American kids do not eat enough fruits, vegetables, or dairy. This can help.
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines For Americans compared current eating habits in America to the established recommendations.
In general, American children and adolescents:
NEVER eat the recommended amounts of vegetables at any age
Do not eat the recommended amount of dairy products after age 3
Do not eat the the recommended amount of fruits after age 8
Girls do not get enough protein during the critical time of adolescence, when protein needs increase due to menstruation
Unlike the latest food fads and diet crazes, the Dietary Guidelines are supported by decades of evolving peer-reviewed scientific evidence. The evidence shows that healthy eating patterns as defined in the Dietary Guidelines are associated with positive health outcomes. Healthy eating patterns are associated with reduced risks of heart disease, certain cancers, type 2 diabetes, overweight, and obesity.
The 30 vitamins, macro and trace minerals needed for your child's body to grow, function properly, and be strong cannot be obtained by a diet with inadequate fruit and vegetable consumption. Additionally, plant foods contain more than 25,000 beneficial phytonutrients.
How The Super Healthy Kids Plates And Bowls Can Help
The plate and dairy bowl sets sold by Super Healthy Kids are based on the MyPlate design from the US Department of Agriculture, structured around the current Dietary Guidelines for Americans.
You COULD spend considerable time looking up nutrition information for foods and adding up all the various vitamins, minerals, and macro nutrients from tables in an effort to align your child's diet with the Dietary Reference Intakes per the Institute of Medicine.
But who has time for that?
An easier way is to align your child's meals with the simple MyPlate graphic. When half your plate is filled with fruits and vegetables and the other half with grains and proteins as shown on the plate, and when you include dairy products, you are providing meals balanced in both macro and micro nutrients.
The graphic plates and bowls educate kids (and adults!), in a fun way, on the proportion of vegetables, fruits, grains, protein, and dairy foods that make up balanced meals and provide optimal health.
Let your small child figure out which foods belong to which section of the plate and bowl. Discuss the foods your child would like to put in those spaces.
Start simple with MyPlate. The plate and bowl sets from Super Healthy Kids make it easy.