Meal Guidelines for Growing Children: Understanding Red, Yellow, and Green Foods

To help your children grow at a healthy weight, your first task is seemingly the easiest. That is to cross off the word “diet” from your vocabulary. The best thing we can teach our children about food and their bodies is to foster a healthy relationship with eating and body image. The term “dieting” is closely associated with food restrictions and limitations. Instead of teaching your child what he/she cannot eat, teach the meaning of having balanced meals and nutritious foods. 
 
With all the marketing out there, knowing what to buy at the grocery stores can be tricky. A good way to organize our food options is using a color system to help us determine what kinds of foods should be eaten rarely, with caution, and without limitation based on their nutritional value.

Red Foods: STOP and think. 

Red foods generally have little to no nutritional value. They may be high in sugar, saturated fats, and calories. These should be limited to less than 2 a day.

Yellow Foods: Caution. 

These foods have some nutritional value but they still have moderate amounts of sugar, fats, and calories. They are an important part of what we eat but it is important to eat these with caution so that we can enjoy other more nutritious foods.

Green Foods: Go! 

These foods are high in nutritional value but low in things that can lead to unhealthy weight gain and chronic conditions. These are considered the most nutritious foods that should be a part of everyday eating. Try to enjoy these foods at every meal.
 
Examples of Red, Yellow, and Green Foods:

Red Foods: 

Fruit candies, fruit cups, candy, fried vegetables, tempura, fries, bacon, hot dogs, sausage, pepperoni, salami, butter, syrup, sugary cereals, chips, white bread, pastries, bagels, waffles, untrimmed meat and steaks, muffins, cheese, cakes, cookies, ice cream, goldfish crackers, granola bars, whole milk, soda, candied nuts, rice, pasta.

Yellow Foods: 

Fruit smoothies, ham, canned meats, soy sauce, ketchup, pretzels, whole grain crackers, string cheese, fruity yogurt, most lean meats, veggie burgers, tortillas, granola, nut butters, unsweetened nuts, whole-grain pasta, potatoes (roasted/baked).

Green Foods: 

All fresh or frozen vegetables, fresh or frozen berries, lean fish or poultry, herbs, root vegetables, tomato sauce, all vegetables, sprouted grains, sparkling water, water.

At Little Roots, we have over 13 years of experience working closely with families and children to work on improving daily nutrition through a balanced, and time-saving meal plan that’s curated to each individual family.