Fruit And Vegetable Supplements: A 2023 Guide Forbes Health – Forbes

Editors Note: In Hey, Health Coach, Sarah Hays Coomer answers reader questions about the intersection of health and overall well-being. Have a question? Send her a message (and dont forget to use a sleuthy pseudonym!).

Hey, Health Coach,

My teenage boys (ages 14 and 17) dont like eating vegetables. They only eat raw carrots, gem squash and cucumbers. Can I give them veggie pills for extra nutrients?

L

Watching kids turn down healthy fruits and vegetables can be so frustrating. It can be worrying, too, especially for a parent who loves their kids.

Research shows that picky eating can stem from many sources, including an ancient evolutionary tendency to avoid consuming unknown (and possibly toxic) substances in the wild, childrens unique personality styles and parental feeding practices.

Whatever the cause of your teens preferences, your instinct to look for alternative sources of nutritionrather than trying to force them to eat things they actively dont likeseems well-advised. Picky eating habits tend to develop when parents either punish, bribe or reward their children regarding their eating behaviors.

This dynamic can feel like a catch-22, though. Do you push or give up? What about your responsibility to keep them healthy? Food is one of few ways kids can exert their autonomy in a world where they have limited control over their surroundings. Every parent has to approach this dilemma based on the dynamics of their own family, but, in my experience as a coach, if you force kids to eat, their resistance is likely to become even more entrenched.

Your sons have specific boundaries around which vegetables theyll eat, but they are willingly choosing to eat carrots, gem squash and cucumbers. As they say here in Nashvillethat aint nothing. It gives you a place to start, and, since they do like some vegetables, odds are theyll learn to enjoy more of them eventually.

Fruit and vegetable pills are one option for bridging a nutritional gap until a persons tastes expand, and there are lots of things you can do to support their health in the meantime.

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Fruit And Vegetable Supplements: A 2023 Guide Forbes Health - Forbes