Hi, friends! I couldn’t wait to hit publish on this post. I was recently contacted by Whole Foods to write a post about their “Eat Your Greens to Give Some Green” campaign. On Sunday, September 9th, Whole Foods Market will donate $1 for every pound of food purchased as its salad and hot food bars in its Southern Pacific region stores (including Las Vegas!) to help put salad bars in local schools through the Whole Kids Foundation. The Whole Kids Foundation is “an organization devoted to improving children’s nutrition and wellness with the goal of ending the childhood obesity epidemic.”
Let’s Move Salad Bars to Schools is an initiative of the Food Family Farming Foundation, National Fruit and Vegetable Alliance, United Fresh Produce Association Foundation and Whole Foods Markets to
support First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative.
Working with kids first hand as a dietitian and hearing how unhealthy the school lunches can be, I was happy to write a post about the importance of incorporating more healthy options in schools. By having salad bars at school, kids will not only benefit by having more nutritious foods but will also gain more exposure to various types of produce. Some children may not be so fortunate to have healthy items in their homes so it’s great opportunity for them to be provided this at school.
One of the complaints I often get from parents is their children won’t eat vegetables. Here are a few of my favorite tips to get their child to try more fruits and vegetables.
If you don’t succeed, try again. Kids at times may need to be offered a new food 8-10 times before trying it. Encourage them to try produce different ways as well (ex: grilled, baked, steamed etc.).
Encourage your child to choose produce. By letting your child what fruits and vegetables they like (say by going to Whole Foods salad bar 
) they are more likely to eat them.
Make it fun! Cutting fruits and vegetables into fun shapes as well as including a delicious dip are great ways to get your kids to eat their produce.
I encourage my local readers to visit Whole Foods at it’s two Vegas locations
6689 Las Vegas Boulevard and 8855 West Charleston Boulevard as well as 100 South Green Valley Parkway in Henderson on September 9th.
For other locations in the Southern Pacific region store be sure to visit this link.
If you have children, do they have healthy options at their schools? What are your favorite tips to get kids to each their fruits and veggies?
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post for Whole Foods Market.
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
So great of you to get the word out there about this initiative. As part of a project I did in undergrad I researched strategies for increasing fruit consumption in daycares/elementary schools. Turns out a lot provide whole pieces of fruit (whole apple, whole orange, etc), but that young children generally consume more fruit when it is sliced in to manageable sizes! Such an easy thing to do, so that would be by tip….but not like I have kids of my own to provide “tried and true” ideas…just what the research I have looked at suggests!
Very interesting! I also tell parents to cut up fruits and veggies. It’s one little step, but definitely can help.
Yay! And, great tips! I am a huge fan of try and try again, as well as letting kids choose a recipe to cook that has some veggies in it. I really love the Meal Makeover Mom’s Cookbooks-everything we have made out of them has been a hit with my kids, and they have tried {and liked} veggies they might not have otherwise tried because they made the dish themselves. We don’t have salad bars at our school {wouldn’t work logistics wise} but we do have healthy lunches through Choice Lunch which the kids are really enjoying. I was part of a parent led committee a couple of years ago to bring healthier lunches to our school district, and my best piece of advice to parents is to get involved with your schools to demand healthier lunch options. When kids see other kids eating fruits and veggies, they are more likely to try them themselves. Will be spreading the word!
I think it’s great that your kids school offers healthy lunch options!!
Thanks for spreading the word, EA!
What a fantastic idea! (And congrats for getting asked to write for Whole Foods!) Having developed menus for kids, I’m all about availability of fresh fruits and veggies. The kids may even bring what they learn and try home to their families! Great tips for getting kids to eat veggies, too — I think sometimes parents and kids give up too early. I’ve learned that kids respond really well when veggies are mixed into things, e.g. mix veggies and chicken together with sauce instead of having the chicken and veggies separate.
We just moved away from a Whole Foods — bummer! I’ll spread the word, though
I don’t have kids so my tips aren’t from experience, but I agree that parents seem to give up early too.
That’s awesome. My nephew is more apt to eat veggies. He loves making salads actually (he’s 6!). My niece is much more picky, but she love just about any fruit you put in front of her.
great job. I heard about whole foods involvement with this initiative and think it’s great. I wish it was national. Hope you’re well Kristen, miss your posts. I’ve been a bad blogger this summer.
Hi Lauren!
I know, I have been a bit MIA myself. Great to hear from you!
This is so brilliant. I love the concept and I love that you’re involved
I wander if this is going on in Des Moines??? Love it!! My ‘kid’ is 20 and I still haven’t figured out how to get him to eat more fruit and veggies! Fail!
This is a fantastic initiative! I’m so excited about the formation of Whole Kids Foundation, and look forward to watching it grow! If kids learn to love fruits and vegetables at a young age, they’ll continue to eat them into adulthood. However the real challenge is teaching those children who have never been exposed to a salad bar or fresh produce at home, to voluntarily adopt new foods. I did an analysis at an elementary school for one of my grad classes, and found that most of the delicious produce is going to waste!
However, the research showed that this problem is easily corrected if parents and teachers provide kids opportunities to sample these foods (without any other “distracting” options) in the classroom or at home. 
I wish I lived in the Southern Pacific region so that I could help contribute to the cause! I buy pounds and pounds of Whole Foods salad bar meals every month!
Unfortunately, I could see that happening. Even watching Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution, it showed a number of kids throwing away the healthy items served at schools and only eating the unhealthy items.
Not only does the 8-10 tries for kids to even TRY a new fruit or vegetable, the same can go for adults.
Not kidding, until about 10 years ago, the only vegetables I liked were cucumbers and carrots – I didn’t like cooked vegetables at all. Um, turns out my Mom overcooked her vegetables and the first time I tasted a perfectly cooked asparagus I almost died and went to heaven – I missed out for so long!
Still don’t like onions or brussel sprouts, but I found out I love sweet potatoes and baby spinach!