emotion and facial expression.
Though researchers did not measure actual food consumption, the findings suggest that parents who show positive emotions such as pleasure while eating fruits and vegetables, may increase the chances of their children to enjoy the same food.
So be mindful of your expressions at the dining table since children pick-up on such cues.
“Will these work at my house?”
The studies are here to provide more solutions for getting picky eaters to reach for greens.
However, the true test is how your little one responds to these tips. And the only way to find out is to try.
About Anne Mercado
I like these ideas. They’re easy, cheap and doable!
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They are extremely easy to implement. Glad you like the ideas… was worried you wouldn’t.
great tips–I know I’ve done the smaller portions–just because sometimes the kids feel like its a great accomplishment to ask and finish seconds -when really only I know its a full serving split up =)
Water with dinner has been our go to for years!Maybe that way my kids eat more veggies???
#4 is one that make TOTAL sense now, as parents we just don’t realize how much our face can give us away or send encouragement.
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Who knew that kids pick up on emotional cues while eating, right? Glad you enjoyed this!
My husband swears by this advice, “Bettina Cornwell, “Our taste preferences are heavily influenced by repeated exposure to particular foods and drinks.”” He recommends exposing kids to the same thing TEN days in a row — and they will almost certainly develop a taste for it.
Love the plate trick advice!
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The optical illusion trick is real cool.
I do the smaller portions concept for introducing new foods. If my daughter is overwhelmed by the amount of a new food, she will balk.
Thanks for sharing!
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Absolutely and that’s what you want to avoid!
Great tips! I wonder if they would have worked on me, I am a very picky eater hehe.
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Haha, perhaps. You could still try them now I suppose.
Oh, number 3 is something new to me. Thanks for sharing, Anne! Great post, as always.
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Glad you learned something
I am going through this with my toddler! He refuses anything but peanut butter! I like to read and hear about the reasons, people who can relate and simply hear what others have to say. Thanks so much for sharing such valuable information!!! This will be really helpful to those sometimes stressful moments at the dinner table, lol. Some of the tips will help to avoid altogether!!!
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Glad to be of help, Rhonda. If you have any other questions, do let me know
These are really good. I like the larger plate trick, and I would have never thought of the drink associations.
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The food and drink pairings research is pretty interesting. Glad to have you drop by Courtney!
I have no problem with my toddler eating veggies & fruits only with rice meals, I think I will try optical illusion. I tried plate pattern design and sometimes it works. Thanks for sharing this.
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The optical illusion is my favorite “trick”
Thanks for dropping by, Jem!
Brilliant ideas! Parents really need to be tricky to convince their children to eat. I guess preventing kids from drinking sodas while they’re young is a big help for their health too.
Absolutely! Keeping kids away from healthy food right now helps shape their view of (healthy) eating.
I love those tips, especially the one about the optical illusion. I will try these on my daughter. Yes, I’ll remember to smile
. I tend to show her my frustration, and she does pick up on that.
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Children pick-up on our feelings as well, so yes, it would be a great idea to have a genuine smile while eating okra
I def. do the portion size when trying to introduce new foods. I also let my little one see me and his dad enjoying the food, and if I can let him help in prep. work, I do that too, and it really does make a difference!
I didn’t know about the portion size until recently so I never did use it. But I’m glad that all this works for you! I still struggle at times, but it’s the way it is. Some kids just think veggies are the enemy. Thanks for sharing, Rosey!