Brownies Earn Eat Right, Stay Healthy Try-It

At our last Brownie meeting on Monday, Nov. 5th, the girls earned the Try-It Eat Right, Stay Healthy. Before the meeting began, each Brownie wrote what she ate for breakfast and for lunch. In the Brownie Circle, the girls discussed nutrition and identified healthy foods. We also talked about ways to identify healthy foods. (For example, colorful foods like broccoli, apples, watermelon, are typically more healthy than non-colorful foods.) A copy of the new US nutritional guidelines and pyramid was given to each girl and we discussed what makes up the new pyramid. Each girl identified a food that is healthy in the pyramid. We also had a discussion that it is okay to dislike some healthy foods (oranges and cauliflower were the most popular), but it is important for Brownie Scouts to be courageous and try new foods.

Afterwards, the leaders taught the Brownie scouts how to read labels on food to scan for healthy ingredients and to look for unhealthy items like fat, sodium, sugar, etc..

As part of our healthy meeting, the girls ate a healthy snack, composed of cheese cubes, dried apricots, nuts, raisins, and grains.

After snack time, the leaders explained to the Brownies that they are what they eat. Each Brownie was asked to cut out healthy products from supermarket sales flyers they like and eat; and to create a "healthy body."

Below are a few photos from the project and our "healthy snack mix."

Each Brownie, at the end of the meeting, was given a copy of the U.S. Government's worksheet for kids on healthy living. The worksheet helps kids track how their food choices match up to the recommendations of MyPyramid. It also teaches kids to set goals to eat healthy food and fit in healthy activities daily. For additional copies of the worksheet, visit: http://teamnutrition.usda.gov/resources/mpk_worksheet.pdf

If your Brownie is interested in learning more about nutrition, visit the government's kids page at http://www.mypyramid.gov/kids/