Lifestyles and behaviors are established in early childhood. This is especially true for eating habits and food preferences. Unfortunately, many foods that children consume are lacking in essential nutrients.

Our national taste buds have become accustomed to junk foods, loaded with added sugars, artificial ingredients, and synthetic flavors. This has made it much more difficult for kids to enjoy the unique tastes and textures of whole foods, especially veggies. Parents, caregivers, and teachers can promote healthy nutrition in children by limiting processed foods. But that alone isn’t enough. Children need to be taught how to appreciate nutritious foods.

The children’s storybook, The Forest Feast: Baby Bites^® Mealtime Adventures, is designed to help develop healthy eating habits. The Forest Feast integrates fun with whole foods. Best friends, Betty Baby Bites^®, a tiny Italian mouse, and Try Rannosaurus^®, a gigantic T-Rex, eat their way through a prehistoric forest.

Try, a growing dinosaur, has only one thing on his mind—FOOD. In fact, he’s eager to try any new food (that’s why he’s named Try), but his favorite is the green variety (after all he’s green). Try’s searching for a special veggie to bring to the weekly feast. At day’s end, everyone is surprised by his contribution.

Betty Baby Bites^® is Try’s best buddy and she’s the brains behind the dinosaur. She’s a foodie, loving the culinary arts. Betty can often be found supervising meals and interjecting her favorite Italian words of support, fantastico (wonderful) and bravo (well done).

The Forest Feast is divided into three whimsical adventures. Each escapade ends with the recipe Try and Betty devour. When a child helps to prepare the same meal that Try and Betty eat, they begin to appreciate Try’s conviction, “Green food is yummy!”

“Green food is yummy!”
Aidan likes to pretend he’s Try Rannosaurus.

The Forest Feast stands alone as a charming tale for children. Although, it’s intended as a companion for the parenting book, Baby Bites^®: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater. The reading and visual input aspects of multi-sensory learning are engaged when The Forest Feast is read to children. Betty Baby Bites^® and Try Rannosaurus’^® antics are sure to win over even the most vegetable-resistant child.

Read more about The Forest Feast, CLICK HERE.

Click Here for the Baby Bites Store.

The Pizza Box Falnnel Board is a fun and inexpensive project to do with your children at home. If you ask, most pizza stores will give you a new box without a charge. First, read the story, The Forest Feast to your children. They will practice the story with the Pizza Box Flannel Board.

Flannel Board Materials List:
The Forest Feast storybook
Pizza Box: medium sized. Ask a local outlet for a unused pizza box.
Flannel: approximately 12″ x 24″ piece for the interior of the box in a dark color. Flannel in various colors for the cut outs.
White Glue
Craft Sticks
White Paper
Scissors
Markers

Method:
1. Cover the outside of the pizza box with pictures photocopied from The Forest Feast. You may use the PDF file in Teacher 3-day Plan: Click Here.

2. Cut 1 piece of felt to fit the inside bottom and top of the box as the background. Glue the felt in place with a thin film of white glue. Use a Popsicle stick to spread the film of glue.

3. Make cut outs. On white paper, Trace around images of Try Rannosaurs^® and Betty Baby Bites^TM in The Forest Feast to make a pattern. Make patterns for the food in the recipe for the Forest Stew: carrots, celery, turnips, tomatoes and the stew pot. Pin the pattern to various colors of flannel and cut. Draw eyes and other details on the images with a felt pen. Store the felt pieces inside the box. If you have an artistic flare, you will be able to free hand the cutouts. Since I don’t, I photocopied images on copy paper, glued them to a small piece of flannel and cut around the images. The cutouts because of the weight of the paper the images are heavier than plain flannel, but they work just fine when the box is laid flat and stay fairly well when it’s setting upright.

Definitions & Questions:

Nutrition: a food which gives our bodies the things it needs to be healthy.

Whole food: plucked or picked; something from the earth. Whole foods help you grow and stay healthy.

