The only vegetable my 6 year old daughter is willing to eat are raw green peppers. For a while, I would cut one up and give her a few small pieces every night with her dinner. Every so often she would complain of stomach aches and would sometimes throw up. My mother told me to stop giving her peppers every day because they are very harsh on the stomach and that is probably what's causing the stomach aches and vomiting. I had no idea raw peppers were harsh on the stomach. Is this true? Just to be sure, I have been avoiding giving my daughter peppers the past few days and see how her tummy feels.
As Elena mentioned, green peppers are unripe. The fully ripe bell peppers are more mellow in taste and less prone to upsetting the stomach of a normal person. Milder still if they are cooked and not raw.
That said, I can't eat any type of pepper, cooked or raw, without getting sick. Stomach aches and vomiting were the earliest symptoms of a growing food sensitivity/allergy.
Green peppers can be harsh simply because they're picked when they're unripe, and sold before they're ripe. The reason they are so much less expensive than red, yellow, or orange bell peppers is that they're picked quickly, and don't require as much care and tending-to.
They're a quick turn-around crop, whereas allowing the other peppers to mature, turn color, and then pick and ship requires much more labor, and time, and usage of the land. A green pepper that's allowed to remain on the stem of the plant will turn red, yellow or orange, depending on its variety.
So, think of eating a green banana, or unripe blueberries (my dad used to love to say "blueberries are red when they're green"), or an avocado that's not ripe yet. The fruit is tough, sometimes unpleasantly bitter, and it can be hard to digest because it's still young. Raw red, yellow or orange peppers are often much easier on the digestive tract.
A yellow or orange or red pepper is simply a grown-up green pepper. Eaten raw, they can be much easier to digest. Find a green pepper in a grocery store that's turning red. Show your daughter a green banana and let it sit in your kitchen for a couple of days until it turns into a beautiful yellow. Then encourage her to try red bell peppers.
There are a lot of veggies that can cause gas and stomach problems - but I think your issue is that you are giving all of one thing and not enough balance. Green peppers, broccoli, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, and so on can cause problems - but again, if you mix it up more, she shouldn't have this problem.
Put the foods out, give her choices, and don't turn it into a battle. It's okay to "be out of" a certain vegetable now and then.
You can cook green peppers and that can help. You can also show her a green pepper that is starting to ripen into a red pepper, and give her some of that. Then show her other "related" vegetables: zucchini and yellow squash, carrots & parsnips, and so on.
The main point to teach her is that too much of any one thing is not good.
You can also conceal other vegetables in a variety of foods - you'd be astonished at what I put into my son without his knowledge! Now he eats everything. And a friend of mine has her kids excited about soup - and she puts all kinds of things in there!
Raw peppers, just like any other raw vegetable, are high in fiber. They also give some people gas. Depending on how many of them she eats on a daily basis, it may just be a question of quantity. Try giving her a little Beano with them. It helps with gas from vegetables as well as from legumes.
There is nothing in peppers specifically that is bad for her.
I have IBS and peppers are on the "heck no" list.
Some people can eat them all the time - raw and cooked - and have no issues.
I ate them all the time myself until my late 40's - and then raw green peppers started disagreeing with my stomach.
I can still have them cooked like on a pizza.
As I get older I'm more sensitive to caffeine (makes me have to pee and keeps me awake at night), and alcohol.
Work on getting her to try more kinds of veggies but I don't see any reason to stop eating her favorite - maybe not every day, but every other day should be fine.
If I eat a lot of raw peppers it bothers my stomach. At first I thought it was all raw veggies, but it seems to be worse with peppers (green, yellow, red, and orange peppers).
How would they be bad for the stomach? You see them in raw veggie platters, right? Like everything else, it's called moderation.
Your daughter might be sensitive to them. You can take her to the allergist and get her tested to see if she's allergic to them.
Everyone is different. But they do bother my stomach. For me, it's something about the green ones. Orange bell peppers don't give me a stomach ache, only the green ones.
Green peppers are unripe. Try red or yellow, in small amounts, cooked. There's no way we can know if this is an allergy or just about the unripeness.
As previously mentioned, many cannot tolerate raw peppers.I love red bell peppers but must have them well-cooked, or there are consequences. :(
For what it's worth, It's not uncommon for people to have food sensitivities to these 'healthy' foods. I cannot eat any raw veggies or I have extreme pain, bloating, vomiting, etc. Just because we think something is 'healthy' doesn't mean it is healthy for everyone, it really depends on how they digest certain sugars which are in all vegetables and fruits. It's a bummer, but you just cook everything well or avoid some things. For more information, you can research FOD-MAPS, a system to help one understand the different sugars in foods and how they break down in the gut.
I love bell peppers. I have no issues with them or any raw or cooked vegetables.Some people, however, may have sensitivities to certain foods. My cousin has the same issue with corn...and it's cooked....but she almost immediately gets sick and vomits up the corn. I have issues with spices and honey so I have to avoid those. All people are different and react differently so she may need to avoid the peppers.
