Better Food For a Better You

What could be more fun in the kitchen for your daughter or son than to pop an exotic ingredient into the blender to make a fruit smoothie? The key to starting the journey of preparing and eating healthier foods is to make it an exciting group adventure. Whipping up a pink strawberry or purple blueberry smoothie is one way to gradually incorporate nutritious foods into your diet. Start with the basic items, such as milk (soy or almond milk if you’re lactose intolerant), yogurt or fruit juice and experiment away. Add mint, vanilla, cocoa powder, peanut butter, berries, bananas, kiwi, fruit juice concentrate or honey. Fresh or frozen fruits are best, but canned ones will do. Use colorful stripe straws to make it more colorful for kids and start sipping away.

Sandwiches

Allow your junior "family chef" to fix sandwiches for siblings. Start buying bread, bagels and buns that are a fiber-rich. Usually the toppings, whether it is peanut butter, cheese or egg will outweigh the newness of whole grain bread slices. Soon each family member will be anxious to put in her own cheese, turkey, lettuce and tomato slices. Encourage kids to try new items by allowing them to create faces on their sandwiches with cranberry noses and raspberry eyes.

Vegetable Salad

Dressing up vegetable salads is a great way to introduce better nutrition. Let the kids throw a salad together with a variety of greens, carrots, seeds and nuts. Sometimes if the vegetables are served in a new form, such as a carrot coin instead of a carrot stick, children are more eager to try it. Not only are vegetable salads rich in nutrients if paired with the right lettuce, it is possible one of the quick and easiest meals to prepare.

Fruits, Veggies, and Snacking

Front and center in the frig place a container that is always packed with clean, cut, ready-to-eat veggies or fruits that are easy to grab after school. Offer peanut butter as a dip and increase your kids' protein. Capitalize on our culture's snack affair by filling your cupboards with popcorn coated with a honey/peanut butter mixture. Form peanut butter balls made with one cup each of milk powder, peanut butter, honey, oats, coconut, chocolate chips and whatever else you imagine.

Other Options

Tossing in a few veggies cut up small in the chili, substituting a cup of oat flour for white in chocolate chip cookies or pancakes and using fat-free dairy products go a long way to bettering your nutrition. Many of these ideas are used by the American Cancer Society in their diet plans for patients going through chemotherapy for Pleural Mesothelioma to help boost their immune systems. Invite your kids to pitch in a few new healthy ingredients along with the original, and you have a fresh start to better health.

Kristin Wells is a recent college graduate from The University of Georgia and an aspiring writer. She wants to make a difference in people's lives through her writing. Kristin also likes competitive cycling, running, and traveling as much as possible. Kristin also collaborates on Curious Mind Musings.