Junk food: fills your tummy with no nutrition.

What’s the difference between whole food and junk food? (Both fill your tummy, but only whole foods help your body grow and stay healthy.)

Why don’t Betty Baby Bites^® and Try Rannsaurus^® eat junk foods? (Junk foods are man-made. They aren’t plucked or picked from the earth.)

Why is Try Rannosaurus^® named “Try”? (Because he will try any food.)

Why is Try Rannosaurus^® always hungry? (Because he’s a growing dinosaur.)

What’s Try Rannosaurus^®‘ favorite food? (Veggies. He often says, “Green food is yummy!”)

Why do the forest animals only eat whole foods? (It’s prehistoric times, only whole foods. Whole foods give their bodies what they need to be healthy and to grow.)

Click Here for ordering information for The Forest Feast.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

Best friends, Betty Baby Bites^®, a tiny Italian mouse, and Try Rannosaurus^®, a gigantic T-Rex, eat their way through a prehistoric forest. Betty and Try’s mealtime experiences emphasize the goodness of non-processed whole foods. Vegetable-challenged children are disarmed because Try is eager to try any new food (that’s why he’s named Try).  His favorite is the green variety (after all he’s green).

Aiden likes to pretend he’s a dinosaur like Try Rannosaurus^®

After reading The Forest Feast, you can further enhance healthy eating when you engage children in additional fun whole food activities. The following seven activities are equally effective in a home or school setting. They are even more effective when integrated with reading the whole foods storybook, The Forest Feast:

1) Food on a Plate
Provide pictures of whole foods from supermarket circulars and magazine photos. Have the children glue them to a paper plate. If children are older than four, they may cut out the photos themselves using safety scissors.

2) Healthy or Junk Food?
Give the children paper plates or a piece of construction paper with a line drawn down the middle with a marker. Write healthy on one side and junky on the other side. Have pictures of junk foods like donuts, cookies, and potato chips, and pictures of whole foods. Have kids glue their photos to the appropriate side of the plate.

3) A is for Apple, B is for Banana…V is for Veggie
Provide children with pictures of whole foods and show them how to write the appropriate letter of the alphabet which corresponds to the food.

4) Guess the Food in My Picnic Basket
Prepare laminated pictures of whole foods or use a picnic basket with plastic play food. Play a guessing game with the children. Say “In my picnic basket I have some fruit. It is a red and it’s a berry. What kind of food is it?” Give the children a moment to guess, then take the item from the basket and show them a strawberry.

5) Genesis Connection
Read the creation story in Genesis. God created all things. Did He create the dinosaurs? Are dinosaurs in the Bible? In the book of Job God mentions some of the things He created. In Job 40 describes a great beast called a “Behemoth.” Read Job 40:15-24 with your child. Does this beast sound like a hippo, an elephant, or a dinosaur? Today we call the Behemoth a dinosaur, which means terrible lizard. Click Here for more information about the Behemoth.

6) Veggie Dip Snack
Prepare Julienne strips of veggies (carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) with either a hummus or avocado dip. Ask the children if Try would eat this. Why? Which veggies would be his favorite? Give each child a small paper plate with each of the veggies and a dollop of dip. Discuss the textures, tastes, and how yummy each veggie smells.

7) Fruit and Vegetable Prints
You’ll Need: Paint or ink. (to make tempera paint thicker and stickier add a touch of flour or glue). Sponges and an old cookie tray or Styrofoam tray. It’s a good idea to put the paint on a sponge so that when an object is dipped into the paint, the sponge will only let off a little bit of paint…because a little is all you need.
You will need: Paintbrushes, water and water containers. Paper and a covered work area. Fruits and veggies of all kinds: carrots, starfruit, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, avocados, and apples.

Method:
1. Dip fruit and vegetables into paint or printing ink and stamp them onto paper in random or ordered patterns.
2. Kinder artists may instead apply the paint or ink directly to the vegetables with a paintbrush.
3. No knives are needed except for to cut the fruit or vegetable in half (an adult should do this part).

