How Do You Fill Your Child’s Plate? {Product Review & Giveaway}

As a parent, you are concerned about how balanced your child’s diet is, right?  You want to make sure your child is eating the right amount of each type of food and getting the right amount of different nutrients.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have  a tool to help you as you create meals for your child to visually see how much of each type of food you should be filling her plate with?

Guess what?  Now there is one!   Introducing the Healthy Habits Kids Plate:

There are three sections on the Healthy Habits Kids Plate, which is designed for kids ages 2-8.   1/2 of the plate is for vegetables and fruits, 1/4 of the plate is for grains, and 1/4 of the plate is for protein.  I love this plate because it gives both parents and kids a visual reminder of what kinds of foods should fill our plates.

It’s an excellent teaching tool to show kids just how much of their plate should be filled with vegetables and fruits.  It’s helpful for parents, as well.  I think there are a lot of parents out there confused about the ratios of nutrients our children should be getting and would be surprised to see that only 1/4 of the plate should be filled with protein.  So many parents think protein foods need to be front and center, when it’s vegetables and fruits that should take the center stage at each meal.

Meghan was super excited when her new plate came in the mail, as she loves anything new.  I showed her the pictures on the plate, explaining how all of her favorite vegetables need to fill up the big portion of the plate.  I think she’s a little young yet to understand, but she liked looking at the pictures and naming the different foods she saw.

When it came time to try  the plate, I found it more helpful than I anticipated.  We were having a Peas and Thank You recipe,  Quinoa and Zucchini Lasagna, with some roasted cauliflower and a salad.  I deconstructed the salad and lasagna for Meghan, so her plate looked like this:

The fruit and vegetable section included roasted cauliflower, zucchini, and pepitas.   The pepitas should have been in the protein section, but as you can see that section was already overflowing.  A good lesson!  I always give Meghan cheese with her dinner because she loves it, but now I see that it takes up a big portion of her protein section.   There were also shelled edamame in her protein section.  Quinoa was in the grain section.

Predictably, Meghan ate the cheese first, then she started working on the edamame.

She quickly polished off her entire protein section.  Then something smelled funny.

Was that you, Daddy?

There were gentle reminders to continue eating, but then she got completely enthralled with putting her fork into the opening of the sippy cup.

If you remember this video, Meghan loves roasted cauliflower.  This night, however, she wanted nothing to do with it.  Aren’t toddlers funny little things?  Meghan sat happily at the table, not eating, while Tim and I finished our dinner.  I don’t withhold dessert (which is usually fruit) for not eating all of dinner, so we all enjoyed a carrot cake cookie for dessert.

I don’t think whether or not a toddler is getting enough fruits and vegetables can be judged by one meal, but I love that this plate gives me a visual goal of how much I would like her to eat.  It will also be a great teaching tool as Meghan gets older.  I know that the habits she forms now are going to stick with her, and this plate will help me in that journey.

I also love that although the plate is plastic, it is BPA-free.  I think it would be great if it was a durable glass or stainless steel, but then it probably wouldn’t be able to be the affordable price of $4.99.  At $4.99, this plate is a great deal!

Would you like to have one of these plates?  Of course you would!  Amy from www.superhealthykids.com has graciously agreed to give one Happy Healthy Mama reader a Healthy Habits Kids plate.

There are four ways you can enter to win.  Please leave a separate comment for each entry.

1.  Leave a comment telling me your child’s favorite vegetable.

2.  Subscribe, either by email or feed reader, to Happy Healthy Mama (or let me know that you already have).

3.  Tweet about the giveaway and/or like my Facebook page.

4.  If you are a blogger, link back to this giveaway in a blog post.  If you are not a blogger, refer a friend to Happy Healthy Mama.  Just leave your friend’s name in the comment section.

You can enter through the weekend; the winner will be chosen by random and announced Monday!