Help Your Kids Eat Right With Color

In my earlier post I focused on ways to put this year’s National Nutrition Month® theme “Eat Right with Color” into practice and in this post I want to share some tips that parents can use to make sure their children are eating healthy meals.

The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reported that kids (and adults) are deficient in dietary fiber, vitamin D, calcium and potassium. I also just read a report that most Americans aren’t even clear on which foods contain fiber. It showed that many people think that foods like meat and milk which have no fiber are good sources and 10% even thought water provided fiber (http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Financial-Industry/Many-Americans-mistaken-about-fiber-sources-finds-Kellogg-s). This really surprised me and reminded me that most people just don’t know what makes a healthy diet. So if we want healthy kids then there is a lot of work that needs to be done to educate parents on good nutrition so that they can make sure that their children are getting the nutrients that they need.

To this end I wanted to share a great new resource that The American Dietetic Association and its foundation just launched. It is a website called Kids Eat Right www.kidseatright.org that has a wealth of information for parents written by registered dietitians. The website includes articles, videos, practical tips, and recipes all designed to help families learn how to shop effectively and prepare healthy and wholesome meals. One video that stood out to me was cauliflower popcorn http://www.eatright.org/kids/video.aspx?id=6442462714

What a fun idea for kids! Check out the resources and see what you think. If you try a recipe or idea let me know how it worked.