STAY-N-WEIGH
Part Two: Eat the Rainbow
It’s said that variety is the spice of life, and when it comes to what we eat that is especially true. Each different color of fruit or vegetable has different nutrients that our bodies need, so although it’s great if your child regularly eats bananas and peas, he is missing out on some other really important components of a healthy diet if he isn’t eating a variety. It might be time to help him expand his/her horizons (and maybe yours, too!).
BEIGE = BLAH
Yes, potatoes and bananas are good foods, but they shouldn’t be the only produce to touch your child’s lips. If his typical dinner is predominantly white and brown, make a game out of eating a rainbow of foods from now on. Allow your child to help you fill the grocery cart with a rainbow of produce and then work together to learn about new ways to prepare and eat the various foods. Keep a chart on the fridge and see if your kids can eat at least one fruit or veggie from each color group each day. (And no, a red, strawberry-flavored cupcake doesn’t count!)
ROY G. BIV
Remember learning that rainbow acronym in 6th grade science class? Now see if you can use that somewhat useless tidbit to choose a different fruit or veggie for each color every single day. For purposes of this task, consider blue, indigo, and violet to be the same color “family,” making five color groups total – Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue/Purple. How many days can you go before repeating a food?
Make healthy foods as easy to eat as potato chips and granola bars. When you bring fresh produce home, immediately wash and slice it to store in the fridge so it’s easy to grab. When you slice a bell pepper, divide it into several small reusable containers that you can stick in lunchboxes that week. You can do this while dinner is in the oven. Studies show that cutting vegetables ahead of time does cause them to lose a little nutritional value, but some nutrients is certainly better than none, so if you’re more likely to reach for something simple when you get the munchies make your veggies “simple!” Green peppers don’t do any good if they turn rotten in the drawer of the fridge!
Fresh isn’t always best. Sometimes frozen fruits and vegetables actually contain more nutrients than fresh because companies pick the food at its prime and “flash freeze” it, locking in the nutrients.
START SMALL
If your little one is used to a life where French fries are her only veggie it might take a while to help her develop a taste for other foods, but by making it fun (and not a chore or a criterion for getting dessert!) she might surprise you and eat foods you never dreamed she’d consume. And just because she doesn’t like the ordinary peas and green beans doesn’t mean she wouldn’t love baked kale or edamame. Just continue offering a host of foods. Children should be eating a minimum of five fruits and vegetables every day. Suggest that your child eat at least from one color group each day for the first week, or that she just have one bite from each color in the beginning. Slowly phase healthier foods into her diet. She is much more likely to eat these foods if she isn’t filling up on sweets or starches and if she sees you eating them, too, so make sure you’re setting a good example.
The USDA recently changed their food guidelines by trading the old food pyramid for the updated plate (www.choosemyplate.gov). This visual aid better illustrates what a typical meal should look like, which consists of half the plate being filled with fruits and veggies.
HELPFUL RESOURCES:
· Today I Ate a Rainbow – www.todayiatearainbow.com This site has some great ideas and activities for your children. There are videos teaching children and adults how to use different kinds of produce. I especially enjoyed learning how to make eggplant chips and plan to try that very soon! For $25 you can order a kit that includes a chart and incentive magnets, but most parents could easily make their own for free. The site also sells some cute, helpful shopping lists where you can categorize your items into the different color groups. You can follow this group on Facebook and Twitter.
· GoodVeg on Squidoo – www.squidoo.com/eat-a-rainbow This site has
many recipes and suggestions for eating a variety of fruits and vegetables as well as a chart of sample foods from each color group.
· DK book, I Can Eat a Rainbow by Annabel Karmel –
http://www.amazon.com/Can-Eat-Rainbow-Annabel-
Karmel/dp/1405339063/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1327005580&sr=8-2 This hardcover book is designed for toddlers. The photos of foods grouped by color are appealing for everyone!
· Eating the Alphabet: Fruits & Vegetables from A to Z by Lois Ehlert –
http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Alphabet-Fruits-Vegetables-
Harcourt/dp/0152009027/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327005720&sr=8-1 Another book designed for toddlers, this one teaches upper- and lowercase letters while also introducing children to fruits and veggies that begin with each letter. It might be fun for a family to go in order and try to eat a food from every letter in a week or two!
Sources:
http://www.todayiatearainbow.com
http://www.squidoo.com/eat-a-rainbow
http://www.kblog.lunchboxbunch.com
http://www.thehappyfamilymovement.com/2011/10/eating-a-rainbow
http://www.choosemyplate.gov
http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2011/12/27/2879381/new-years-resolutionkids-
eat.html
Check back next week as we discuss mealtime.
COMING UP:
Part 3: Mealtime Matters
Part 4: Snacktime – More Than Just The Munchies
Part 5: Beverages – An Unlikely Suspect
Part 6: Mini Mouths – Creating a Foodie Under 2
Part 7: Favorite Recipes
Lisa Hassell is a stay-at-home mom to a 2-year-old in Indian Trail, NC. She writes for StayNPlay and also has a parenting blog at http://tottalks.wordpress.com.
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