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Supernoots: Helping kids understand nutrition

Posted on Mar 26th 2008 10:15AM by Bethany Sanders

Filed Under: Healthy Kids, Diet & Weight Loss, Reviews & Products, Nutrition & Supplements

It gives me a little thrill every time I hear my preschooler turn down a treat, saying, "No thank you, I've had enough sugar today." She really seems to be developing a good sense of "every day" foods and "sometimes" foods, without us having to remind her.

Kids can be taught good nutrition, and they can learn the basic principles behind it fairly early. Though you don't need to buy a special tool to teach kids about healthy eating, visuals can make things more fun. That's where charting systems like Supernoots come in. Supernoots is a magnet set geared toward children to help them keep track of their healthy eating habits. Whenever they have a serving of grains, fruits, or veggies, for instance, they move their magnet to the appropriate spot on the chart.

Some kids really respond to these kinds of systems, and if yours does, Supernoots could be an effective tool in teaching them lifelong healthy eating habits.

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Tags: childhood nutrition, ChildhoodNutrition, feeding children, FeedingChildren, food groups, FoodGroups, healthy eating, HealthyEating, nutrition, supernoots

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Lori Liakonis 3-26-2008 @ 9:15PM

Hi, Bethany! My name is Lori Liakonis, co-creator of SuperNoots. Thanks so much for bringing SuperNoots to attention. We just started our little 'movement,' and so far, we've been amazed at all the positive feedback we've received, mostly because SuperNoots focuses on educating and empowering kids, a little different from a lot of programs out there. My business partner, Victoria, and I want to extend a big 'thanks' to you for recognizing our hard work and devotion to creating lifelong healthy eating habits for kids. Lori

marcie0305 3-26-2008 @ 10:28PM

Hi Lori! Good job. I had a hard time trying to get a good close-up of your product on your website but overall I think it's great :)

What I struggle with is: the difference between eating fruit cocktail in a can and eating a fresh, locally-grown strawberry in season: two different things.

Parents should (IMO) consider most "processed" foods in the "snack" category - and fresh foods a higher priority.

Your thoughts?

~Marcie
http://feedingblackmail.blogspot.com/

Lori Liakonis 3-26-2008 @ 10:57PM

Hey, Marcie! Thanks for the positive words, and I will definitely tell my business partner about getting a close up view of our stuff... she's the graphic designer and controller of all things technical :)

Judging by what you wrote, I'm guessing you probably shop on the periphery of the grocery store, buying fresh foods of the healthy sort. When it comes to 'fruit in a can' and processed foods, you are SO right... a huge difference in both taste and nutritional value. This is my personal opinion and also a part of my own personal value set, but let me explain why we kept it out of SuperNoots.

We kept it simple so kids could succeed. We tried working out serving sizes and 'fresh versus processed' for SuperNoots, but it kept getting in the way of our main message. We want kids to educate themselves on which foods are healthy, and also motivate themselves by choosing their own food.

So, with SuperNoots, kids will be eating fruit cocktail and moving magnets, but they're also learning that fruit is part of a balanced diet and for some kids that truly lack nutrition-know-how, then those kids will learn what foods count as a fruit.

Hopefully in the long run, kids will grow to love healthy eating and educate themselves even more on better ways to serve their bodies. That's where they will hopefully meet us... in the fresh produce section of the grocery store!

Marcie, thank you so much for visiting our site and giving us feedback. We are just getting started, and it's talking to people like you that gives a little more life to SuperNoots, thereby helping kids achieve those lifelong healthy eating habits.

Best,
Lori Liakonis, co-creator of SuperNoots