How to Teach Kids About the Food Pyramid

The food pyramid is a guide set in place by the United States Department of Agriculture to help us make healthy eating choices. You can never be too young to learn how to eat healthy. Eating healthy early on will lead to healthy eating choices later in life which is why parents should teach their children about the food pyramid as early as possible.

1. Talk to your children about healthy eating choices. Let them know how important it is to eat healthy in order to stay healthy as an adult. Tell them that poor food choices can cause them problems later on in life, and that creating a healthy lifestyle early on will lead to many benefits.


2. Pull up the food pyramid chart online. You can find this by performing a search using your preferred search engine and the keywords "food pyramid," or "food pyramid for kids."


3. Show the food pyramid to your children and explain the different categories of the pyramid to them. Help them to understand what foods are included in each category so that they can make healthy choices on their own.


4. Explain the different servings that are required for each section of the food pyramid. Let them know how many servings of fruits and vegetables are suggested daily so that they will be more willing to include these choices in their daily diet.


5. Include your children in your meal planning, and explain to them what food group each food falls into. For example, green beans would fall under fruits and vegetables. Let them assist you in making meal choices that work with the food pyramid guidelines.


6. Ask them to pick out the items that they will take to school for lunch each day. This is a good way to allow them to try out their newly learned skills. See if they can choose items that are healthy and coincide with the guidelines form the food pyramid suggestions.