For more fun food ideas, go to “Browse Baby Bites Categories” located on the right. Then click on “The Forest Feast Teaching Helps.”

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

I then began speaking to moms’ groups about healthy eating. Fortunately, the more I spoke, the better I got at speaking. (My apologies to the first groups I spoke to. Don’t know why I was nervous.)

Nonna and Granddad pray that your family will be blessed in 2010!

The first Baby Bites website went up right after the book was published thanks to my son-in-law, Guy. Things got really busy when the present website with the capabilities to blog went up about year ago. At the same time, the weekly Baby Bites Ezine was launched.  We did some podcasting, What’s Cookin’ with Nonna? Then decided it wasn’t the best use of time. Turning my attention to a whole foods storybook, The Forest Feast, it was published in November 2009. The Forest Feast is also different from other storybooks. Not only is the story fun to read, but it incorporates healthy eating concepts in the parenting book for children.

My PC, which was new when I began to write Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater in 2004, was in the computer hospital three times in 2009. I prayed it would hold on until The Forest Feast went to the printers. It did. Later in November, my husband, Dick, bought me the latest and greatest Mac computer. So the last few weeks, I’ve been taking Apple classes. I love it, but as with all changes, it takes time to adjust to a new way of doing things. In the middle of my computer transition, my website got an upgrade. It looks pretty much the same, but the way it works is improved. Of course I had to figure out how to do things a different way on my site as well!

A last minute surprise came December 15. The tradmarks for Baby Bites and Try Rannosaurus were issued! The trademark processe began December 2004! WOW, who knew it would take so long? Now instead of the ™ mark, I’ll be using the ®.

Whew, 2009 went out with a BANG…I’m tired just thinking about the last few months.

Dick and I have four grown daughters. In the last two years, we hosted two additional weddings, and now have four sons-in-law. We have seven grandchildren, with another due any day. Baby Tristan’s due date is the first week in January, but his parents are hoping for a little 2009 tax deduction. My “Nonna” bag is packed, ready to go as soon as the word is given that the baby is on the way.

I was overcome with blessings during the last decade. I’m sure 2010 holds more surprises as well as blessings! In the works are short Baby Bites® cooking videos for YouTube. Thank you for being a part of the Baby Bites experience. I pray God’s blessings for your family as we step into the next decade.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for Baby Bites®: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater and The Forest Feast: Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures.

For info about the free Baby Bites® Ezine, CLICK HERE.

Preparation:
1) Photocopy Try Rannosaurus^®. Use a PDF image by clicking on the image to the left. Print in landscape mode. You will get an 8″ X 11″ image. Back Try’s image with cardboard or card stock. Cut a hole in Try’s mouth. Tape a one gallon plastic bag to the back of Try’s head so it opens to the mouth. This baggie will hold the food pictures prepared by the children.

An alternative method is to use a 9″ X 9″ box instead of cardboard. Glue Try’s image to the lid and cut the hole through his mouth and the box lid. The lid is easily removed to retrieve the food pictures and it’s useful for storing them. A box will also provide added stability.

2) Cut pictures of whole foods from magazines and newspapers.

Click on the picture for a PDF File of Try Rannosaurus^®.
This file is 22 MB, if you have an older computer it may not load.
You may also photocopy an image of Try from The Forest Feast and enlarge.

Day 1: Read the story “The Forest Feast.”
1) The forest animals eat foods like you and I. What are whole foods? How can we make sure we eat foods which will help our bodies grow and keep us healthy?  (food pyramid)
2) Using the food pyramid, review with children the different food groups and the number of servings which are recommended for one day.
3) Divide the children five groups. Assign each group a different food group from the pyramid.
4) Each group will locate whole foods from a magazine newspaper, or Internet, appropriate from their food group.
5) Place the appropriate pictures together on a paper plate with the heading breakfast.
Children will discuss items found. Answering questions such as: Is that a good choice for breakfast? Is this a whole food? Discuss with the children which drinks are healthy. Would Try or Betty eat this food? Why or why not?
6) Have the children mark off servings used from their food group as they use them. The children will locate foods for lunch on the second day and dinner on the third. The foods will be placed on plates like the breakfast meal.
7) Children will take turns feeding Try. Children will tell what the food is and where it belongs on the food pyramid as they feed him.

