I know the original saying is “an apple a day” but we’ve learned so much about how easy it is to nourish our bodies with leafy greens and a rainbow of colorful fruits and veggies.To raise awareness about what a nutritional powerhouse salads can be, Whole Kids Foundation® opens in a new tab is kicking off a campaign called Salad Bar Nation to challenge America to eat a salad every day. Each week we’ll feature a delicious salad recipe on our website SaladBarNation.com opens in a new tab. We’ll also make it possible for kids to eat a salad every day at school by raising $5,000,000 to fund 2,000 more salad bars in 2013. Want to help us reach our goal? Every little bit counts! You can donate online, or even via text message opens in a new tab -- it’s so easy to help kids get the fruits and veggies they need.
Whole Food Market, our founder, has been committed to improving children’s nutrition by offering salad bar grants to schools since 2010, when they joined with three other partners to form Let's Move Salad Bars to Schools opens in a new tab. To date, more than 2,200 salad bars have been provided to schools across America.
We know from a study by the Centers for Disease Control that when children have a salad bar at school they eat three times the veggies and fruit than children without a salad bar. Why? Many reasons -- one of which is the power of choice. Kids choose from a healthy selection of items. They see their friends taking something new or different and they try something new.It’s said that you have to present a child with a new food 12-25 times before they’ll try it (or grow to love it). Well, there are 175 days every school year, and what we see every day is that when you give kids good choices, they make good choices!
Salads are just as good for us big kids, too! Do you have a favorite salad recipe to share? We’d love for you to find one on our Salad Bar Nation board opens in a new tab and repin it or use the #SaladBarNation tag and pin other great salad recipes.
Whether you turn your countertop into a salad bar, visit a local restaurant or the salad bar at Whole Foods Market — aim to eat a salad every day! And if you want, slice that “apple a day” up and serve it with pecans over a bed of fresh spinach.
Here’s to a Salad Bar Nation! Share some of your favorite salads in the comments below.
