Eat The Rainbow

August 19, 2009

Remember that candy ad that told you to Taste the Rainbow?

It wasn’t far off.

While eating a rainbow of candy isn’t all that healthy, eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables is just what you need to do in your quest to have a healthy, balanced diet.

I’ve mentioned before that I met Connie Diekman at the Sara Lee Back to School Nutrition Summit, but she wasn’t the only nutritionist who spoke with us. I also met Kim Kerchher, Registered Dietician for the Jewel-Osco chain of grocery stores.

Kim had a lot of terrific suggestions for getting kids to eat veggies, but two of my favorites were to eat the rainbow and to make things into games.

rainbow of fruits and veggies Think about a typical kid-friendly meal – chicken nuggets with honey, french fries, pretzels, and a sugar cookie – brown, beige, brown, and beige. We all know that it’s not the healthiest meal, right?

When was the last time you saw beige or brown on the rainbow?

Exactly.

I looked at Grace’s lunch one day this week, and I was shocked. The whole meal was orange: cantaloupe, cheesy popcorn, carrot sticks, cheddar cheese, and goldfish crackers. By coincidence, the entire meal was orange.

Wouldn’t it be fun to give each day of the week a color? Monday could be red day. Tuesday, orange. Wednesday, yellow. Thursday, green. Friday, blue. Saturday, purple. Sunday, white. Your kids would love it, and it would make planning much easier for you, provided you didn’t go overboard and become completely rigid and fussy about it.

Another fun thing to do is to try to eat each color of the rainbow each day. You could post a chart in the kitchen and let your kids check off the colors as they eat throughout the day. Tune in this week for my version of such a chart.

Grace’s Kitchen Friends

Please join in Grace’s Kitchen Friends! To play along, all you have to do is fill out MckLinky below. You can link up any post that talks about kids and food: Grace's Kitchen Friends

feeding kids
cooking with kids
kids’ nutrition
play with food or play kitchens
crafts with or about food
There are a lot of other kids and food things I haven’t listed (like growing food with kids or fun recipes that kids love!), so please don’t feel limited.

I’m easy like that, Dear Reader. The only thing I ask is that you link back here to Grace’s Kitchen Friends in your post. I can’t wait to see what your kids are doing!

Happily submitted to Friday Feasts, Foodie Friday, Family Recipe Friday, Favorite Ingredient Friday, and Food on Friday

Photo courtesy of andrivete on Flickr

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Musings of a Housewife said:

I love the “eat the rainbow” concept. Great way to get all the healthy nutrients into their (and your) diet!
Musings of a Housewife´s last blog ..Homemade Granola Bars *VLOG*

# 19 August 2009 at 8:33 pm

Can Can (Mom Most Traveled) said:

Aw man! I have written about food, but I’m sans kids this week!

http://mommosttraveled.com/most-excellent-hanoi-adventures-continued/

http://mommosttraveled.com/alone-in-hanoi/
Can Can (Mom Most Traveled)´s last blog ..Back To School Books

# 19 August 2009 at 8:40 pm

Robyns Online World said:

That is such a clever idea about making the colors a game for the kids. Taylor almost always goes to the grocery store with me (yes even being a teen) and we have always enjoyed the produce department. To this day he is still always curious about the unique foods we see, the look of them, the texture of them, countries of origin, and of course, the taste of them. We try out new things when we see them – it has always been a great way to get more fruits and veggies into our diet.
Robyns Online World´s last blog ..Whimsy Couture Sewing Tutorial Giveaway!

# 20 August 2009 at 8:53 pm

Ann Kroeker said:

Great post! The folks who eat smoothies can put all kinds of colors of veggies in their smoothies and mix in the rainbow often. I’m always impressed, but never try it.
Ann Kroeker´s last blog ..Food on Fridays: State Fair Food

# 21 August 2009 at 8:26 am

Food on Fridays: State Fair Food « said:

[...] Feels Like Home (eat the rainbow) [...]

# 21 August 2009 at 8:33 am

Rhonda @ Shellbelle's Tiki Hut said:

What a wonderful idea! Clever way to get kids to eat more fruits and veggies.
Rhonda @ Shellbelle’s Tiki Hut´s last blog ..Buttermilk Cake with Fresh Strawberries

# 21 August 2009 at 9:19 am

MAry said:

What a clever concept. I really enjoyed and learned from your post today. I hope you are having a wonderful day.
MAry´s last blog ..Swedish Meatballs – A Scandinavian Festival for Foodie Friday

# 21 August 2009 at 11:07 am

Jerri said:

Interesting idea! Thanks for posting.
Jerri´s last blog ..Sweet Thursday: Muffins & Breads

# 21 August 2009 at 3:31 pm

darnold23 said:

Thanks for sharing. I hope you will join me for Crock Pot Wednesday next week at diningwithdebbie.blogspot.com. Thanks again.
darnold23´s last blog ..CLINTON PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY and Elizabeth Taylor’s Spicy Chicken

# 21 August 2009 at 4:06 pm