veggies

[Emmilyy]

So, i've already shared that Cookie will FINALLY eat one veggie. Sweet potatos. She loves em now, and gobbles them up. but so far, they're the ONLY veggie she'll touch.

How good are sweet potato for her? she only eats them raw. I know she needs alot of veggie in her diet, and for the past little while she's been eating a lot of sweet tatos everyday. Is this okay? Is too much sweet potato bad? If its not, for now its gonna be part of her main diet, unless its not nutritional or something.. I'm just glad she's eating a veggie. Of course I'm gonna try and get her to eat more, but for now is what I'm doing okay?

[shellbeme]

http://www.landofvos.com/recipes/recipe011.html

:)

[Emmilyy]

yay! thank you - looks like Cookie chose something very healthy to like!

[shellbeme]

I was at work when I posted earlier but here is the LOV recipe page if you want some different ways for preparing sweet potato!

Land of Vos - Carolyn's Recipes

[chapala]

Sweet potato is high in beta-carotenes, converted by the body to vitamin A as needed, much better than synthetic A supplementation. However, too much of any one food item isn't good, and diet deficiencies will develop for various vitamins and minerals including Calcium, depending on what else she's eating. Sweet potato is also high in calories, so if she's eating a lot and not exercising (is she flighted?), you might have some unhealthy weight gain happening. It's excellent to feed as part of a varied diet. The fact that she is eating one new food is a good sign that she will gradually eat other healthy foods. I'd aim next for the dark, leafy greens (kale, collard, mustard greens, dandelion greens) and broccoli. Be sure to offer the new vegetable(s) every single day whether she will eat them now or not. They have to become familiar before she'll try them. Different ways of providing them

You might try lightly steaming a slice of sweet potato, or very lightly cooking in the microwave, and see if she'll eat it partly cooked. That too will help her broaden her food preferences. If you get to the point where she'll take them mashed, you can begin adding in a very tiny amount of finely minced green vegetables mixed into the mashed sweet potato. Then very gradually depending on how well she's eating it, add more.

[Emmilyy]

thanks! i was going to start trying to get her to eat broccoli, next. but i was wondering.. is there a brand of frozen stuff i could try, and steam it?


Cookie is flighted, so she gets lots of excercise! :)

[jimpierce7]

sweet tatties are very nutritious!! They should be steamed lightly in order to release all the vitamins and such though.

[dmiller91]

My babies love brocolli greens, all chopped up and raw. It make take a while for them to learn, but ALL of them love it. I would chomp in front of her at first, show her how delicious.

The best way I found to get them to try greens is by trying the sweet yellow clover. Once they find that, the other greens seem to come easier. However, not the right time of year!!!! I would love to grow that inside.

[Emmilyy]

So the sweet potato's should be steamed? *how* lightly? she really likes them crunchy, she never eats soft foods.. are the raw ones bad for her? or are they just better cooked? And, if i cook a bunch at a time, is there a way I'd be able to store them? I'd like to be able to chop them up weekly, and then use them as needed..

Ohh, and i started with the broccoli for the first time today. She ate all her tato's in the morning, and when i came home from school I took all food out and just broccoli in.. hopefully she's eating it now..

[chapala]

Sweet potato can be fed raw or cooked (I always cook it), but the beta-carotenes are a little more available when cooked. You can cook and then freeze them in small portion sizes (about 3 days).