Variety is the Spice of Life

by Pam Holt, MS, RD/LD | THD WIC Manager

Oklahoma winters can be cold and dreary. Kids often get bored easily and mealtimes can be a challenge. Explore different foods from all food groups in a variety of forms.

Here are a few quick, simple tips to bring a little fun indoors, while providing nutritious foods for your family:

• Have a food trivia game. Each correct answer, wins a sample of the fruit/vegetable.  This can be an opportunity to educate on nutritional value, colors, shapes, etc. A few examples:
  • What is orange, shaped like a ball, provides Vitamin C, and keeps viruses away from us all?
  • This fruit can be red and sweet, or green and tart, eating it benefits our heart.
  • This vegetable helps our eyesight and grows in the ground, they are usually orange, but other colors can be found.

• Go on a food scavenger hunt. Place nutritious snacks throughout the house.
  • From fries to chips to baked and more, this vegetable is one we all adore. Look down low because it grows in the ground, don’t be a couch potato and sit around.
  • It’s loaded with calcium and comes from a cow. It keeps our bones strong, so go look for it now! Don’t hesitate to MOOve or you might lose out!
  • This protein packed snack can help to make our muscles strong. Whether it be cashews, almonds or pecans, you can’t go wrong. Follow your gut and go find this nut!

• Bring the picnic inside. Set out a blanket, put the snacks in a picnic basket and you could even light a fire in the fireplace to provide a campfire experience. Here’s a picture of my daughter and three grands!

• Make a kid-friendly charcuterie. Kids love the opportunity to build their own plate. Fruits, vegetables, nuts, cheese and meats can come together easily to provide a great nutritional punch and variety.

Experiment with various cuisines from around the globe: http://sm.eatright.org/globalfoods