National Nutrition Month - Eat with Color!

March is National Nutrition Month and for me this means a great time to be adventurous and try new foods!  This year's theme is Eat with Color so why not challenge yourself and your family to see how many different colored foods you can eat each day this month?  Aim for as many colors of the rainbow daily as you can.  Just one thing though - they must be naturally colored foods NOT artificial coloring so hit the store and explore that fruit and veg section!

Different color foods provide us with different vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to help keep our bodies healthy so eating a variety of colors each day really is important.

Making  food fun for children is a great way to get them to accept new foods.  Here are some fun ways to focus on fruit and vegetables with your children:

~ Shopping with children can be a stressful experience (believe me I know) but giving them a task helps to keep them interested.  Give each child the task of finding a particular color fruit or vegetable and see what new items they come up with!  If they bring you something you've never tried before, such as, green kale, purple aubergine, yellow star fruit or red pomegranate agree to try it!!  Check out the internet for recipes and ideas on how to prepare and use it.

~ Create a list or colored chart of all the fruit and vegetables you can think of then play 'bingo' as you cross off each one as it gets eaten!


~ The American Dietetic Association talk about "eating a rainbow" and this image can be so appealing to children!  Have them eat a fruit or vegetable then draw it or cut a picture from a magazine and glue it on the matching color on a picture of a rainbow.

Children really do learn by example so be sure to let them see you eating fruit and vegetables for meals and snacks!

For more information please visit The American Dietetic Association www.eatright.org/nnm