| Nutritionists and the USDA Food Pyramid all | | | | asking permission. At snacktime, cut up |
| provide nutritional guidelines that suggest that | | | | vegetables and serve with a tasty dip your |
| offering a variety of nourishing foods to your | | | | children have helped you prepare. |
| children will help insure that they eat a healthy | | | | Other ways to get rainbow foods into your kids' |
| diet. | | | | diet: |
| In fact, they state that by choosing foods from | | | | *Top breakfast cereals with cut-up banana or |
| the range of colors found in the rainbow you can | | | | strawberries. |
| generally obtain most of the necessary vitamins | | | | *Make yummy smoothies with frozen fruit and |
| and minerals recommended for a healthy diet. | | | | yogurt. Toss in a bit of kale for extra health (and |
| "Rainbow" colored foods are easily found in the | | | | your kids won't even notice!) |
| fruits and vegetables that are available in our | | | | *Mix chopped fruit with jello. |
| grocery stores throughout the year. When you | | | | *Start a vegetable garden. Children love eating |
| offer your kids an abundance of healthy food | | | | what they've grown themselves! |
| choices like those in the "food rainbow," while | | | | How do you help your kids to try new foods |
| limiting their access to less nutritious pre-packaged | | | | when introducing healthy food choices? According |
| "snack" goodies, you can feel reassured they are | | | | to Contemporary Pediatrics, a new food needs to |
| eating wholesome foods. | | | | be served to children about ten times before |
| Great rainbow foods include: | | | | most of them will accept it! Try introducing new |
| *Bananas | | | | foods at mealtimes, alongside some of their |
| *Summer squash | | | | favorite foods. So when you serve a yummy |
| *Strawberries | | | | spaghetti dinner, add a roasted vegetable medley |
| *Oranges | | | | on the side. The good news is that most children |
| *Carrots | | | | will eventually try it. Kids also say they are more |
| *Sweet potatoes | | | | likely to give a new food a try when they see |
| *Tomatoes | | | | their siblings or parents eat it. |
| *Red peppers | | | | That's right; you need to eat healthy foods, too! |
| *Beets | | | | Your food choices are a very important |
| *Grapes | | | | opportunity, so teach your children by setting a |
| *Blueberries | | | | good example. |
| *Blackberries | | | | Offer lots of good-tasting, healthy choices at |
| *Spinach | | | | snack and mealtimes and you will encourage your |
| *Kale | | | | kids to make healthy eating part of their life |
| You may be surprised how easy it is to get your | | | | habits. If you teach your children to make the |
| children to eat healthy food. We suggest you | | | | right choices "most of the time," when they are |
| always have fresh fruit accessible to your kids at | | | | away from you it is more likely that they will |
| all times. You may also want to give your children | | | | make healthy choices, too. |
| "carte blanche" to snack on fruit anytime, without | | | | So remember to put a little color in their diet! |