How to Make Fruit and Veggie Faces

This past Thursday at work, I had a girl scout troop come in to earn their snack badge. I am very grateful to my intern, who helped me coordinate activities for 16 second and third graders! For anyone looking for a fun activity with your kids or an event to run with a group of children, try making fruit and veggie faces!

Basically, I had bowls of different fruits (star fruit) and vegetables (broccoli, carrots, tomatoes, celery) cut up for them. I chose these veggies because they were the easiest for me to get together for the event. I also gave them plain hummus to use as glue (props to my intern for the suggestion). When I run something like this again, I am going to add 1-2 more fruit options. I was just going to do all veggies; however, I really wanted them to try a weird fruit (like star fruit). They all had a small empty plate and were instructed to make their own face out of the ingredients. I told everyone that we would eat the faces later and that if they put something on their plate that they didn't like, they didn't have to eat it. My main rule for them was that they couldn't say things like "eww" or "gross". All they had to say was "no thank you" or "I didn't like it". The girls were really great about this too.

I was pleasantly surprised at how creative they all were! I gave them about 15 minutes, since we had another activity to do; however, you can definitely expand the time frame. I also started the activity talking about vitamins and minerals and the benefits for our bodies. Here were some of the fun creations!

I will say I was shocked at how many girls inhaled the veggies on their plates. Some girls has also never tried raw broccoli before. A few liked it. It was nice to see some of the girls talking and munching on carrots. I was also surprised at how many girls had tried hummus at home and also how many tried it for the first time and liked it. I think this was a fun and non threatening way for getting kids to try new foods. It helped having their peers around while snacking and trying new things. At the end of the activity, I gave stickers to the "most creative face", "face that used the most ingredients", and "funniest face". The girls were all able to eat their faces after this; however, most of the kids were eating and snacking the whole time :)

Reasons Why I Love My Job

I just realized it has been waayyyy too long since my last post. Whoops :) Today as I was driving home from work, I had one of those moments where I thought about my day and said to myself, "I really love what I am doing." I always hear from friends or coworkers how much they hate their job or hate what they are doing in life right now. I feel really lucky to say not only do I love my field, but I also love working as a Retail Dietitian.

One of the first things I love is all of the connections I get to make with people. Even if it is just a passing by conversation with the same customer every single Tuesday, it is nice to think that they swing by my desk just to say hi. It is great to have other employees walk by and ask me nutrition questions or pick my brain about something. I feel like I am much more settled in my new job and people are starting to see that I really do know what I am talking about :) Today, I had one employee come by and tell me she lost 5 pounds since talking to me. Wooohoo!

Earlier at work, I did a food demonstration with hummus, veggies, and crackers. If you haven't been reading my other blogs, part of being a supermarket RD is healthy food demos. Sometimes I will make a healthy recipe in the kitchen; other days I pull products from the shelf and try to match them with coupons I have. Today happened to be Sabra hummus in my heart healthy snacking demo. As I am giving out samples, I get the few people who walk by and make a face at the mention of hummus. I also get the people who never tried hummus before and love it their first time! I had this one mom come up with her child and asked if she could take one. I was like of course, thinking it was for her. She reaches down to her child and goes, "Here, it is hummus, your favorite." It gets me all excited when kids are excited about healthy foods! Win!

Probably the most rewarding part of my day was a counseling session I had. It was a late in my shift and I was burnt out from working 10 hours already. My client was so motivated and already making lifestyle changes that it made me super excited to get to work with her. She got into some personal issues she had with food and used some of my listening and reflecting skills. We went on to talk about a few new nutritional changes she could make and I really encouraged her to keep up what she was already doing. So, as we near the end of her time, she goes on to tell me, "I just need to tell you I really appreciate all the advice you gave me. I feel like you covered everything really well. You truly listened to what I had to say and allowed me to get some things off of my heart. It feels really nice to be able to talk to someone about my health and I really appreciate you listening." Day made. That is the best part of my job. Working one-on-one with people is so rewarding for me. I get into such a groove for a counseling session that I feel like I am walking on air when I am done (I know, it is weird). I love seeing clients for follow-up and tracking the progress they made. It is so awesome to be a part of someone's journey to health.

There are a ton of other things I could go on and on about with why I love what I am doing; however, these were just the few little things that happened today that I felt the need to share :) Hope you had a great Monday as well!