This summer our family has been going through major changes about our attitude towards food and what we eat. These changes were brought about because of some health issues my husband and daughters have been struggling with. Even more recently, I’m on my own food jourey to improve my health as well because after coming off a 5 day juice fast, I discovered I may have certain food intolerances which have greatly caused me to feel sick and tired, a lot.
With all that said, we’ve been eating better as a family. The biggest change we’ve been making around here is eating more whole foods in their raw state all through the day and it’s working. We still bake the occasional sweets but we’re mainly enjoying the bounty of eating local, seasonal, and ripe fruit in the Pacific Northwest.
With school starting in a month I’ve been consciously thinking about what school lunches will look like for my kids in the fall. Carrying on our new healthier eating habits through the school year, my goal is for my kids to enjoy eating more whole foods. Strategies I’m implimenting now as they adjust to eating far more raw vegetables than they are used to (because they have no problems eating raw fruit) is to cut the vegetables in different shapes and arranging them in fun and creative ways.
I discovered my older daughter will eat raw vegetables if I cut them in thin slices. Reading plenty of books and articles about nutrition, my goal is to focus on feeding my kids different colored fruits and vetetables. In essence, my goal is to feed them a rainbow. This strategy gives them a variety of fruits and vegetables with different tastes and textures to keep their taste buds satisfied.
For lunches, my goal is to feed them at least a cup of both fruits and vegetables.
You could easily cut different fruits and vegetables and serve them according to the colors of the rainbows. For my fruit plate above I have strawberries, peaches, bananas, grapes, blueberries, blackberries, and thinly cut apples cut in the shapes of clouds. Cute, huh? Just a little bit of each one goes a very long way. The same goes for a vegetable plate. Cutting vegetables in thin slices or sticks gives it a French fry / potato chip type of visual appeal. Serve it with a side of hummus or ranch dressing and your kids will be satisfied.
Another great option for lunch is to make a rainbow inspired veggie hummus wrap. Spread a generous amount of hummus on a tortilla. Remove the thick rib from a few kale leaves. Layer the kale on top of the hummus followed by the veggies. Roll the vegetable wrap and cut it in half.
Serve it with the fresh fruit and you have a guilt-free sweet and savory kids lunch that your kids will love. Preparing and making a food inspired rainbow lunch not only is healthy, your kids will love the variety of colors, flavors, and textures you can feel great about when you send them off to school.
Now is the perfect time to start transitioning into healthier kids lunches. This way when school starts, they can focus on their studies and neither of you need to worry about lunch time food battles. Thank goodness.
Hi Shell,
Good for you and your family! For several weeks I was eating raw or vegan and am now incorporating eggs, dairy, and a little bit of meat back into my diet. I definitely love eating whole foods and commend you!
Hi Jenn,
I’m curious about this test as well. Can you share more about it?
I am curious about the ALCAT test. Was it helpful? Did you have to go through your doctor to have it? I looked it up on the internet and it looks interesting.
Thanks for this post. My family and I are transitioning towards vegan eating. We have always been a healthy eating family and don’t eat any processed foods (does cream cheeses count?) but after a bout of breast cancer I decided we needed to up our efforts. I love your blog, and hope you will be adding many more vegan recipes like those mentioned above. I have found my biggest challenge is in getting enough variety in my vegan cooking. I have been experimenting with all types of bean “spreads” to expand on the hummus theme. It is amazing what you can do with black beans, canellini beans, etc and herbs, spices, lemon juice, etc, as a replacement for meat/tuna/salmon in sandwiches. Keep up the great work! Thanks for sharing your time and efforts. Peace…Shell
I’m totally on your raw page. We’ve been getting a huge batch of farm fresh vegetables from a CSA and it’s upped our vegetable intake 5-fold. Last night I made a great raw salad of beets, fresh corn, lettuce, avocado and balsamic. It was so colorful and satisfying!
Christina
http://Www.foodiewithalife.com
Thanks for the healthy lunch idea. This seems like a nice and light meal to help you get through the day.
I understand about how we eat making us feel bad. Whenever I don’t eat the foods that my body likes I feel awful. I recently had an ALCAT test done to better help me identify what foods I am sensitive too and need to stay away from for a time. This post is great and very colorful. Wonderful veggie lunch Ieas I plan to use. Thank you!
Wow. This is definitely a great summer treat. Nice and light and perfect for something not to heavy to hold you back!
I love that wrap too! I love wraps with hummus, I need to make them more often and thanks for the ideas on how to eat a rainbow! So cute!
Great ideas! Inspiring pictures.
I love this post, we are also going for a whole foods diet at our house, also just because it feels good to eat that kind of food. That wrap looks delicious, I want one for my lunch! Thanks for posting, and I look forward to more.
Love the color idea. Just today, I wrote about colorful salsa! Bon Appetit’s spread this month on the color spectrum was also so inspiring! I love your ideas for the wrap! Hummus and kale… just try this combo! Love the post.
I am already stressing about school lunches!! I like the idea of trying to ‘eat the rainbow’!
Love that wrap. I always try to ask my kids what colors they’ve had for the day just to see how we’re doing. It’s a helpful reminder to keep seeking out produce.