Be honest — when was the last time you ate spinach? If it’s within the last two weeks, you’ve got me beat. If we’re at all similar, your diet is probably lacking in the leafy greens department, and I’m going to take a wild guess that your children aren’t too keen on roughage, either (I mean, really, who is?).
If you’ve fallen behind on your New Year’s resolution to eat healthier and your lifelong goal of getting your kids to eat their veggies, one mom recently shared a hack that’s taking over TikTok.
Introducing: Dinosaur Time!
“I’ve been trying to eat more greens with every meal recently, and I figured out the best life hack for me, that works for me,” @sahmthingsup said in a video. “And so I thought I’d show you. I call it ‘Dinosaur Time,’ and this is what it looks like.”
She then proceeded to stuff a large handful of raw spinach into her mouth, and slowly chomp on it, dinosaur-style.
Dinosaur Time serves as a quick, effective method to get greens into your diet. You don’t have to worry about cooking them, or even making them taste good, because the point isn’t to enjoy them — it’s to munch on them purely for sustenance, much like our prehistoric friends would, as @sahmthingsup explained in a follow-up video.
“I do this before I eat my actual lunch so I don’t have to pretend to like the taste or go through the process of hiding more greens/veggies into my preferred meal,” she wrote. “I find salads laborious to make and cumbersome to eat.”
Well, same.
Now, you might be wondering if Dinosaur Time could work for the most notorious veggie haters: children. And it turns out, yes, it does! One user, @queer_mom, shared how their family turned Dinosaur Time into a competition to eat the most lettuce.
“My kids and I finished a head of romaine lettuce last night and almost finished another one because we love to compete with each other,” they said. “I don’t care how my kids get their vegetables and I also don’t like a salad, so I will do dinosaur time every day.”
The comments on @sahmthingsup’s original video were also full of glowing testimonials from parents.
“My 3 yo did this tonight with her salad. She said ‘I’m a brachiosaurus!’ and went face first into her salad bowl 🤣” one user said.
“I showed my son dinosaur time and his time eating dinner has improved exponentially so thank you so much because he normally is the last one at the table,” said another.
“Showed this to my toddler and now he asks for spinach just to do dinosaur time and then he’ll eat 2 handfuls 😂” another said. “You are GENIUS.”
And don’t forget, Dinosaur Time has no age limit. If you find your diet lacking in nutrients (guilty!), grab your leafy green of choice and get to chomping!
