Most Nutritious Food (2)

Nutritious Food

Fruits and vegetables contain all the necessary vitamins and minerals needed for a healthy body. Whole fruits and veggies are less expensive and much more enjoyable than vitamin supplements and pills.

Many people take vitamins to be healthier, but by eating the right foods (namely fruits and vegetables), vitamins become unnecessary. Doctors and researchers believe that anti-oxidants naturally found in fruits and vegetables can help prevent some types of cancer. By taking vitamins as opposed to eating produce, you miss out on fiber and phytochemicals that protect the body from disease.

Produce Packs a Nutritious Punch!

Fresh Produce
Tomatoes	26c	1g	0g	6mg	0.6mg	2g	24mg	1 medium sized
Carrots	31c	1g	0g	19mg	0.4mg	2g	7mg	1 medium sized and uncooked
Parsnips	126c	2g	0g	58mg	0.9mg	5g	20mg	1 cup steamed
Zucchini	29c	1g	0g	23mg	0.6mg	2g	8mg	1 cup steamed
Cucumbers	39c	2g	0g	42mg	0.8mg	3g	16mg	1 medium and unpeeled
Cauliflower	24c	2g	0g	28mg	0.6mg	2g	46mg	1 cup and uncooked
Collard Greens	34c	2g	0g	30mg	0.2mg	4g	15mg	1 cup steamed
Blueberries	81c	1g	1g/0g	9mg	0.2mg	3g	16mg	1 cup
Onion-Yellow	30c	1g	0g/0g	16mg	0.2mg	1g	5mg	1/2 cup uncooked

Check out www.aicr.org for new ways to incorporate these healthy foods into your cooking. There are some great tips, plus very quick and easy recipes.

Go organic with your fruit and vegetable gardening.
Organic produce is the safest and healthiest choice for you and your family. Gardening organically means that you won't risk eating any chemicals or pesticides that are usually found on store-bought produce. Your own organically grown fruits and vegetables will only be loaded with nutrients!

Children's Nutritional Needs
A recent study conducted a survey of 1,800 school-aged children to find out what they consumed in a typical day.

• 15% of the students did not eat any vegetables
• 40% ate only potatoes or tomato sauce (aka French Fries and ketchup)
• 20% of the students did not consume any fruit

Currently, children ages 6-12 eat an average of 2.5 fruits and vegetables a day, only half of the recommended servings. These poor eating habits have made today's children susceptible to heart disease and obesity and a prime target for improved nutrition and increased education. It is important to monitor your child's fruit and vegetable intake and find creative healthy ways to help increase fruits and veggies in children's diets.

Children need a variety of foods to grow strong and healthy. Their appetites decrease or increase as they go through growth spurts. For a look at the children's food pyramid visitwww.keepkidshealthy.com. Teaching children about good nutrition now helps them develop a lifetime of healthy eating habits. Gardening offers a great opportunity for children to try new fruits and vegetables.Even the pickiest child is likely to taste something that they helped to grow and can pick right off the vine!

Play with Your Food-Ideas for children to enjoy more fruits and vegetables.

Color Challenge - Challenge children to consume 4-5 different vegetables or fruit colors daily. Give them a color chart to log in their efforts. Ex. Breakfast - banana (yellow); Snack - ½ cup blueberries (blue) with cereal; Romaine lettuce on sandwich (green); Snack - blue corn chips (purple), with salsa (red); Dinner - potatoes (white) and beans (green).

For a nutritious snack, cut up a variety of fruits or vegetables and provide a low fat dip such as cottage cheese, low fat ranch, or yogurt mixed with seasoning. This allows children to choose their favorites from a variety of options.

Make your own snack pack by using a small-sterilized empty tackle box. Fill the different compartments with dried fruits, nuts, chocolate, fruit, peanut butter or low fat cheese. This allows children to mix and match snacks and create new tastes plus it makes for a fun food package.

Recipes for young children:
Sailboats [Needed: cheese, toothpicks, slice of banana or melon]
Slice cheese into a triangle, slice of banana or melon and insert a toothpick into center and insert other end into cheese triangle

Cucumber Cat Faces [Needed: cucumber slices, sliced olives or green onions, thin slices of carrots, a slice from the celery stalk, 3 tiny triangular cheese pieces and a plate]
Arrange cucumber slice on plate, place chopped olive or green onion slices for eyes, put 1 cheese triangle in center of cucumber slice and put 3 shoestring carrot slice on each side of nose for whiskers, put smiley shaped celery slice beneath the nose for mouth, low fat cheese triangles for ears on to top of the cucumber slice.

Tomato Bugs [Needed: medium tomato, sliced red pepper, black olives, cream cheese and toothpicks]
Cut tomato in half and seed. Spread cream cheese into the center and stick 3 thin slices of pepper on each side of the tomato. Flip upside down on plate and stick two toothpicks in front of tomato. Attach olives onto toothpick tops.

Article source : Nutritious food.