Fruits and vegetables can be fun! To celebrate Eat Smart Day on November 7th, the American Heart Association worked with Broome-Tioga BOCES and Johnson City Elementary School to teach kids about healthy options.
Kameron, a Cornell Dietetic Intern with Broome-Tioga BOCES designed a lesson for 5th grade students in Mr. Luce’s class. She taught them about the importance of eating a rainbow of colors and the nutrients they can get from fruits and vegetables. During the lesson, kids got to assemble their own fruit and veggie mini-pizzas with whole-wheat English muffins and cream cheese.
Students loaded their pizzas with strawberries, grapes, blueberries, carrots, broccoli, and tomatoes. Once the pizzas were assembled, it was time to eat! Many of the kids not only finished their pizzas, but continued to eat the extra fruits and vegetables!
About one in three kids and teens living in the U.S. is at increased risk for conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, type 2 diabetes and more due to being overweight or obese. Teaching healthy habits, like making fruits and vegetables fun, at a young age can help fight the childhood obesity epidemic and give kids a head-start on heart health.