by Wendy

Nutritionists say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. This meal can help keep you focused, raise your metabolism, and control your weight. It’s even more important for kids to eat a healthy breakfast because it helps with their developing bodies and brains. Without regular consumption of food, there’s a possibility of creating physical, intellectual, and behavioral problems for them.

I’ve always been a breakfast person. And growing up, Lucky Charms was my go to cereal. The sweet toasted oat cereal, multi-color dehydrated marshmallows in shapes like hearts, stars, and rainbows, and ice cold milk were so much fun to eat.

Now that I’m older, I’d like to find something similar but healthier for you. Here are 3 options that would be great for the entire family to enjoy for breakfast and feel like a kid. They’re all made with whole grain oats, miniature marshmallow pieces and naturally low fat. Just magically delicious!

Bear River Valley Marshmallow Avalanche- made from toasted whole grain oats and marshmallows for a healthy and delicious cereal. Nothing artificial, no added saturated fat or hydrogenated oils, and no high fructose corn syrup. Their simple bag packaging creates 75% less consumer waste to dispose of than comparable box cereals. Bear River also used wind-generated electricity credits to make their cereals.

Sally’s Cereal Cereales Marshmallow Moment- breakfast cereal made of whole grain toasted oats with marshmallows that’s free of trans fat, cholesterol, no added saturated fat or hydrogenated oils, and no high fructose corn syrup. Each package is also packed in a bag without a box, which allows for less consumer packaging and less need to recycle.

Mom’s Best Naturals Mallow Oats- sweetened whole grain oat cereal with marshmallow pieces for a healthy and delicious breakfast. No artificial flavors, colors or preservatives. No hydrogenated oil. No high fructose corn syrup. Being around since 1919, it’s an affordable and environmentally friendly cereal option.

What is your magically delicious go to cereal?

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Wendy Yu is a digital marketing professional living in New York City. When she’s not using the power of social media to share ideas on how to be more environmentally friendly, she is exploring the city, trying local foods, and learning more about how she can reduce her carbon footprint.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of Green Halloween® or our partners.

In honor on March being Nutrition Month we are going to help you get healthy by showing you how you can eat a rainbow of fruits and veggies! Using a rainbow as a guide, you can ensure that your children benefit from a wide range of vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients in their diet.

By breaking produce down into groups of fire-engine red, bright orange, sunshine yellow, emerald green, and  rich blue/purples you can make eating fruits and vegetables fun and easy for your kids!  Even at a very young age, kids can easily grasp the concept of eating a rainbow.

So how do you get your kids to actually eat a rainbow? As parents, we need to get into the habit of serving fruits and veggies at every meal and snack! Start off with ones that they like (if they don’t like any…stay tuned for my next guest post!) then you can slowly try new produce! If you do the typical 3 meals and 2 snacks per day then you have at least 6 opportunities a day to get your kids eating colorful fruits and vegetable! I encourage parents to make this fun and keep it light, no pressure, no battles. If your child starts off by eating one color a day that is a great start…you can build up to a rainbow over time. Healthy bodies are made one bite at a time so celebrate every step towards the rainbow!

Breakfast: Always provide a fruit! Bananas, Apple Slices, Seedless Grapes, Pears Slices. If you eat dairy and your kids like to dip their fruit, yogurt works well! Sometimes I’ll incorporate the fruit into the meal, such as a bowl of yogurt, granola and apple chunks. Or I’ll add a handful of Raisins to a bowl of oatmeal. Or make a yummy fruit smoothie!

Snack: Veggie Time!! Cut up Celery, Carrots, Cucumbers, Bell Peppers, Cherry Tomatoes. Once again, a dip might help encourage your little one, try hummus, or perhaps you have a great homemade dressing, a store bought salad dressing works fine too! We like to serve this on a fun plate or in a muffin tray to make it a little more interesting!

Lunch: Sandwiches are a great place to add veggies! Sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, leafy lettuce, avocado slices all work well in a sandwich. If we’re not having sandwiches we always make sure there is a plate of veggies, based on the colors eaten at snack time, we then offer a color or two that hasn’t been eaten yet.

Snack: Fruit Time!! At this point in the day think about what colors still need to be eaten…then serve a fruit that belongs to the color group that is needed. A little bowl of frozen blueberries is a tasty treat!

Dinner: We always have a vegetable with dinner! Salads, steamed veggies, raw veggie slices all make their way onto our table! We also try to include veggies in our cooking; we add things like zucchini, carrots, tomatoes to spaghetti sauce.

Dessert: Fruit again! We think Strawberry slices and Raspberries make a great way to top off a meal sometimes we’ll have them on top of frozen yogurt! If we re-think what “dessert” is, we can see that it can actually be a fantastic time to get in another serving of fruit!

Happy Healthy Eating
Kia

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a tool that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids!

Our family watched a documentary last year that really inspired us to want to try juicing, that documentary by Joe Cross, is called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  So we started saving up to buy a juicer and this January it arrived and with it a whole new world of juicing!  Our daughter wasn’t too thrilled with our first attempts but we kept trying new combinations and added more sweet produce like beets, carrots and apples and now she can’t get enough of our juice.  We also make them into popsicles which she loves.

This was my breakfast this morning…mmmm it was delicious and quite filling! As much as we strive to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables there’s no way I’d eat this many in one meal!

This particular combo had apples, carrots, beats, kale, celery, cucumber, baby spinach and red lettuce.

We’re really excited for all the new combinations that we can try this summer when we are once again surrounded by a bountiful supply of fresh produce!

Happy Healthy Eating,

Kia Robertson

Kia Robertson is a mom and the creator of the Today I Ate A Rainbow kit; a game that helps parents establish healthy habits by setting the goal of eating a rainbow of fruits and vegetables every day. Kia is passionate about creating tools that help parents raise healthy kids