For those of you just joining us in a quest to eat rainbows every day we thought we’d put together some ideas on how to eat all those colours!

Breakfast: Always provide a fruit! Bananas, Apple Slices, Seedless Grapes, Pears Slices. If you eat dairy and your kids like to dip their fruit, yogurt works well! Sometimes I’ll incorporate the fruit into the meal, such as a bowl of yogurt, granola and apple chunks. Or I’ll add a handful of Raisins to a bowl of oatmeal.

Snack: Veggie Time!! Cut up Celery, Carrots, Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes. Once again, a dip might help encourage your little one, try hummus, or perhaps you have a great homemade dressing, a store bought salad dressing works fine too! We like to put all this on a fun tray or in a muffin tray to make it a little more interesting

Lunch: Sandwiches are a great place to add veggies! Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy lettuce, avocado slices all work well in a sandwich. If we’re not having sandwiches we always make sure there is a plate of veggies, based on the colours eaten at snack time, we then offer a colour or two that hasn’t been eaten yet.

Snack: Fruit Time!! At this point in the day take a look at your rainbow chart and see what colours still need to be eaten…then serve a fruit that belongs to the colour group that is needed. Mandarin oranges are becoming available in the stores now; those are a great little snack! Or a little bowl of frozen blueberries is a yummy and easy way to get that purple magnet up on the chart

Dinner: We always have a vegetable with dinner! Salads, steamed veggies, raw veggie slices all make their way onto our table! We also try to include veggies in our cooking; we add things like zucchini, carrots, tomatoes to spaghetti sauce. We love to make stews chock full of vegetables!

Dessert: Fruit again We think Strawberry slices and Raspberries make a great dessert (on special occasions we’ll have them on top of frozen yogurt)!

This menu layout gives you at least 6 opportunities a day to eat a colourful fruit or vegetable! I really encourage parents to make this fun and keep it light, no pressure, no battles. If your child starts off by eating one colour a day that is a great start…you can build up to a rainbow over time.  Healthy bodies are made one bite at a time so celebrate every step towards the rainbow!

Once your family gets used to eating a rainbow a day you can start working towards eating two rainbows a day