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Want to sink your teeth in a few healthier food options in Detroit – and learn something about nutrition, too? Try out the Whole Foods in Midtown Detroit.
This popular grocer offers a free education series aimed at empowering parents and families to make healthy food choices. Classes are demonstration only, but parents, take note: Kids of all ages are welcome and encouraged.
Whole Foods in Detroit
Find about 15-20 food classes here each month! Topics range from reading food labels and combating cravings to superfoods or eating raw fruits and vegetables, says Dr. Akua Woolbright, community health and wellness educator. You also get tips and recipes to try at home, like how to cook greens properly – or make malt chocolate.
Looking to introduce your kids to new nutritious foods? Woolbright suggests the "color game" to make sure their kids are eating a variety of key plants. For example, orange and red foods like carrots, tomatoes and strawberries are high in vitamins A and C, while blue and purple foods (blueberries, grapes, plums, eggplant) are packed with antioxidants.
Another trick: Keep track of who has the most on their plate at mealtime, and set up a reward system for having a certain number of colors per week. "Every color is a different nutrient," Woolbright says. "We need them all to have healthy bodies."
What's coming up? Classes vary, so check ahead for the latest. (They're held in a separate facility from store, located directly on Woodward between Mack Avenue and Parsons Street, next to Bank of America.)
Woolbright hopes to offer a weeklong summer camp for parents and kids with hands-on activities, like visiting a farm or community garden.
Ultimately, she notes the key to better eating is to continue introducing kids to new, healthy options.
"When you make a grocery list or you go shopping, pick a produce that you haven't tried ever or in a very long time, because kids' taste buds do change," says Woolbright. "Bring the kids into the discussion to make it fun and give them ownership over it."
