Healthy Does It: A Daily Dose of Fruits & Veggies

Fruits and vegetables are extremely important for a growing child’s daily diet – in fact, experts recommend five or more servings per day. Fruits and vegetables benefit good health in many ways – they are naturally low in calories and fat and are full of vitamins, minerals, water and fiber. They also have phytochemicals, which are what give fruits and vegetables their colors.That’s why it’s important to eat a variety of colorful produce every day.

I know that with the colder weather approaching, sometimes its hard to find seasonal fruits and veggies. Are frozen fruits and vegetables as healthy as fresh ones? Yes!  And in many cases, frozens can have more nutrients than fresh when produce is frozen immediately after harvest.  This process is called “flash-freezing”.
Ideas for serving more fruits and vegetables:

• Make sure they are served at every meal.
• Serve veggies and fruits with peanut butter, low-fat dips and cheeses.
• Top waffles, pancakes and cereals with berries, bananas or other tasty fruits.
• Enhance your lettuce salads with colorful fruits and vegetables like radishes, carrots, broccoli, peppers, cauliflower, apples, oranges and raisins.
• Add finely chopped-up vegetables to pizzas, omelets, pasta and other foods you regularly cook (hard for kids to pick the vegetables out!) 

A Great Way to Get Kids to Eat More Vegetables!

VEGGIE PIZZA 1 frozen cheese pizza 2-3 cups vegetables (spinach, peppers, mushrooms, etc.) Preheat oven. Top frozen pizza with variety of vegetables. Sprinkle with additional cheese if desired. Bake according to package directions. Serves 4.