Parents' Guide To Planning Healthier Meals For Your Child

The New My Plate teaches children what a balanced healthy meal looks like

In this section, you will find meal ideas and specific foods from each of the food groups to help you plan and make healthy meals for your child and family.  You might wonder exactly what makes a healthy breakfast or a healthy lunch?  We have the answers in easy to read, concise pages!

Creating meals for the family is a daily routine.  

Healthy meals include:

• Eating breakfast every morning
• Making a healthy lunch for children to take to school or eat at home
• Preparing and having readily available healthy snacks for mid-morning and mid-afternoon
• Planning and cooking the family dinner

These are each very important meals for your child to ensure they grow healthy and build a strong immune system to fight off disease.  Nutrition is the foundation to good health.  It provides the body with the vitamins and minerals needed to grow and maintain a healthy child.

The foundation for each of the meals is the five food groups:

• Vegetable Food Group - make half of the plate filled vegetables and fruit
• Fruit Food Group - color the plate with different colored fruits and vegetables
• Dairy Food Group - drink or eat lowfat (1%) or fat-free dairy products
• Grains Food Group - make at least half the grains "100% whole grains"
• Protein Food Group  - vary the protein and keep it lean!

Healthy Eating

Breakfast  

Lunch Ideas

Snack time

Family Mealtime

Portion Control

Cooking At Home

Food Safety

Eating Out Tips

Healthy Holiday

Summer Foods

Healthy Foods

Food Marketing

Grocery Shopping

Food Labels   

Five Food Groups

Fruit Group

Vegetables Group

Grains Group

Dairy Group

Protein Group

Essential Nutrients

Healthy Child

Healthy Child

Psychology To Healthier Eating 

Vegetarian-Vegan

Drinks and Kids

Food Allergies

Childhood Obesity

BMI and Kids

Get Moving!

Kids and TV

See All Our Nutrition Articles