Day 2: Repeat with Lunch Items.
Day 3: Repeat with Dinner Items.

Definitions & Questions:

Nutrition: a food which gives our bodies the things it needs to be healthy.

Whole food: plucked or picked; something from the earth. Whole foods help you grow and stay healthy.

Junk food: fills your tummy with no nutrition.

What’s the difference between whole food and junk food? (Both fill your tummy, but only whole foods help your body grow and stay healthy.)

Why don’t Betty Baby Bites^TM and Try Rannsaurus^® eat junk foods? (Junk foods are man-made. They aren’t plucked or picked from the earth.)

Why is Try Rannosaurus^® named “Try”? (Because he will try any food.)

Why is Try Rannosaurus^® always hungry? (Because he’s a growing dinosaur.)

What’s Try Rannosaurus^®‘ favorite food? (Veggies. He often says, “Green food is yummy!”)

Why do the forest animals only eat whole foods? (It’s prehistoric times, only whole foods. Whole foods give their bodies what they need to be healthy and to grow.)

My new storybook, The Forest Feast is here! I’m extending the FREE shipping and handling. When the parenting book, Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, is purchased with The Forest Feast, you’ll save even more! Click Here for ordering information.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

Try Rannosaurus® is a growing dinosaur with a massive appetite. Unfortunately, his brain isn’t in direct proportion to his large mass. To make matters more difficult for him, he isn’t the most coordinated creature in the forest either. Try has one thing on his mind–food. His tummy’s growling is a constant source of distraction as he searches for a very special veggie. At day’s end, he surprises everyone.

Betty Baby Bite s^TM is Try’s best buddy and she’s the brains behind the dinosaur. She’s a foodie, loving the culinary arts. Betty can often be found supervising meals, while offering encouragement. She loves to interject her favorite Italian words of support: fantastico and bravo.

Betty and Try’s mealtime experiences emphasize the goodness of non-processed whole foods. Vegetable-challenged children are disarmed because Try is eager to try any new food (that’s why he’s named Try) and his favorite is the green variety (after all he’s green). Try bellows, “Green food is yummy” and “I’m so hungry I could eat a tree”!

The Forest Feast is designed as a multi-sensory experience. Recipes are included at the end of each segment, so parents can make the meals that Try and Betty enjoy with their children. In addition there are numerous whole foods activities for parents and teachers to do in conjunction with reading The Forest Feast to children. They are found on the right column of this page: The Forest Feast Teaching Helps: >Click Here.

This holiday season when you purchase The Forest Feast, the shipping is FREE. It’s also available in combo packages with additional savings:

1) Combo Pack. You’ll save when you purchase both books! The Combo Pack includes 1 copy of: Baby Bites — Transforming A Picky Eater Into A Healthy Eater, the parenting book. PLUS 1 copy of The Forest Feast — Baby Bites Mealtime Adventures. The Children’s Whole Foods Storybook. >Click Here for more information.

2) Child’s Gift Package.
It’s the perfect gift fusing fun with healthy eating, whether the child is a picky eater or not. The Child’s Gift package makes the perfect holiday or birthday gift for a pre-schooler or early elementary child. The Child’s Gift Package includes The Forest Feaststorybook; an apron with image of either Betty Baby Bites OR Try Rannosaurus; a stuffed green dino, one wooden spoon; and a green gift bag. >Click Here for more information.

My holiday wish for you:
Mangi bene, ridi spesso, ama molto. (Eat well, laugh often, love much.)

