Healthy Eating for Families
Educate Your Kids with Fun Activities

There is a wealth of information available to help families make food choices for a healthy diet. Incorporating education on healthy foods into fun activities encourages fun for the whole family! Kids will enjoy these activities with their parents, older siblings, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, neighborhood friends or caregivers. Help your family to make food choices for a healthy diet by following these tips:

• Fuel up on fruit—eat a fruit for a snack or with a meal. Try orange smiles (slices) or a fruit kabob (cubes of fruit on a toothpick) or 100% fruit juice.

•Vary your vegetables—bite on beans and broccoli; crunch on carrots, corn, and cauliflower.• Get plenty of grains—eat spaghetti, rice, cereal, bagels,breads, or other grains for power.

• Blast off with breakfast—it doesn’t have to be boring—feast on leftovers, peanut butter and bananas on toast—use your imagination.

• Find the fat—check out the food label to help you pick foods lower in fat.

• Snack smart—try a milk smoothie—blend lowfat milk orplain yogurt with mashed fruit or fruit juice—that’s smartyet satisfying!

• Try new tastes—try a new vegetable like jicama (pronounced:hi-cah-ma); taste kiwi fruit, yogurt, pita bread, dried apricots,whole-wheat pasta, turkey sausage…

FAMILY ACTIVITY 1:Work together as a family and select a tip from above to try for a week.Write the tip on a piece of paper and put on refrigerator door as a reminder. Add a second tip and continue adding tips and make them habits.

FAMILY ACTIVITY 2: Have each member of your family add up separately the fruits and vegeta-bles he or she ate today. If any of you ate less than 5…strive for 5 tomorrow. If anyone ate 5,excellent…keep up the good work!

For more activities and education for kids and families on healthy eating, vist www.MyPyramid.gov