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Dr. Catherine Palmier—Food servings Ask the Experts – UHC TV Here’s a question from a viewer. How many servings of fruits and vegetables does my child need to eat per day? Boy, that is a really common question right now, especially with all the attention being drawn to nutrition and childhood obesity. You know, in the ideal world, the American Diatedic Association and the CDC recommend six to seven servings of vegetables and fruits per day. In reality, for most children that is a lot of fruits and vegetables. Basically, you want to offer a variety of those very nutritious fruits and vegetables, but you don’t want to get into battles with your child. Here’s a few principles to remember. It’s always better to feed the fruit or vegetable as opposed to a juice. Juices tend to have a lot of sugar, and children tend to turn to juices as opposed to eating food. I would rather quench a thirst—if a child is thirsty—actually with water than a fruit juice or those juices you see now that have the vegetables snuck in with the fruit. The other thing is, try to make eating fruits and vegetables fun. Dips are always popular. They can be used with fruits as well as vegetables—like a yogurt dressing or something like that. And, certainly we see things like ranch dressing or other salad dressings being used with vegetables. Most children prefer the taste of raw vegetables to cooked vegetables for various reasons. The same goes for frozen is usually preferred over canned. But, don’t beat yourself up. View nutrition over a month or two’s time as opposed to a daily type of need. Kids go on food jacks, as I like to call them. Very scientific word, isn’t it? Basically, they begin to eat one type of food and prefer one type of food for awhile and then suddenly abandon that food and then go to another food. I believe that is really nature’s way of balancing a diet, but nobody really inside the child is really keeping score of exactly how much fruit and vegetables you offer. The other thing to remember is that it’s very important to model the good behavior in your own eating habits because children watch us far more than we realize. If you’re not one to put something green on your plate, believe me they are taking some notes on you. In summary, don’t get too overly upset about a child’s fruit and vegetable consumption. It’s more important that you offer it, but please don’t force the child to eat because that sets up a lot issues for later on in life.

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Fruits and Veggies for Kids: How Much is Enough?

Question: How many servings of fruits and vegetables should my child eat each day?

Answer from: Dr. Catherine Palmier, M.D., pediatrics expert

It's important to offer kids a variety of healthy fruits and vegetables, but you don't need to focus on servings per day. It's best to view childhood nutrition over a longer period of time.

kids, Ask the Expert, diet, food & nutrition, Healthy Kids

The content of these videos is for information only and is not intended to be medical advice. Refer to your health plan benefit guide for coverage details, and consult with your doctor to determine what is best for you.

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Fruits and Veggies for Kids: How Much is Enough?

Question: How many servings of fruits and vegetables should my child eat each day?

Answer from: Dr. Catherine Palmier, M.D., pediatrics expert

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