Last year, we learned about a special holiday the ancient civilization celebrated every year. Every March, we celebrate the My Plate with a huge celebration honoring each of the food groups and all the different ways, the food groups helped keep our bodies healthy.
We decided that it was a really good idea to start early so we began planning a special feast recognizing each of the food groups. Each explorer was in charge of a different food group. Kevin and
Tyler decided to make a collage showing all the different types of activities we can do to keep our body moving. We need to be active every day for at least one hour.
Katlin and Elena decided they would bring some of their favorite fruits and create a big fruit salad. Fruits are full of vitamins and minerals that help our body heal when we get hurt falling down.
Alex and Jasmine were gathering different foods and creating a beautiful rainbow made of all the different colors of vegetables. Vegetables are great because they help protect our body from getting sick. Alex reminded us that our bodies need one green leafy vegetable and one orange vegetable everyday!
Ashley went to get foods made with milk. She looked for low fat or nonfat milk products like low fat cheese, soy milk and nonfat yogurt. Foods from the milk group are so important for kids because they help our bones grow strong.
Tony hurried to the orange side of the plate that represents grains. He looked for grains that had the word “whole” in the name. We know that whole grains are full of vitamins and fiber. Grains give us energy to play, think and run. Fiber helps keep our heart healthy and digestion working.
I took care of the meats and beans food group. This food group is important for our muscles because it is full of protein. I gathered extra seeds and nuts. Sometimes we forget that beans, seeds, tofu and nuts are a great source of protein. We try to have one day a week where we skip meat and have other foods from this group.
It’s time for us to go celebrate how fun it is to eat foods from all the food groups and be active every day.
Happy Nutrition Month! Have fun and keep exploring!
See you next month.
Find out how many servings you and your family are eating of fruit and veggies. You can create a chart to be posted on the refrigerator. If it is new to fruit or veggie, circle that as well. Count a medium banana or apple as a serving. Same goes for 15 grapes or 10 snow peas or carrots. Enjoy dips with your veggies too. Dried fruit (raisons or mango without added sugar), frozen or canned fruits and veggies (without being packed in sugary syrup) count as well.
