Eating healthy food in today’s fast-paced world can be a challenge.  Here are some tools to help you make sure you are eating well at home and on the go.

- Eating healthy on a budget
- Family meals
- Fruits and vegetables
- Healthy food choices
- Healthy eating for kids
- Recipes

Eating healthy on a budget

Eating healthy doesn’t have to break your budget. Following are tips to help stretch your food dollars.

• Prepare a shopping list.
• Avoid impulse purchases.
• Check the store ads and purchase sale items.
• Purchase store brands.
• Avoid shopping when you are hungry.
• Purchase fruits and vegetables in season, and use canned or frozen choices.
• Prepare meals with less meat; use more dried beans, nuts and tofu for protein.
• Reduce prepared foods and increase meals cooked from basic ingredients.
• Limit meals away from home.

Apply for food and health insurance and find resources in your neighborhood online at ParentHelp123.

Family meals

Family meals are an important part of eating healthy. Not only do children have a better diet when they eat with their family but they do better in school, learn family values and traditions and communication between children and parents improves. It’s also been shown that teenagers who eat regularly with their family are less apt to use alcohol and drugs. 

• Family meals – Learn ways to make mealtime fun for the whole family.
• Eat better, eat together. (Washington State University)

Fruits and vegetables

• More Matters® - Eating fruits and vegetables helps lower rates of stroke, cardiovascular disease and some types of cancer. 
  • Visit More Matters® to find out how many fruits and veggies you need for a healthy diet.
  • Find a local farm.
  • Join a community supported agriculture farm. (PDF)
• Local foods - Eating locally grown foods is good for your health, the environment and our local economy. Buying locally grown foods can mean your food is fresher and you know more about how it was grown. Visit a farmers market: 
  • Vancouver Farmers Market - 8th and Ester Street, Vancouver.
  • Battleground Farmers Market - SE Grace Avenue and SE Rasmussen Blvd., Battle Ground. 
  • Manor Farmers Market - Evangelical Christian Church, 179th Street and 72nd Avenue, Battleground.                    
  • Camas Farmers Market - 5th Avenue between NE Birch and Cedar, Camas.
  • Washougal Farmers Market - Reflection Plaza Main and Pendleton Way, Washougal.

Healthy food choices

• Select healthy foods - Mypyramid provides interactive tools to help you make smart choices and find a balance between food and physical activity.
• Read the label - Test your knowledge of food labels.
• Learn about portion sizes - Take the portion distortion quiz and find out how much physical activity you need to burn off the extra calories provided by today's portions.
• Eat healthy at work - Encourage your workplace to adopt healthy food guidelines and energize your vending machines using Fit Pick®.
• Prevent chronic disease - Many Americans are at risk for developing chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer or heart disease. Healthy lifestyles make a difference. The following Web sites offer information on healthy choices and reducing the chances of developing one of these chronic diseases.  
  • Everyday Choices for a Healthier Life
  • Small Steps (US Department of Health and Human Services)

Healthy eating for kids

Whether you’re feeding an infant, a toddler, or even a teenager, you’ll want to make sure your child is eating a healthy diet.  The following Web sites provide nutrition information for children of all ages.

• Young children - Nutrition information for infants and toddlers. (Washington State Department of Health) 
• School age - MyPyramid for kids helps parents and children plan a healthy day with nutrition and physical activity.
• Teens - What’s a healthy weight? How can I eat well to excel in sports? Is a vegetarian diet healthy? Get information on these topics and more at Teens Health. (Nemours foundation)

Recipes

Looking for new ways to prepare healthy foods that your family will love? The following Web sites will get you started:

• Fruits and Veggies More Matters ® (Centers for Disease Prevention)
• National Dairy Council
• Public Health Recipe Cookbook (King County, Washington)
• Recipe Finder (United States Department of Agriculture)
• Whole Grains Council Recipes