Get your kids to eat their greens with this clever hack

If you think you’ve tried every method to get your kids to eat their vegetables, there’s one more out there that might finally do the trick.

Instead of sneaking them into meals (they’ll always dig them out) or using reverse psychology, an Australian study has found that it’s all about how you present them on the plate.

Rather than making them as small as possible, you should serve them whole.

Researchers from Deakin’s Centre for Advanced Sensory Science found that children ate more carrots off their plates when given them whole, as opposed to serving them up pre-diced.

Published in the journal Foods, the study involved giving 144 primary school-aged children 500g of carrots.

While half of the group were given them peeled and whole, the other were given them diced – and both were given ten minutes to eat as much of it as they liked.

And the results revealed that the kids given the whole carrots consumed them for longer, eating one carrot on average; 8 to 10% more than those given them diced.

Dr Gie Liem, a senior lecturer in Deakin’s School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences, told the University website that this means parents wanting their kids to eat more veg should try serving them in this way.

“On average, this meant they ate about 8% to 10% more of the whole vegetable, by weight, than when given diced carrots to try,” he said.

“This shows that if parents want their children to consume vegetables, especially as a snack food, whole might be better than diced.

“This is easier for parents too, as they can just put a whole carrot in the child’s lunchbox.”

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