Day 1 - Healthy Eating

On Saturday our healthy eating journey began: I had pictures of how much food someone would have to eat to make a portion. For instance, my son is 8 and he needs to eat 1 1/2 cups of fruit and 2 cups of vegetables each day. Well it turns out, portions are a little larger than I expected... Did you know if takes 12 baby carrots to make a cup? One medium potato equals 1 cup, it takes 16 grapes to make a 1/2 cup serving, and it takes 5 brocolli florets to make a 1/2 cup serving of vegetables. Maybe my expectations have just been way too low, but I'm usually happy if I get my son to eat 2 or 3 brocolli florets. These serving ideals equal out to a lot of food. No wonder people are healthier, they have no room to eat anything else as they fill up on these mammoth portions...

I kept a little tally list on the counter. Each time a kid ate a fruit or veggie I would mark it down. By the end of the day people had only minimally met their requirements and that was only because I was stretching it. (the tomato sauce on the spaghetti pizza equalled out to a 1/2 cup serving, a 1/4 cup of mixed veggies equalled a 1/2, etc.)

I chalked it up to a good effort and we all ate dessert.