At School or Home, Salad Bars Get Kids Eating More Veggies

Picture this: You sit down at the dinner table and each member of your family has, in addition to their main course, a fresh, nutritious salad with a colorful array of produce that they are likely to polish off. How on earth do I accomplish that? 

You wonder... I have found that one of the easiest ways to get kids excited about eating more veggies and legumes is to set up a mini salad bar on your kitchen counter or dinner table with lots of colorful ingredients. Some kid favorites are shredded carrots, diced cucumbers, steamed broccoli florets, raisins or dried cranberries, chickpeas, sunflower seeds, diced cooked beets (really!), olives, grape or cherry tomatoes, edamame, and shredded purple cabbage.

Giving kids control of their meals by allowing them to create their own personalized salads is a great way to get kids to eat their vegetables and enjoy healthy salads. This is especially true in a group setting where kids are encouraged to be adventurous by what other kids are trying.

In 2010, Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign built on that theory to advocate for more salad bars in schools. Studies have shown that putting salad bars in schools is an effective way to get kids to eat more fruits and vegetables and improve their overall diets. Still, most kids are more likely to see French fries than salads on the menu, and only 1 in 5 public schools offer a salad bar at least once a week. Fortunately, that number appears to be growing rapidly and many kids enjoy it when their schools offer a salad bar.

I asked some parents on the Six O'Clock Scramble Facebook page what their kids think about salad bars in schools and here are some of their answers:

• Gina Rau of Portland, Oregon, said, "We got a salad bar last year and the kids love it! There's often a lineup of kiddos waiting to serve up."   
• According to Michelle Logsdon, of Rockville, Maryland, "My 9-yr old daughter Sara says she would like a salad bar because it is better than greasy pizza. She loved having a salad bar at her sleepaway camp. She would like it to include fruit as well."  
• "My 5-year-old said, 'No, because he would rather have a chocolate bar.' My 8-year-old said, 'Yes, because then everyone could choose what they want for lunch,'" said Alison Siener Brown. 
• Jennifer Bogard of Franklin, TN reports that, "My 6-year-old girl said, 'What's a salad bar?' I explained and she said, 'Nah.'"
• Sarah Bradley of Asheville, NC said that both of her kids said they would like a salad bar in school. "My 12-year-old Dylan loves salads and my 15-year-old wishes they would make the school garden a salad bar for them every day."   
• "My boys (3rd & 5th grade) bring their lunch (our school lunch options are terrible). When I asked, they said that would be great as long as an adult dished out the items because the other kids will touch everything and that's gross," according to Nichole Carbajal of Gilbert, AZ.   
• Marilee Kinsella of Chicago, IL, reported that her 12-year-old daughter Hannah would love it as long as the lettuce wasn't iceberg and the veggies were fresh.   
• 5-year-old said, "We should have a fruit bar to make fruit salads! That would be awesome," according to the 5-year-old daughter of Samantha Bookman of Agoura Hills, CA.