PARENTS know all about the veggie wars, an unspoken battle between your children and the much-despised food group.
Local mom and registered dietician, Karen Bishop, has launched three books to help your littlies change their mindset and eat healthy food with pride.
The mother of two launched her first fun read, Charlie Eats A Rainbow, in 2015.
The book sat on her PC for nearly two years before she decided to take the plunge and have it published.
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“I remember sitting on my veranda when the idea of publishing my stories came to me. Whenever I used to make up bedtime stories for my kids I always used to try and incorporate some sort of nutritional message and I found that this way the message really used to stick. I realised how many parents struggle to get their kids to eat healthy foods and thought if my stories could by any chance help them then I should possibly share them,” said Karen.
The nutritional message in her first book ‘Charlie Eats a Rainbow’ encourages children to eat more fruit and vegetables.
“My kids are so competitive that I knew the story had to be about some sort of race and winning a trophy!” said Karen.
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She then launched another two books last year, Charlie and Grizzly in February and then Mighty Max shortly thereafter.
Each of the books are just shy of 20 pages in length, are written in rhyme and are simple and easy to read. Each of the storybooks are overflowing with bold colours and beautiful artwork by the talented Heidel Dedekind.
While the first book encourages your little ones to eat more fruit and vegetables, Charlie and the Grizzly will help your children realise the importance of eating fish and omega 3 rich foods.
The third book, Might max, shows the importance of eating less junk food.
As an aid for parents, and a fun guide for children, there are helpful, illustrated tips at the end of each story.
Her fourth book, Fussy Flip, follows a little bird and the storyline is based on the fussy eater and aims to help children be more adventurous with their food choices.
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“I think with all children it is a struggle, but through stories my little ones have learnt the importance of eating certain foods,” said Karen.
As a mom, Karen joined the fray and, using her method of storytelling, came out the other end triumphant.
She said both her children agree their favourite meal is spaghetti bolognaise, which contains more vegetables than mince. Should the family choose to eat out, the go-to take-away meal, requested by her children, is the chicken and avo salad from Afro’s Chicken.
For the parents who feel they are on the losing side of this age-old battle, Karen offered these handy tips: “The two most important things to do is to eat less processed foods, such as viennas, chicken nuggets and burger patties. Rather have the protein in its natural form and encourage the intake of two fruit and three vegetables per day. You can’t have too many veggies. Most children enjoy fruit because its sweet, but the vegetables are always a challenge,” said Karen.
Each of the books are available for R100 each and can be purchased off Karen’s website, www.karenbishop.co.za. It can be delivered anywhere in the country for an extra R45 or can be collected from the Kloof Medical Centre for no extra charge. The books are also available as interactive apps on iTunes for about R37 each. These can be found by searching for ‘kids nutritional story books’.
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