Tag: vegetables

If you want to get kids to actually eat their veggies, it helps if you get them invested in the process and care of the garden. I want my daughters to know where their food comes from, but growing a kid-friendly garden means more than just planting kid-friendly plants. If your kids see the backyard vegetable garden as "theirs," they are far more likely to embrace the products: happily eating radishes and arugula that they've grown on their own. Here are six tips—tested in our home—to get your kids to embrace gardening and become active agents in creating their own food.

To have healthy and glowing skin it is crucial to pay attention to what we eat every day. Foods that are high in trans fatty acids, such as meat, dairy products, processed, and fast foods can dehydrate the skin. This is because trans fats in animal-based foods increase the free radical load (charged chemical particles of oxygen that enter into destructive chemical bonds with proteins) and lead to premature aging of the skin.

Whole plant-based foods such as fruits, vegetables, greens, legumes, nuts, and seeds are storehouses of the vital nutrients needed for healthy skin.

Vegetables taste delicious are a great source of vitamins and nutrients, and they're low in fat and salt. The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends half your plate be filled with vegetables and fruits; and summertime is a terrific season to cook up a nice variety of veggies. Take advantage of this time of the year to introduce your family to some great new flavors. Here are a few guiding tips for our summertime grill.

We have the power to influence young children to make healthy food choices. Children develop their behaviors and habits from observing ours. If you’re like a majority of Americans, your eating habits could probably use a little polishing. Many of us know what the good eating habits are, but sometimes eating healthy can be difficult to maintain in our busy lives.

If changing your eating habits seems insurmountable, try making changes gradually. Just as there are no easy answers to a healthy diet, don't expect to totally revamp your eating habits overnight. In fact, changing too much, too fast can get in the way of success.

Controversy arose earlier this year when Stanford University published a study that suggested organic fruits and vegetables may not be as healthful as touted by the pro-organic community. Unfortunately this received quite a bit of superficial publicity from mainstream press.

However, this is an extremely important topic and is worth taking a deeper look into the reasons we need to go organic: for our families, our communities and our global environment. Here are six big reasons to go organic:

The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends Americans consume three cups of leafy greens weekly or about half a cup each day.  These vegetables thrive in the cold of winter, making now the perfect time to start getting more greens into your diet.  Leafy greens are packed with nutrients including Vitamins A, C and K; folate, calcium and iron while providing a good source of fiber.

With that said, here are some common greens that can be found in your grocery store to help get you started with the recipes below.

Food can bring people together making them feel either welcome or alienated. If you want to know what someone is really like, share a meal together. Many are able to hide behind carefully chosen words or rehearsed facial gestures, but the proverb, you are what you eat, expresses a basic truth about human nature.

First, food choices contain the ingredients of core values—soul food. Second, food and mood correlate highly. Third, changing what you eat can transform habits in other activities of daily living. Therefore if you are trying to improve your marriage and all the verbiage is not working, try changing the menu!