Here's to your family's health.

One of the best things you can do for your family's nutrition is to help them eat right. The following suggestions are good ways to encourage healthy eating.

• Make half your grains whole. Choose whole-grain foods, such as whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, brown rice and low-fat popcorn more often
• Vary your veggies. Go dark green and orange with your vegetables — eat spinach, broccoli, carrots and sweet potatoes
• Focus on fruits. Eat them at meals and at snack time, too. Choose fresh, frozen, canned or dried. But go easy on the fruit juice because it's often filled with sugar
• To build strong bones, serve low-fat and fat-free milk and other milk products several times a day
• Go lean with protein. Eat lean or low-fat meat, chicken, turkey and fish. Also, change your tune with more dry beans and peas. Add chick peas, nuts or seeds to a salad; pinto beans to a burrito; or kidney beans to soup
• We all need oil. Get yours from fish, nuts, and liquid oils such as corn, soybean, canola and olive oil
• Choose foods and beverages that do not have sugar and caloric sweeteners as one of the first ingredients. Added sugars contribute calories with few, if any, additional nutrients

(Source: USDA MyPyramid website — http://mypyramid.gov)

Trying to get your kids to eat more fruits and vegetables can be a challenge. Try these 10 suggestions for success.

• Keep a bowl of fresh fruits on the counter. Refrigerate cut up fruits and vegetables in small bags for easy snacks on the run
• Serve fruits and vegetables at every meal. Add grated or cut vegetables into entrees, side dishes and soups. Top off cereal with fruits or add frozen fruits to smoothies
• Set a good example. Snack on fruit and order low-sodium, low-fat salads, soups or vegetable sides when at restaurants
• Pack the refrigerator, freezer and cupboard with pre-cut, frozen and canned vegetables so that it is easier for you to prepare meals and snacks that include vegetables
• Challenge family members to reach their daily fruits and vegetable goal. Reward the winner with a prize of his or her choice
• Ask that fruits and vegetables be offered at school functions, after-school programs and in vending machines
• Let children choose which fruits and vegetables to serve and how to incorporate them into their favorite meals
• Make fruits and vegetables fun. Try dressing up sandwiches with faces and smiles made from fruits and vegetables
• Keep trying. For some foods, it may take multiple times before a child acquires a taste for it
• Encourage friends or relatives to offer vegetables and fruits to your children

(Source: Centers for Disease Control — http://www.cdc.gov/family/parenttips/index.htm )