Nutrition is critical, it is quite literally the difference between life and death! So when a Mom commented, “ They’re just kids they won’t have to worry about eating right until they’re adults,” she couldn’t have been more wrong. In fact, Dr. Elissa Epel and colleagues recently found that a child’s DNA and health is directly manipulated by Mom and Dad’s health as early as a year prior to conception!
While children can’t do anything about their health at that point they can work toward ensuring they have many healthy days in their future by habits they create at each meal. And that responsibility falls first to Mom and Dad.
One easy concept we can teach kids is that each meal should be filled with food that is fresh and colorful! Why fresh? Eating recently grown food ensures that the nutrition in that food is actually still there! And why colorful? When choosing foods from multiple colors you’ll also notice you get different tastes and textures. Color, taste, and texture all ensure that you are getting the vitamins, minerals, nutrients, and nutrition required.
Here is a quick grocery list of fresh, colorful food.
- Green Produce–avocados, apples, grapes, melons, kiwi, lines, artichokes, asparagus, broccoli, green beans, green peppers, spinach, kale, chard
- Orange & Deep Yellow–apricots, cantaloupe, grapefruits, mangos, peaches, carrots, sweet potatoes, pineapples, yellow peppers, corn, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil
- Red–cherries, cranberries, pomegranate, grapefruit, grapes, watermelon, beets, red onions, red peppers, rhubarb, and tomatoes
- Purple & Blue–blueberries, blackberries, plums, eggplant, cabbage
- White–bananas, pears, dates, peaches, cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, parsnips, turnips
Congratulate yourself on the rainbow you are already eating and then challenge yourself to add two more from each color by the weeks end! Eating a fresh rainbow will put you on the track for a long lifespan and a robust healthspan!
See you in the garden,
Stacy Panfil-Parsley
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