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

The Forest Feast is a whole foods storybook. The characters, Try Rannosaurus® and Betty Baby Bites^TM, love to eat whole foods, especially veggies. Naturally, reading the story again and again will reinforce this concept.

Your child doesn’t have to be a “picky eater” to benefit from The Forest Feast. Children are constantly bombarded with messages about junk foods. Advertisers target children with commercials for sugary breakfast foods, fast foods, and candy. Today, all children need positive reinforcement that whole foods are yummy.

The concepts in The Forest Feast are enhanced when you incorporate the story with fun activities. If you are a primary school or preschool teacher these activities are easily incorporated into a classroom experience. The most effective multi-sensory experiences for children will be with real food and parents have the edge over teachers on having their children help with cooking.

While reading the story, encourage your children to say with Try Rannosaurus^® “Green food is yummy!” Auditory learning is vital. When children think and say positive words about veggies, they’re beginning the journey to healthy eating.

Be sure to discuss the food you’re highlighting when involved in one of the food activities below: its texture, its aroma, its taste, its goodness and how it helps the body.

Aiden says “Green food is yummy,” like Try Rannosaurus®.

First, read The Forest Feast to your children, then pick an activity:

1) Food on a Plate
Provide pictures of whole foods from supermarket circulars and magazine photos. Have the children glue them to a paper plate. If children are older than 4, they may cut out the photos themselves using safety scissors.

2)  Healthy Food or Junk Food?
Give your children paper plates or a piece of construction paper with a line drawn down the middle with a marker. Write HEALTHY on one side and JUNKY on the other side. Cut out pictures of junk foods like donuts, cookies, and potato chips, and pictures of whole foods, like vegetables and whole grains from newspapers and magazines. Have your kids glue their photos to t he appropriate side of the plate.

3)  A is for Apple… V is for Veggie
Provide your children pictures of whole foods and show them how to write the appropriate letter of the alphabet which corresponds to the food. I’ve offered (below) other whole food words for the letters which do not match to a fruit or veggie. You’ll want to be sure that there are more veggies in your list than fruit. The challenge for more children is eating vegetables, not fruit. Ask the children, ”Would Try Rannosaurus® would eat this?” and “Why?” Which veggies would be his favorite? Green veggies, of course. Discuss the textures, tastes, and how yummy each veggie or fruit smells.

Fruit: apple, banana, cherry, fig, grapes, kiwi, lemon, mango, nectarine, orange, pear, strawberry and watermelon.

Vegetables: asparagus, broccoli, carrot, dandelion (yes this is edible), eggplant, horseradish, kale, lettuce, mushroom, okra, peas, radish, spinach, turnips, watercress, yams and zucchini.

Other Whole Food Words for the Alphabet: eggs, julienne (to cut in thin strips), honey, vegetable, quinoa (a seed, not a grain, often eaten as a breakfast) and unleavened (without yeast or baking powder)

4) What Food is This?
After reading The Forest Feast to your children, have them guess the food in a picnic basket or cloth shopping bag. Prepare laminated pictures of whole foods or use plastic play food. Of course real fruit and veggies is best. Say “In my picnic basket/shopping bag I have some fruit. It is a red and it’s a berry. What kind of food is it?” Give the children a moment to guess, then take the item from the basket and show them a strawberry. Discuss the textures, tastes, and how yummy each food smells as you pass around the produce.

Another method for this activity is to blindfold a child (or have them close their eyes). Then place have them put their hands in the grocery bag or picnic basket. Have them describe what they are feeling and then guess what it is.

5) Genesis Connection
In discussions about whole foods and the forest animals, read Genesis 1, especially verses 11 and 12 (God created the vegetation) and 24 (God created the animals). Talk about how vegetation was designed to keep our bodies strong and healthy. For additional discussion about dinosaurs read Job 40:15-21. What is a Behemoth? He eats grass. He is very strong like bronze and iron. He is extremely big and his tail is as large as a tree. What animal does that sound like? Click Here for more information on dinosaurs in the Bible.

