We all know that eating healthy is important for our bodies to function properly and help prevent disease which helps us enjoy life to the fullest. However, when we think about fixing healthy meals, we normally envision dull, tasteless meals that are unappetizing. Well, that way of thinking is officially outdated. Healthy, low fat recipes can be delicious and flavorful if you use the right ingredients. Angela Pollock from Hellium shares some great tips for creating recipes with rich, bold flavor there’s no way you won’t enjoy it.

A big part of eating healthier, aside from cutting out fat, is including more fruits and vegetables (of course!) in the meal. We’ve all steamed our vegetables so they retain their nutrients and tried to only add a little salt, pepper, or some other spices to bump up the flavor – instead of adding butter – but sometimes it’s just not enough. That’s why we found this great article from LJWorld.com. They share 10 ideas for cooking fruits and vegetables. From boiling, to sauteeing, to roasting, you’ll really enjoy these new ways to prepare your fruits and vegetables.

Of course, we can’t leave out ways to create healthy meals your children will love too. A school in Somerville, Massachusetts has mastered this. The school started serving locally grown vegetables and even features a Vegetable of the Month like butternut squash. I certainly don’t remember having anything like butternut squash served when I was in school. When the school started this initiative, they knew the biggest obstacle was going to be finding nutritious foods that kids will actually eat. So they did some testing that both made the students feel involved in the initiative and letting them know their opinions matter and helped the staff figure out what to serve the students that they’d actually eat.

The last article is about a mom, Angie Struhs, who loves getting creative in the kitchen. It’s because of this that Angie ended up winning the Heart Healthiest 2010 recipe contest with her Avocado-Lime Salsa. Angie’s 6 year old daughter says “it’s her favorite salsa”. Check out the recipe at The Salt Lake Tribune and check out all the recipes from the contest at hearthighway.org.

July is National Make a Difference to a Child Month so I decided to focus on that for this week’s topic. Children are so important to the future and we have to teach them and guide them on how to live healthy lives and make good decisions. So as always, our focus in this article will be teaching children about living a healthy lifestyle.

Teaching children about the importance of fruits and vegetables in their diet is one of the best places to start. The base of a healthy lifestyle starts with what you put in your mouth. For the most part, children today don’t understand why they should eat fruits and vegetables and how eating healthy affects their body. Another problem is that a lot of adults don’t fully understand this either so it’s hard for them to teach their children. So I found this article from The American Heart Association where they provide tips for teaching kids how to eat to be heart healthy. The rest of the website has some great information as well.

Staying active is another important part of living a healthy lifestyle. When I was younger, my parents always required that I be a part of some type of sport or activity. I never understood why until I grew up and realized how important being active was to being healthy. And of course just telling your child they need to be active doesn’t impact them as much if you aren’t active too. As they say ‘a family that plays together stays together’. So read this article from the USA Today and find some great way to stay active and have fun this summer as a family. Feel free to share your own ideas in the comments section.

As we know, children get tired of listening to their parents sometimes and would rather take tips from their peers. So if you’re having trouble getting through to your child, share with these tips from students Cuesta College in California. These students came up with some great ways to eat healthy while in college and the tips can also be applied to younger students who are still at home. Or you can encourage your child to take a cooking class like these students in California who are learning to cook with vegetables. When a child learns to do something themselves they become more invested in it and more prone to do it. Who know, you may even find you’ve had an amateur chef living in your home.