Basic Meal Plan for Healthy Eating…with a few ideas for Kids who Won’t Eat Veggies!

Breakfast

Whole grain cereal with milk and a banana

Whole grain toast with natural peanut butter or soy butter

Yogurt with fruit or granola

Apple and string cheese

Lunch

Sandwich with whole grain bread and lean meat or tuna

Apples and carrots with hummus or yogurt dip

Yogurt with fruit or granola

Low fat string cheese and whole grain crackers

Natural applesauce, raisins, low fat cheese

Healthy Snacks

Banana with natural peanut butter or soy butter

Natural applesauce with raisins

Apple and low fat string cheese

Oatmeal bars (recipe on Quaker Oats container)

Dinner

Lean meat or fish with brown or long grain rice and spinach

Pasta (mix some whole wheat pasta in) with marinara sauce and ground turkey

Salads with lots of fun colors (red cranberries, green apples, goat cheese)

Tacos with ground turkey or fish instead of ground beef

Rice and beans with a salad or other green vegetable

Dessert

Remember that dessert is a treat and not for every day!! Once in a while ice cream or something sweet is fine, but for every day, a piece of fruit is all you really need to round off your meal.

Other fun things to try for kids who don’t like veggies!!

Very Green Juice (Trader Joes, Mrs. Greens, Fairway, and other markets in the produce section): a full day’s worth of vegetables in one glass!! Great for smoothies as well.

Put sweet potatoes or spinach or zucchini all ground up into baked dishes and the kids will never know!

Instead of using white flour, put real oatmeal into the blender and make your own flour. It is much less processed and much healthier for you!

My youngest son HATES vegetables, which is what made me start looking for veggie alternatives so that he could get all the nutrients that he needs. He really loves Trader Joes Very Green Juice (it looks awful by the way…the first time I bought it, I told him he only had to stick his tongue in it and if he didn’t like it, I would drink it. He loved it!!) One thing I do for this veggie averse son is make him smoothies with the Very Green Juice and yogurt and a banana. I add a scoop of protein powder if he is heading off to soccer or lacrosse practice. He is a very lean kid and needs his energy and these do the trick!

In general, we want to avoid packaged foods. Our bodies don’t process them well. They slow us down and pack on pounds with very little nutritional benefit. We want to look for…for ourselves and for our children…food that is as close to the earth as possible. If it once grew, it is a good thing to eat!

If you have questions or ideas, please email me at [email protected] and I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Fondly,

Colleen Walsh