Healthy eating for kids

The International Food Information Council and the American Dietetic Association’s National Center for Nutrition and Dietetics are offering a brochure to help school children make wise food choices.

Written on a fourth-grade reading level, “10 Tips to Healthy Eating for Kids” shows youngsters how to enjoy healthy eating by applying the basic principles of good nutrition — balance, variety and moderation.

The brochure encourages children to make healthy eating fun by balancing food choices and experimenting with new foods. Tips on exercise, snacking and evaluating the diet are included in this brochure written by registered dietitians.

Consumers who wish to recieve a free copy of “10 Tips to Healthy Eating for Kids” should send a self-addressed, stamped, business-sized envelope to: Kids Tips, P.O. Box 1144, Rockville, MD 20850.

To get children started on the road to healthy eating, Valerie Langbein, chief clinical dietitian at Eastern Maine Medical Center, offers the following “kid-proof” recipes. Langbein said she obtained the recipes from “The Joy of Snacks” by Nancy Cooper, a registered dietitian with the International Diabetes Center.

Purple Ice

3/4 cup grape juice

1/2 cup vanilla ice milk

3/4 cup plain lowfat yogurt

Combine all ingredients in blender. Blend until smooth. Pour over ice into two glasses.

Crunchy Apple Treasures

3 tablespoons peanut butter

3 tablespoons crisp rice cereal

1 medium apple

Cut apple into eight slices. Combine peanut butter and cereal. Spread mixture onto apple slices.