For children to eat healthy food, better call it tasty
Perhaps the day will not come when parents do not have to fight with their children to eat vegetables or healthy foods. More than once every parent has had to get tough with the little ones in the house so that they can take what has been put on the table. But nevertheless everything could be a question of vocabulary.
This is indicated by a study carried out by the University of Chicago where researchers found a curious surprise: to get children to eat healthy foods it is best to stop calling them in this way. You just have to make them attractive in another way.
Change the adjective of words
One of the means of trying to make this food more attractive is to highlight the Benefits what they have for health. Either because the carrots improve the view or because the spinach will make the children stronger. In short, focus on the positive aspects for children. But what if instead of "healthy" this food was given another adjective?
Researchers at the University of Chicago took two groups of sample formed by children who were offered the same product: some cookies. On the one hand, the former were given a product with health benefits, while the latter was presented with a delicious and tasty food.
Those children who had been offered some delicious cookies They consumed more of these items than those they had been told would benefit their health. Another study by this team also supported this theory. On that occasion what was presented to them was a drink that on the one hand was qualified as healthy and on the other hand simply as a new product.
As with the cookies, the children considered the adjective "new" than the "healthy" one. The problem? Usually the little ones have assimilated the idea that something healthy does not taste good so they associate this term with something they will not like. The key is that from the first moment foods like vegetables are presented in case as something delicious for the palate.
Anticipate messages from abroad
The conception of healthy foods as something not very tasty comes especially from television. Many cartoons paint the vegetables as something they do not like and products such as chocolate cookies or sweets as the truly tasty. Furthermore, advertising does not help because fast food spots tend to be more than those that promote items that benefit health.
At home you have to anticipate these messages. For this, it is best to encourage children to participate in the preparation of the menu, become familiar with vegetables and other products from very young. They should be allowed to taste them and make them see that they taste quite palatable. There are many ways to prepare vegetables, you just have to find one that is attractive to the eyes of the child.
Damián Montero
