Does Your Child Know What a Healthy Plate Looks Like? Here’s a Free Printable to Show Them!

Goodbye to the old food pyramid, hello to My Healthy Plate!

We take our food quite seriously here at Sassy Mama, whether it’s scouring the web for the best recipes to feed our kiddos, to staying on top of the latest nutrition data, to recommending our favourite family-friendly restaurants.

At the core of all of this is sharing the joy of real, healthy foods with our kiddos, and an important part of this is teaching them about portion control and healthy ingredients. That’s why we’re huge fans of the “My Healthy Plate” initiative from Singapore’s Health Promotion Board, which makes healthy eating fun and accessible for kids!

My Healthy Plate provides simple strategies for meal planning without having to worry about counting calories or reading long lists of ingredients. Its three main aims are simple:

1) Eat a variety of foods (“Eat the rainbow!” as we love to tell our kids)
2) Control portion sizes
3) Prevent chronic diseases including diabetes  

Check out our printable My Healthy Plate placemat so your kiddos can make their own healthy plates:

Wholegrains: Unlike refined grains (such as white rice, noodles, and white bread), wholegrains are rich in vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and dietary fibre. Wholegrains provide bulk to the diet (they fill you up!) and due to a lower Glycaemic Index are ideal for maintaining a healthy weight and controlling diabetes.

Examples of wholegrains: brown rice, wholemeal bread, rolled oats

Proteins: Protein is an important building block of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin and blood. Because the body doesn’t store protein, it’s important to provide it with a constant supply from a variety of sources! Studies also show that high-protein diets can increase fullness and decrease hunger. 

Examples: Poultry, seafood, eggs, nuts, beans and tofu.

Fruits and Vegetables: Kiddos (and you!) should aim to fill half your plate with colourful variety of fruits and veggies. The benefits are many: they’re low in fat and high in dietary fibre, and rich in vitamins and minerals vital to the body’s functions. Fruits and veggies can also help to lower the risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and certain types of cancers.

Examples: Bananas, blackberries, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplant, grapes, kai lan, tomatoes, and soooo many more!

Healthy Fats and Oils: Health Promotion Board also recommends the use of healthier oils in addition to wholegrains, proteins, fruits and vegetables. Healthy fats can reduce bad cholesterol, and thereby the risk of heart disease.

Examples: Nuts, avocado, olive oil, sesame oil. 

Be sure to download our printable so your kiddos can try to make their own healthy plate, mama! And then head to Healthy Lifestyle Festival SG in October and November for a super fun, FREE family festival including bouncy castles, free food tastings, prize giveaways, recipe booklets, free group workouts and SO much more!

Once kiddos have got the basics of My Healthy Plate down, they can make an adventure out of it by entering the bouncy castle to find the missing pieces of their own healthy plate. Best to start practicing right away, we think. Happy eating, mamas!

All the details of Healthy Lifestyle Festival SG:

Roadshow 1: Heartbeat@Bedok
When: Friday 12 October to Sunday 14 October 2018
Time: 11am to 8:30pm daily
Where: Heartbeat@Bedok, 11 Bedok North Street 1, Singapore 469662

Roadshow 2: Waterway Point
When: Friday 26 October to Sunday 28 October 2018
Time: 11am to 8:30pm daily
Where: 83 Punggol Central, Singapore 828761

Grand Finale: Singapore Sports Hub
When: Saturday 10 November to Sunday 11 November
Time: 11am to 8pm daily
Where: 4 Stadium Walk, Singapore 397697

www.healthylifestyle.sg