Eating the Rainbow, First Attempt

In an attempt to get my children to eat a wider variety of fruits and vegetables, I decided to introduce the concept of “eating the rainbow” one evening for dinner last week. Eating the rainbow simply means that you try to eat fruits and vegetables that span the color spectrum, from red strawberries to green spinach to purple plums and everything in between. The idea is that the foods in each color group contain a unique set of vitamins and minerals, and that eating a wide variety of these foods ensures that you get all of the nutrients needed. This website gives a good explanation of which fruits and veggies fall into each group, and the unique properties that each group possesses. In any case, I purposely plated mostly foods that my kids are used to, but added some that they don’t typically gravitate towards, like tomatoes and blackberries.

My children were less than enthusiastic. “Oh noooooo,” moaned my son when I told him of my idea, “Do I have to eat all of that?!” And from my daughter I heard, “But Mommy, I don’t like tomatoes!” The only enthusiastic child was the 8 month-old baby – you can see her hand going for the colorful plate in this picture 🙂

But you know what??? I think it was a good first step! Controversy creates the opportunity for conversation, so we had a nice dinner table conversation about the benefits of eating a wide variety of foods, and my kids did try a couple of new foods. Maybe if I continue to offer a wider variety of fruits and veggies,  they’ll eventually come to enjoy the diversity!

God bless you all at the beginning of this Thanksgiving week!