I have just been informed by Disney FamilyFun Magazine that today is National Eat Your Vegetables Day! I didn’t know that, but how appropriate for our family since we are harvesting kale, Swiss chard, onions and radishes from our garden. Tomatoes, peas, summer squash, beans and different kinds of lettuces are well on their way to being harvested – hopefully in the not too distant future! Plus we have corn, potatoes, carrots, rutabega, beets, broccoli (it’s not doing too well), cauliflower and cabbage. Already, one of our children who wouldn’t eat kale before unless it was pureed in a soup, is eating kale right out of the garden.
If you have trouble with your children eating their vegetables, then making veggies fun is one way to create an awareness about them with our children. I recently read that children are more likely to eat vegetables that they helped plant and grow. Our child’s change in eating habits is evidence of this, so I really believe it helps to have our children participate in growing veggies.
Another way is to create fun, innovative ways to eat vegetables. Check out this FamilyFun summer snack that I think kids will love:
Disney FamilyFun Magazine –Crazy Cucumber Snakes
Serve your kids this cool treat in honor of Eat Your Vegetables Day (June 17). Arrange the cucumber slices as shown, then add an olive eye, a red pepper tongue, and a snake pit of hummus or dip.
The skin on vegetables contains their own nutrients which can benefit your health. Eating vegetables raw is also a good idea as cooking them can take away some of the nutrients and add fat from the oil you used.
While you are on a vegetable diet, keeping a few tips in mind to be careful is essential. You might have lost weight but you got sick in the process so what’s good in that? When you pick out vegetables, try to go to the organic produce section. If you can’t get hold of organically grown products then exercise caution by washing your vegetables thoroughly. Vegetables that are not organically grown contain pesticides which are harmful to your health.