Kids (and many adults) need to eat more vegetables. The problem is that most kids don’t like vegetables. You can try all the Popeye stories you want, and most of them will still refuse the spinach or broccoli.
To get kids to eat the healthy choices may take some “creative cooking” or even a few tricks, games or other ideas.
1. Hide the vegetables. When you make their favorite foods (lasagna or even spaghetti) mix in some vegetables that have been roasted and pureed in the food processor. They get all the vegetables and don’t even know they are getting them (and the vegetable puree also makes a great tasting dip).
2. Let them choose and grow their own vegetables. The fun and excitement of seeing them grow AND actually picking them from the garden might help them be more excited about cooking them. They will also find that fresh vegetables (particularly carrots) are much sweeter than those purchased in the store).
3. Create creatures and other designs from the vegetables. Celery sticks with peanut butter in the center then covered with raisins and finally pretzel sticks for legs are great ugly critters that can be fun to eat.
Sometimes the only thing you need to get kids to eat well is to be creative. Having fun with food will make it more interesting and more inviting to everyone.
Apparently milk does more than just do a body good. Recent research has shown that milk can actually help you lose weight. I’m thinking that to get the benefits I will probably have to drink the milk plain (not with ice cream and a little fruit blended in it), but I’m willing to give it a go.
Our house is already full of milk drinkers. Raising a brood of boys means a regular lecture about the importance of milk. I recently joined the bandwagon and have been partaking of a glass of mild with supper. It’s easier to get the kids to drink what you want when its the only drink offered to anyone.
I take it a step farther in our home. We use organic milk from grass feed cows. The benefits of going green when it comes to milk are well known. Unfortunately, the grain fed cows tend to produce more milk so farmers stick with the grain. It might cost more, but even without the added health benefits our family would be drinking the organic milk. It just tastes better.
So, whether you want to grow big and strong or are looking for some added health benefits or just want to lose a couple of pounds, milk is the one drink that can fulfill it all. So you just have to wonder – do YOU got milk?
I want to do what is healthy, and I jumped quickly on the green tea bandwagon. There were so many stories telling the positive effects of the concoction, that I had to give it a try.
Being from the south, ice tea is a regular part of my day. I figured tea was tea and it wouldn’t be much hassle to replace the green tea bags with my regular ice tea bags. After it brewed, the sugar was added (ice tea has to be sweet in the south, it’s in the law books).
The first taste told me that tea was most definitely NOT tea. The whole gallon went swiftly down the drain.
My hopes of switching to green tea were not completely dashed by my iced tea fiasco. Other tea fans have assured me that different brands have a better taste. Some of those other brands will make there way into my shopping cart, as soon as I get the taste of my failure out of my mouth.
It’s probably best if I work my way up to the green tea. I’m starting with some apple and some orange spiced teas. Before long, I’ll be drinking the green tea like a pro and reaping all the benefits that come with it.