Reinforce the right message
Healthy options to keep kids on track
TRYING to get your children to make healthy food choices seems a thankless task. They tend to scorn beautifully prepared home-cooked meals, rolling their eyes dramatically at the latest offering of vegetables and then dismissing the plate with little care after a single bite declaring it disgusting or that they are suddenly no longer hungry. It is a scene that plays out every day at dining tables around this country and it doesn’t take long for a simple family meal to disintegrate into a screaming match filled with poorly veiled threats and sometimes in desperation… bribes. Let’s face it, vegetables are never going to be your child’s first port of call. Irrespective of how you cook them they just cannot compete against sweet and starchy foods and the best you can hope for is that they will eventually settle on one or two favourites that they will eat, more often than not, without complaint. Nutritionists say the key is to keep offering the vegetables – raw or cooked – even if they don’t eat them, taking care not to replace them with other foods like bread and fruit if they are not eaten. Low GI carbohydrates are another must, say the experts, with the idea being to use grain breads and wholegrain breakfast cereals like oats. Jamie Oliver’s campaign to get children eating healthily, especially at school, has many ardent followers. The celebrity chef has led projects in the United Kingdom, US and now Australia opening children up to the possibility of trying new things and asking parents and schools to help strengthen that message. On May 16 Jamie’s Food Revolution Day was held in Australia for the first time in a bid to help change the habits of the seven million obese children in this country and reduce the reliance on unhealthy convenience foods. “Everyone knows that over the last few years I’ve been passionate about getting kids and young people to be taught to cook, whether in schools or at home,” Jamie said. “I believe that we all now have a duty to teach children to understand what food does to their bodies if we are going to make any progress in tackling obesity and dietrelated disease – that means governments, businesses, everyone.” Participating schools in Sydney, Perth and Canberra got expert tuition in making pasta and a Shake-me salad while Jamie broadcast a cooking class to school children across the globe streamed live via the internet. Whip up one of these healthy recipes Jamie created for Food Revolution Day.
Rainbow salad wrap
This is colourful, seriously tasty and fun to make with the kids. You can use whatever vegies are in season and pop leftovers in the kids’ lunchbox for school the next day. Serves 6 Total time: 30 minutes
INGREDIENTS
2 small raw beetroots, different colours if possible (roughly 150g) 2 carrots 150g white cabbage 1 firm pear ½ a bunch of fresh mint ½ a bunch of fresh flat-leaf parsley 6 small wholemeal tortilla wraps 50g feta cheese
For the dressing
5 tablespoons natural yogurt ½ teaspoon English mustard 3 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
METHOD
Wash the beetroots and carrots under cold running water, brushing with a scrubber to get rid of any dirt. Coarsely grate carrots, cabbage, pear and beetroots and place in a large bowl. Pick the mint and parsley leaves, then discard the stalks. Tear or finely chop the leaves and add to the bowl. Add all the dressing ingredients to a jam jar and shake well. Drizzle most of the dressing over the salad – just remember you can always add more but you can’t take it away, so be cautious. Divide the salad between the tortilla wraps, then crumble a little feta over each. Roll up the wraps, tucking them in at the sides as you go, then serve.