Healthy Meals for Kids

Today I am thrilled to introduce you to a very special person to me. My best friend and sister Kristen. I have finally convinced her to share her many talents with us once a week. She is the queen of healthy eating. She is one talented lady in the kitchen. She is constantly finding ways to get creative and healthy. Not only is her son Wesley the cutest thing you have ever seen but this boy will eat an entire plate of broccoli and asparagus. Kristen has taught him well. Join Kristen on the blog every Wednesday for her creative recipes and healthy tips!

Hi everyone! My name is Kristen and Dietetics is what I do. By day I am a full time student finishing up my Dietetic/Nutrition degree (one semester left☺) and by night I am a mother of an active two year old who has my heart wrapped around his little finger. I am married to the man of my dreams who is my biggest support and encourages me to accomplish my goals! I enjoy learning and sharing everything about a healthy lifestyle. I believe that being healthy = being happy. I was a personal trainer for over 5 years and loved every minute of it.  I enjoy experimental cooking, exercising, and of course the occasional shopping spree. Follow along and learn different ways, tips and tricks on how to keep your family healthy.

Eating 5 A Day

I am kind of a stickler when it comes to my little boy and getting him all his needed vegetables. I have always known how important eating all the food groups were but it wasn’t until I had Wesley that I became determined to give him everything he needs. It’s recommended that kids eat about 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruits daily. I don’t know about you, but we have no problem getting our fruit servings in. Vegetables are where we struggle.  So I came up with a couple solutions to our 3 main problems:
1. Variety: I love Farmer’s markets because they make you buy a variety of items.  You get what you see at the market, which sometimes makes you step outside of your comfort zone to try new vegetables. Wes loves coming with me and looking at all the different colors of veggies. We always play a game where he picks one item from every color of the rainbow. This game also helps when it comes time for him to eat them because he remembers picking them out and is excited to try them. 

   2.  COST:  I prefer to buy all my vegetables at Farmer's Markets. I like knowing where my vegetables have come from. Surprisingly, a lot of local farmers are organic but just don’t have the money to get all the certification to market them that way.  So because of this, buying vegetables this way is very affordable. This was the cost my week's worth of vegetables for dinners and snacks.

       3. Wastefulness: Once you get home, you have to prep your vegetables. I know, who has time for that right? If you are like me, you bought the vegetables to eat sooner than later. So just do the cutting right when you get home to get it over with. If I don’t do this, I forget about all the fresh produce and it just sits in my crisper and goes bad. After preparing my ready-to-eat veggies, I place them in my fridge at eye level. This way I’ll see them and remember to eat them.

I would love to know your veggie tricks!

Please share, don't be shy.

love,

Kristen