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Fruits and vegetables

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Fruits and vegetables are an important part of your child’s eating plan. Your goal is five servings per day for younger children and five to nine servings per day for teens and parents. Every meal and snack should include at least one serving of a fruit or vegetable.

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A serving of a fruit or vegetable is:

  • One cup raw or a half cup cooked
  • A medium-size piece of fruit, such as an apple, banana or orange

If you plan ahead, it’s easy to add a fruit or vegetable to what you’re preparing.

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Breakfast

  • Add sliced fruit to cereal or oatmeal
  • Spread peanut or almond butter on a sliced apple or banana
  • Add applesauce or canned pumpkin to oatmeal in place of some water or milk
  • Add tomatoes or spinach to an omelet

Lunch

  • Add greens to a sandwich. Spinach is a great choice
  • Add shredded veggies to a wrap: carrots, cucumber or squash
  • Pack a side of carrot sticks with a low fat Greek yogurt dip
  • Mix a little peanut or almond butter into Greek yogurt and pack as a dip for pear or apple slices
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Dinner

  • Always include a veggie at dinner. Roasted asparagus, sautéed spinach and grilled carrots are great to try
  • Add a side salad to the meal. Dress it up with unsweetened dried fruit
  • Veggies and Greek yogurt dip can be a good choice
  • Applesauce

Snacks

  • Any fruit and low-fat Greek yogurt dip
  • Veggies and dip
  • “Ants on a log” or celery with peanut butter and raisins

Desserts

Sweets shouldn’t be part of your daily eating plan. When your child wants a sweet or snack, try to make sure it includes fruit.
Here are some tasty options:

  • Baked apples with cinnamon
  • Baked peaches with a few crushed nuts on top
  • A bowl of fresh berries
  • A frozen banana rolled in Greek yogurt
  • A little granola

All of the choices above can be a healthy way to end the day without too much sugar. It also gets in one more serving of fruit.

Try to limit how much fat (butter, cheese and oil) or sugar you add when cooking and preparing fruits and vegetables. Fruits and veggies are so healthy that you don’t want to lessen that by adding unhealthy items to them.