Green Means Go!

Every once in a while, we unearth a true gem of a book.  Eat Healthy, Feel Great is one of them.

It explains the nuts and bolts of nutrition in a way that has my kids begging for broccoli, literally.  After our first read through of the book, the boys were hooked.  Every meal, every trip to the grocery store they would pepper me with questions and observations.

“Mom, will this cantaloupe give me sharp eyes? It has vitamin A, right?”

Chomp, chomp, chomp.

“Potato skins have iron, right mom?  Iron makes my blood better so I have more energy, right mom?” 

Previously hating everything potato related child, gobbles down a couple of bites.

These boys of mine are motivated.  They want to run faster, heal quicker, think well and have sharp eyes.

The book divides foods loosely into three camps:

Green Light Foods – that make you go, so you can go ahead and eat as much as you want.
Yellow Light Foods – that slow your body down and should be eaten in moderation.
Red Light Foods ~ that hurt your body and you should STOP eating them…

I love the page that talks about how yellow and red light foods can trick us with ingredients that maybe look or taste yummy, but hurt our bodies.  Green light foods can be tricky too by looking strange or tasting different and we need to train our taste buds to like them.  The boys loved the idea of ‘out-tricking’ the food.

Earlier today, we decided to make our own green/yellow/red lights before setting out for the grocery store!

The boys were so excited for their big ‘test’!  You should have seen them dancing around the produce section.  People were definitely stopping to take note…

One older gentleman asked us what was with the ‘green-light’ excitement.  When I told him what we were up to, he grabbed a bunch of spinach and asked the boys if it was a green light food.  They gave him a very excited YES.  His response – “Ok, I guess I’ll get two bunches.”

Of course, they haven’t totally arrived on liking everything veggie-related.  I paused in front of the spaghetti squash and they pretty well begged me to pass on it this time…

But there is progress and they understand ‘why’ they should eat healthy foods and why they should avoid unhealthy food.

(They still wanted their free cookie, even though they recognized that it was a yellow-light food.)

Then we came back home and made a favorite salad of ours.

I’m pinching myself.  The boys are pounding salad…  And for the first time ever, Treyton actually ate a few bites.  I love positive peer pressure.  This book will definitely need to be added to our permanent collection!

Related Links:

linked to: Preschool Corner