Get Your Kids Involved In Healthy Cooking

Everyone knows if you can engage children in something, the more interest they’re going to have, the more they’re going to learn, the more they’re going to want to do it. And so it is with eating more fruits and vegetables.

“By exposing and involving your children in the meal planning, shopping and preparing process, you engage them in healthy eating and establish good food habits for life,” said Courtney Thompson, Get Fit Logan County. “We want to provide excellent resources for families to do just that.”

One helpful resource is www.foodchamps.org which is a kid-designed site to engage children at an early age to eat healthy. Features of the website include a fruit or vegetable character that children select to guide them through the site, and sections including fun & games, artwork, coloring sheets, recipes and activity pages.

10 ways to get kids involved in healthy cooking and shopping according to Fruits & Veggies— More Matters (www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org) are:

• Mean Green Cleaning Machine – Let them wash fruits and vegetables when preparing for cooking or eating.
• Pick a Peck – When shopping, let them select a new fruit or vegetable to try, or several.
• Make It Snappy – Let them snap the green beans, snap peas, or break the flowerets from the broccoli or cauliflower.
• I Spy – Play “I Spy” in the produce section when grocery shopping.
• Tear It Up – Let them tear the lettuce for salads and sandwiches.
• Measure Up – Let them measure the frozen vegetables before cooking them.
• Peel & Slice – Older children can peel and slice carrots, cucumbers, potatoes, etc.
• Stir & Spice – Make applesauce from fresh apples. Let them help stir and add the cinnamon.
• A Sprinkle A Day – Let them sprinkle herbs or other seasoning onto vegetables.
• Monster Mash – Pull out the potato masher.

For more information about incorporating more fruits and vegetables into your diet, including meal planning, ways to serve, recipes, growing your own and buying local, or National Nutrition Month initiatives, visit www.ShapeYourFutureOK.com, www.eatright.org/nnm/, and www.fruitsandveggiesmorematters.org.