Which of these would you consider “eating a vegetable”?

[Anonymous]

I will give context later, just curious, of these foods, if your kids ate them would you have consider them to have eaten a vegetable?

Black beans
Small bits of onions, peppers, garlic cooked into the back beans
Small quantities of spinach (visible) stirred into another dish
Handful of spinach mixed into a berry smoothie (not visible)
Raw spinach as the base for a salad
Purple cabbage slaw
Corn
Avocado
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Mango
Mango salsa with red onions and cilantro visible in it
Slices of red peppers

[Anonymous]

They're all plant foods so for the purpose of having something fibery and/or nutritious on my kid's plate I'd say they "count." I don't really understand the question though.

[Anonymous]

This is kind of a weird post, but I'll bite.

I think all of these qualify as "eating vegetables" except the smoothie because the smoothie isn't a vegetable dish.

[Anonymous]

From the CDC:

"Remember that the serving size for fruits and vegetables is about 4 to 6 ounces.

Measurements for one serving can differ depending on the food, such as:
1 cup of raw or cooked fruits and vegetables
½ cup of legumes
3 cups of leafy greens"

So on your list I'd say they count if there's enough of each, but "small bits" is subjective and is unlikely to be a full serving.

[Anonymous]

I'd say from the first spinach down. Depends on how much onion and pepper in the black beans for me. Agree, black beans are good fiber and nutrition, but I don't count them in veggies in my house.

Maybe part of the context - I would say I served a vegetable (and kid ate it) in some of the mixed-in cases. If my goal is to have them eaten, no matter how sneaky, then yes, ate a vegetable. I don't get hung up on fruit vs. veggies either, I like them to eat whatever variety. One of my kids prefers more veggies than fruits, so I'm not fighting about it anyway.

[Anonymous]

All of it except the corn and the mango/mango salsa. Why?

[Anonymous]

Spinach, cabbage, cucumbers, peppers, and tomatoes (any form and visibility irrelevant) are all vegetables in your list. I usually add an additional vegetable for meals with beans, corn, avocado, onions, and mangos.

[Anonymous]

All but mango and mango salsa

[Anonymous]

They all “count” as vegetables/fruits and are all good for you.

Is someone keeping track of what someone else is eating? Why?

[Anonymous]

OP here,

I have a relative with a lot of anxiety about what her moderately picky kids eat. I am helping babysit her kids this weekend, and she has made me promise that they will eat vegetables every day, but has, in the past, gotten upset when the kids tell her what they are, because it doesn’t “count”.

So, just trying to figure out what she’s likely to object to.

All of the foods have been offered this weekend, plus other things. No one kid ate all of them.

[Anonymous]

You can’t promise her the kids will eat any specific thing. All you can do is offer the food.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will give context later, just curious, of these foods, if your kids ate them would you have consider them to have eaten a vegetable?

Black beans
Small bits of onions, peppers, garlic cooked into the back beans
Small quantities of spinach (visible) stirred into another dish
Handful of spinach mixed into a berry smoothie (not visible)
Raw spinach as the base for a salad
Purple cabbage slaw
Corn
Avocado
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Mango
Mango salsa with red onions and cilantro visible in it
Slices of red peppers

I have an extremely picky eater who vocally hates vegetables, so I think I understand the origin of this question. I don't consider beans or lentils to be vegetables, though we do serve a lot of both to our veggie-hating kid. I don't worry much about the difference between veggies incorporated into a dish (like onions and peppers in beans or on their own) because you are consuming it either way.

Obviously eating a healthy serving of something is better from a nutritional/palate standpoint then having a few tiny nibbles. But on the other hand, a healthy serving of spinach snuck into a smoothy is less of a "win" regarding a picky eater than having her nibble half a leaf of spinach on its own, because the latter indicates more of an acceptance of this as a food she's okay with.

Corn, avocados, and cucumbers are easy wins if your kid doesn't really like veggies, because they avoid some of the texture, bitterness, and color issues that kids who hate veggies often get hung up on. Similar thing with something like butternut squash soup (it's sweet, it doesn't look like vegetables) or sweet potato fries. These are veggies but our kid doesn't think of them that way so it's a nutritional win but, again, doesn't solve that issue of the child who says they hate vegetables and is afraid of salad.

And anyway, corn, avocados, tomatoes, and mango are fruits. They are good ones! And have more in common with vegetables than, say, strawberries. So again, good for expanding the palate but not as nutritionally useful as eating a dark leafy green, from the perspective of trying to get your kid nutrients that they might miss because they won't eat actual veggies.

I think you need to take any win you can get and not set an unreasonable standard for yourself. My kid is not going to eat a spinach salad anytime soon, she will actually fake-retch at the site of carrots or zucchini, even when incorporated into something she loves like a muffin. But she will eat some spinach leaves in a smoothy, is okay with cooked peppers with beans and/or rice, will eat corn and avocados on their own. We take what we can get, continue to seve up the stuff she says she hates but don't make her eat it, and remind ourselves that what matters is that she's healthy and fed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t promise her the kids will eat any specific thing. All you can do is offer the food.

OP here,

Part of the issue is that they are more willing to force vegetables than I am. Their approach is to put a meal, consisting of things their kids usually eat, on the table and tell them they have to eat it.

My approach is different. But I know their kids well enough to be able to predict what they will definitely choose, and what they might try, and so I can usually put a meal on the table where vegetables get eaten, except then I get told that what I served isn’t a vegetable, or doesn’t count because it wasn’t a full serving, or that hidden ingredients don’t count or whatever.

I should note that if I was alone with her kids, I would probably just do it her way, but my own kids are there eating the same meal, and I feel pretty strongly about not forcing them.

[Anonymous]

I cannot imagine why you are caring for these children. No way am I going to take care of someone else’s children and then get hassled for it. You are a better person than I, OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can’t promise her the kids will eat any specific thing. All you can do is offer the food.

OP here,

Part of the issue is that they are more willing to force vegetables than I am. Their approach is to put a meal, consisting of things their kids usually eat, on the table and tell them they have to eat it.

My approach is different. But I know their kids well enough to be able to predict what they will definitely choose, and what they might try, and so I can usually put a meal on the table where vegetables get eaten, except then I get told that what I served isn’t a vegetable, or doesn’t count because it wasn’t a full serving, or that hidden ingredients don’t count or whatever.

I should note that if I was alone with her kids, I would probably just do it her way, but my own kids are there eating the same meal, and I feel pretty strongly about not forcing them.

DP - it’s your house, OP. You don’t need to force these kids to eat anything and this relative is out of line to expect that you will. You’re doing enough of a favor by babysitting; she needs to chill.