6) Veggie Dip
Prepare Julienne strips of veggies (carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, etc.) with either a hummus or avocado dip. Ask the children if Try Rannosaurus® would eat this. Why? Which veggies would be his favorite? Give each child a small paper plate with each of the veggies and a dollop of dip. Discuss the textures, tastes, and how yummy each veggie smells.

7) Fruit and Vegetable Prints
Materials Needed:
Paint or ink (to make tempera paint thicker and stickier add a touch of flour or glue).
Sponges
An old cookie tray or Styrofoam tray.
Paintbrushes
Water and water containers.
Paper and a covered work area.
Fruits and veggies of all kinds: carrots, starfruit, mushrooms, cauliflower, broccoli, peppers, avocados, and apples.

Method:
1) Cut the fruit and veggies (an adult should do this).
2) Dip them into paint or printing ink and stamp them onto paper in random or ordered patterns. Kinder artists may instead apply the paint or ink directly to the vegetables with a paintbrush. It’s a good idea to put the paint on a sponge so that when an object is dipped into the paint, the sponge will only let off a little bit of paint… a little is all you need.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

CLICK HERE for ordering information for The Forest Feast.

Read Aloud

Show the children the front cover of the book. Make sure to hold the book in front you in such a way that the children can easily see the pictures. It’s helpful to hold the book up and a bit to the side.

Tell them in just a moment you are going to read them a story called The Forest Feast. Show them the cover with a picture of Try and Betty. Ask what kind of animals are they?

Ask the children, “Do you know what dinosaurs like to eat?” Let some of the kids answer, then say “That’s right! Dinosaurs like to eat all kinds of things… even some things that people can’t eat.”

Point to the pictures of the food items as they appear in the story. Ask the children, “What is this?” Let them call out the answers. Read the story aloud, pausing after you read the words on each page to make sure the children can see the pictures. At the end of the story, ask the children what they ate for breakfast today. The ask, “Would Try or Betty eat this food?” (Try and Betty only eat whole foods.)

Definitions & Questions for Kids

Nutrition: a food which gives our bodies the things it needs to be healthy.

Whole food: plucked or picked; something from the earth. Whole foods help you grow and stay healthy.

Junk food: fills your tummy with no nutrition.

What’s the difference between whole food and junk food? (Both fill your tummy, but only whole foods help your body grow and stay healthy.)

Why don’t Betty Baby Bites^TM and Try Rannsaurus^® eat junk foods? (Junk foods are man-made. They aren’t plucked or picked from the earth.)

Why is Try Rannosaurus^® named “Try”? (Because he will try any food.)

Why is Try Rannosaurus^® always hungry? (Because he’s a growing dinosaur.)

What’s Try Rannosaurus^®‘ favorite food? (Veggies. He often says, “Green food is yummy!”)

Why do the forest animals only eat whole foods? (It’s prehistoric times, only whole foods. Whole foods give their bodies what they need to be healthy and to grow.)

My new storybook, The Forest Feast is here! I’m extending the FREE shipping and handling. When the parenting book, Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, is purchased with The Forest Feast, you’ll save even more! Click Here for ordering information.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.

There are no gifts, baskets of colored eggs, carved pumpkins or elves in green suits to distract from the meaning. Granted, football, parades, and even the turkey dinner get in the way of why we celebrate. (It’s NOT Turkey Day.) Of course, food has always been a feature of Thanksgiving. Although the food was not the primary focus of the celebration. Sharing the Thanksgiving meal is another wonderful Thanksgiving tradition. The Pilgrims invited the Indians to share in their feasting. It’s still not the reason for the day.

Ben is thankful for his many blessings!

Political correctness has blurred the history of Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims did NOT throw a lavish feast to thank the Indians. The Indians, who helped them survive their first year in the hostile new land, were invited to the Pilgrim’s feast of thanksgiving to their God.

