Fruit and Vegetables for Healthy Childhood Nutrition

We all know we need to eat fruit and vegetables. But why and how do we help our kids to eat them too?

Fruit and vegetables are a good source of most vitamins and some minerals. They are also high in fibre, low in fat and contain antioxidants and plant chemicals called phytochemicals, all of which can help to prevent a range of diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and some cancers. Fruit and starchy vegetables (potato, sweet potato, corn) are also a good source of carbohydrate energy. Dried legumes (pulses) are also a good source of protein and carbohydrate energy.

Some of these health effects are in the future and we may wonder why bother helping our kids choose to eat them. If our children learn to enjoy eating fruit and vegetables now, they are more likely to eat them as adults.

Unfortunately, most Australians do not eat enough fruit and vegetables. In fact, only about 4% of both adults and children eat the recommended amounts (ABS, 2022). However, we tend to do better with eating fruit than vegetables. Vegetables can have strong flavours and smells. Fruit is usually sweet and so is less challenging. It can be more challenging for children to get used to vegetables. But we need to keep offering them so they will learn to eat them.

How to offer new fruits and vegetables

When choosing what fruits and vegetables to offer your family, try to vary the colours, types and how you cook them. See the table below for more information.

Some helpful tips for success:

• Be prepared to offer the new food many times before it might be tried, and many more times before it becomes a regularly eaten food. Think about how you will use leftovers to reduce food waste.
• Explore new fruits and vegetables through books, gardening activities, shopping trips and preparing food alongside offering them at meals and snacks.
• Always include new fruits and vegetables alongside foods that your child will usually eat. This helps to make mealtimes pleasant and stress-free – much better for helping kids feel adventurous!
• Change how you offer new fruits and vegetables. For example, you could offer steamed broccoli pieces on one day, chopped broccoli in a frittata a couple of days later and raw broccoli slices in a salad another day.
• Try not to leave it longer than a couple of days when offering the same new food.

See the Helping Children Develop Healthy Eating Behaviour webpage for more information.

How much to offer your child?

Aim for around 3 serves of fruit/vegetables a day. A simple guide is that a serve is around ½ cup or the size of a child’s fist.

If you want more guidance on serve sizes, check out the Australian Guide to Healthy Eating resources.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2022). Dietary behaviour. ABS. https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/food-and-nutrition/dietary-behaviour/latest-release.