Scouting Sunday (on Monday): Eat Right, Stay Healthy Brownine Girl Scout Try-It

I am still trying to both catch up and fight off an antibiotic-resistant double ear infection so posts may be delayed for a little while longer.

With all the candy and not-so-healthy foods available at Halloween, I decided to try to balance it a little with a badge for eating healthy. Here are the activities we will do.

1)The Foods We Eat: We will start this activity with a game about the USDA food pyramid. We will also discuss how ingredients are listed on food labels from the highest percentage to the lowest percentage and we will discuss the various names that are used for sugars (corn syrup, fructose, glucose, etc). We will look at various food labels and study the nutrients (vitamins, minerals) that are in the foods. Then we will put together everything we learned and choose from several food packages, which are the healthiest for us.

2)Smart Shopper: The kids will be directed to make up a list of foods that we eat through the week. We will then discuss the list and go shopping together. Each child will also be planning one entire meal for the family, based on the food pyramid, and will help prepare it. Here are some websites with kid-friendly recipes: Cooking with Kids, AllRecipes.com, and Family Fun. There are also several great kid-friendly cookbooks available as well: Everything Kids' Cookbook: From Mac ' N Cheese to Double Chocolate Chip Cookies-All You Need to Have Some Finger Lickin' Fun (Everything Kids Series), New Junior Cookbook (Better Homes & Gardens Test Kitchen), and Disney's Family Cookbook: Irresistible Recipes for You and Your Kids.

3)Dairy Foods: We will make a list of dairy foods and then gather together several of them (different cheeses, yogurt, ice cream, milk, etc) for an at-home taste test. We will also have a "yogurt making" day where we take plain yogurt and mix in a variety of different "toppings" (fruit, cereals, nuts, etc) and see which we like the best. There are milk alergies in our extended family and in at least one girl in our troop so we will not do the dairy taste test with the troop, but we will discuss the alternatives (tofu, rice milk, soy milk, other soy products, etc) and put together a taste test of these for the troop.

4)Food People: You really are "what you eat" and to reinforce this concept, we will make "people" out of pictures of the various foods we eat. The Brownie Try-It book says these pictures can be hand drawn or cut from magazines. we have an abundance of magazines, especially food-related ones, so that is where we will get our pictures from.