Fruit & Veggie Presentation Ideas

Spoil the Appetite RightIrene Berman-Levine, PhD, RD, author of Dr. Irene’s Nutrition Tidbits e-mail newsletter (www.drirene.net), frequently writes about the importance of eating fruits and vegetables. At home, she faces the reality of a 13- and 17-year-old who are just like any other kids … they couldn’t care less about nutrition. Whole fruit is always readily accessible, but Irene finds that when she cuts up the fruit and hands it to them, they eat it. Her strategy for pre-dinner snacking is to let them “spoil” their appetite by placing raw vegetables on their plates after the table is set. The vegetables usually disappear by dinner.Fun Food FairCarol Schnittjer, RD, and colleagues held a “Fun Food Fair” for both parents and preschoolers, with 20 in attendance. It was held in the afternoon at a Head Start program in their community, which has kitchen facilities. Stations were set up around the room and in the kitchen with food ingredients, utensils, equipment and recipes for various healthful snacks. Three recipes included fruits and vegetables. Children and their parents prepared “Dippy-Do Vegetable Dip” and cut up various raw fruits and vegetables to dip, including broccoli, turnips, red peppers and carrots. A yogurt-based Sunshine Dip was made to go with a variety of fresh fruit, including mangoes, cantaloupe and strawberries. Children were also provided a variety of canned and fresh fruit and dry cereal to build their own Yogurt Sundaes using french vanilla yogurt.Icee Be FruitBarbara M. Carlson, MA, RD, CDE, Director, Helwig Diabetes Center, writes, “We teach our children to make their own fruit icees in the summer.” Here is her recipe:1 cup frozen strawberries1 cup Diet Rite® Raspberry sodaMix these ingredients together in a blender and serve immediately. Makes 1 2-cup serving. Calories are just 60 a serving with 11 g carbohydrates, depending on berry size and how the cups are measured. This makes a great icee. Diet Rite is sweetened with Splenda®.Lettuce Take You To The Farmer's MarketThe University of Kentucky Wellness Program has a neat activity that promotes fruit and vegetable consumption. It is titled, “Lettuce Take You to the Farmer’s Market.” They take employees to the farmer’s market at lunch time, allow them to shop and then take them back to work in the bus.Try A New Fruit Adventure Or Salad DressingTammy Lakatos Shames, RD, LD, CDN, CPT, and her sister Lyssie Lakatos, RD, LD, CDN, CPT, teach a class helping participants to be adventurous and try new fruits and vegetables to aid in their weight- loss efforts. Tammy and Lyssie bring in all sorts of fruits and veggies that participants may have never tried (or even heard of), and prepare these as samples for their class. For example, they bring in star fruit, ugly fruit, fuijoa, jicama, rutabaga, chayote, etc. and they also bring in all sorts of lowfat and fat-free salad dressings. They have found that participants have a lot of fun and really take what they’ve learned home with them.Pass The PotatoTammy and Lyssie also play pass the potato with their participants. They have everybody name a fruit and then pass the potato on. When someone can’t think of a fruit, they get eliminated. The one who wins has named a fruit that has not been named, every time he or she got the potato. The winner gets a prize such as a bag of baby carrots or a jar of fat-free salad dressing. This gets everyone to really think about all of the options out there, and to realize that he or she is usually always eating the same fruit or vegetable time and time again. Tammy and Lyssie also play the same game for vegetables.