It was the Pilgrim’s Christian faith which brought them to America. It was the reason they endured many hardships, and for some death. Today America is pluralistic, but it was not an Indian god or a new age god or an eastern god they thanked. The Pilgrims thanked the God of the scriptures. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who sent His Son, Jesus, as a substitution for mankind’s sin. It’s hard to believe the very reason for establishing a new colony in American has been overlooked in an attempt to be politically correct.

There are two primary original sources of information concerning the first Thanksgiving. Edward Winslow and William Bradford each left us a written record. Their words describe the intent and meaning of the first Thanksgiving celebration. Notice that the feast was instigated by the Pilgrims, not the Indians, as some believe.

William Bradford wrote of their arrival to America:
“Being thus arrived in good harbor and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean.”

Edward Winslow writes of the intent of the first Thanksgiving:
“Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together, after we had gathered the fruits of our labors; they four in one day killed as much fowl, as with a little help beside, served the Company almost a week, at which time amongst other Recreations, we exercised our Arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed on our Governor, and upon the Captain and others. And although it be not always so plentiful, as it was at this time with us, yet by the GOODNESS OF GOD, we are so far from want, that we often wish you partakers of our plenty.”

Your family can give thanks this year for God’s blessings. If it has not been your custom to thank God for His blessings, you might want to use Psalm 100 as a template:

Psalm 100
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the lands!
Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into God’s presence with singing!
Know that the Lord is God! It is he that made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him, bless his name!
For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures for ever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.

My new storybook, The Forest Feast is here! I’m extending the FREE shipping and handling. When the parenting book, Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater, is purchased with The Forest Feast, you’ll save even more! Click Here for ordering information.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.
 

I like to read the new studies about health, especially when they focus on children. Several new studies on children’s eating habits were presented at the recent Obesity Society meeting. What surprises me most is that they really don’t offer any new insight or suggestions.

What Exactly Did the Researchers Find?

Children from 4 to 9 are supposed to eat 1½ cups of fruit and 2 cups of veggies a day. We know most kids don’t even come close to eating the recommended amount of produce. These studies confirmed this, especially for obese children, who eat an average of 6 snack foods a day.

They found children ate more steamed broccoli with butter, raw carrot sticks, tomato soup, diced peaches and applesauce when they were offered more. Their conclusion: offer kids more of what they already eat. No rocket science here.

Kids who didn’t like broccoli or peaches still didn’t eat any, even after they were offered more. Duh. It took a study to confirm that kids won’t eat foods they have predetermined to be yucky!

Phoebe is laughing at the recommendation… kids should eat more of what they already like.

The big take-away is to increase the amount of fruit and veggies in your child’s diet is to offer more fruit and veggies that your child already eats. No help for the parent whose child refuses to eat any vegetable. Believe me, there are lots of kids who don’t eat any veggies. One wonders why any of this is newsworthy.

What’s a parent to do, when the professionals don’t offer any practical advice?

Nonna to the Rescue
This is exactly why Baby Bites^TM: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater was written. If you want to increase the amount of produce your children eat, not only do you need to offer it more often, but you should also include multi-sensory learning. Taste is not the first sense which should be employed when introducing new foods to your children. In fact, it’s the last. Baby Bites^TM is all about improving shopping habits and changing table dynamics. Children will eat more veggies, when they are offered more AND they are taught how to appreciate them.

Now, my new storybook, The Forest Feast, reinforces the concepts outlined in the parenting book for children. When you read The Forest Feast to your kids, they will hear “Green food is yummy!” from Try Rannosaurs®. They will see Betty Baby Bites^TM preparing a scrumptious spinach and strawberry salad. The recipe for the salad Betty makes is included in the book, so your children can help make it. All of the characters in The Forest Feast love whole foods, encouraging your child to do the same.

You’ll save shipping and handling when you order The Forest Feast. When The Forest Feast and Baby Bites: Transforming a Picky Eater into a Healthy Eater are purchased together you’ll save even more! Click Here for ordering information.

For info about the free Baby Bites Ezine, CLICK HERE.