Healthy Eating Choices for Kids When Dining Out #kidslivewell

This post has been sponsored by the National Restaurant Association and Triberr. All opinions are my own and the topic is one I feel passionately about.

Do you like to dine out with your kids? In the past, it hasn't been one of our favorite things to do. You see, my kids have never been fans of chicken nuggets or fries, two staples of kids fare offered at most restaurants. So what's a mom to do when she wants to go out but can't find healthy options that her kids will eat? That is where the Kids LiveWell Program comes in. Created by the National Restaurant Association and Dining Out, the Kids LiveWell Program is a volunteer restaurant industry program committed to offering healthy food choices for kids.

The National Restaurant Association also teamed up with McCormick for Chefs to create the Kids Recipe Challenge. The challenge awards delicious and nutritious recipes from children's menus in restaurants and food service establishments. This is a chance for chefs to think outside the box, get creative and showcase their unique kids meals.

As you can imagine there were lots of great entries in the challenge. Industry professionals narrowed the field down and kids picked the four national winners. Getting kids involved at this level really helps them to think differently about food. Plus the kids just look like they had a blast tasting all the food and learning about the healthy options. Check out what I mean:

So who were the winners and what did they make that kids found so irresistible?

• Bean Sprouts Café & Cooking School The DoReForMe Sandwich is organic multi grain oat bread spread with sunflower butter and organic strawberry jam and cut into piano keysized/shaped pieces, served with a skewer of grapes and water. The pumpernickel bread is cut into smaller pieces and placed on top of the wheat bread to represent black piano keys.
• O’Charley’s The Cloudy with a Chance of Spaghetti and Meatball Pizza has grilled sirloin meatballs and spaghetti squash with tomato sauce and wholewheat pizza dough served with apple juice.
• Sysco Hampton Roads The Kids Quesa WOW Dilla is a chicken quesadilla with broccoli, chicken, peppers and corn, served with a side of grapes and water.
• UW Health The Swimming Taco is served with fresh grapes on the side and a frozen banana avocado smoothie.

Not just any kids meal can be called a Kids LiveWell meal. Here is the Nutrition Criteria for Full Kids' Meals (entrée, side option and beverage):

• 600 calories or less
• ≤ 35% of calories from total fat
• ≤ 10% of calories from saturated fat
• < 0.5 grams trans fat (artificial trans fat only)
• ≤ 35% of calories from total sugars (added and naturally occurring)
• ≤ 770 mg of sodium
• 2 or more food groups 

If you are on the go and looking for restaurants that offer healthy meal options, check out Healthy Dining Finder and download their free phone app for a list of all Kids LiveWell restaurants and menu items. 

Kids LiveWell launched in July 2011 with the goal of helping parents and kids discover healthy meal options when dining out. More than 145 brands representing 42,000 restaurant locations nationwide participate in the program.

To learn more you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

What are your favorite healthy options for kids when dining out?

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