How about healthy recipes for kids, which they will enjoy? Children shudder at the thought of “healthy food.” Let’s face it, so do most adults. But it’s not as difficult as you think to create healthy, raw meals that everyone will love. If proper nutrition is started at an early age, children grow up enjoying healthy foods.

When we eat healthy raw foods, several things happen. First of all, we have more energy. And because we are eating food in its natural state, we are receiving all the natural goodness that nature intends in the form of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, phytonutrients, enzymes, and many yet undiscovered nutrients. Research shows that these natural components provide a solid foundation for good health and can also help prevent serious diseases. The fiber in these foods will help keep your colon on a more regular schedule, which is critical to good health regardless of your age.

Excellent healthy recipes for kids contain a variety of raw foods. Raw foods are a great start to any diet plan, especially for children because they need healthy materials to build healthy bodies. Things like bananas, grapes, apples, sweet red peppers, cucumbers, strawberries, carrots, corn, raspberries, blueberries, avocados, mangoes, pomegranates, tomatoes, and just about anything you find in the produce section. Spinach and broccoli too … okay, kids might not like those two right away, but you can add them to a smoothie and they don’t need to know.

If you want to create tasty and healthy recipes for kids, how about involving them in meal planning? Let them add whatever they like to a salad, main dish, or even dessert. Let’s say you give everyone some lettuce or other leafy greens and let the children make their own salad from the variety of other foods in bowls on the table. There are many organic raw foods that can be added to your salad. Apple chunks, mandarin chunks, celery, walnuts, hemp seeds, fennel, tomatoes, grated carrots, raisins, peas … the list is endless, just get creative. And as we know, a large, healthy salad can be a complete meal.

Children are growing and need fats from healthy sources to build better bodies. Omega 3 fatty acids are an excellent source of nutrition that are notably lacking in the standard American diet. Foods like walnuts, hemp seeds, ground flax seeds, and chia seeds are excellent sources of omega 3. One of these fats mixed with orange juice and some herbs or spices makes for a very healthy salad dressing.

There are many things you can create with fresh fruit that will excite your little one. A really great breakfast, or any meal for that matter, is a great green smoothie. Add fruits and vegetables to the blender with a tablespoon of flax or chia seeds and let it smash. Kids will love helping out with this too. It is tasty and very healthy, fruits for energy, vegetables for minerals and seeds that satisfy the body’s needs for healthy fats.

When planning healthy recipes for kids, think of these words: fresh, whole, ripe, organic, and raw as the golden words for creating healthy kids and meals. Oh, and add one more, variety. Eating a wide variety of fruits and vegetables is important to maintaining good health. So let’s review, get the kids involved in meal planning and preparation, get creative, and let nature take its course.