"Run the Rainbow, Eat the Rainbow" Giveaway in May

Two great Boston-based companies, ChopChop Magazine and New Balance have teamed up this spring to promote eating more fruits and vegetables with their “Run the Rainbow, Eat the Rainbow” contest, and a special giveaway just for FitMamaEats readers.

Run the Rainbow is reflected in New Balance’s jazzy new 890v3 Rainbow shoe. They're lightweight but have solid support with a rubber outsole for active kids...perfect for running, jumping and just playing around outside in the warmer weather that has finally arrived! Eat the Rainbow helps kids get in the habit of eating a wide palette of fruits and veggies. It's pretty amazing that the most vibrant colors are found naturally in produce thanks to hundreds of special plant chemicals. The more variety you include, the more types of these disease-fighting phytonutrients you get! Rainbow fruit kabobs are quick, easy and guaranteed to be a kid pleaser. Let's face it, we adults don't eat enough produce let alone our kids, so these recipes benefit the whole family. Here's a basic one from ChopChop Magazine:

Photo credit: TablespoonKitchen Gear: Sharp knife (supervised by an adult), cutting board, bamboo skewers

Ingredients: Purple grapes, blueberries, kiwis peeled and cut into chunks, pineapple chunks, cantaloupe chunks, raspberries or strawberries

Instructions: For each kabob, thread the fruit onto a skewer in rainbow order. Try dipping into your favorite yogurt for extra nutrients.

For more info on ChopChop Magazine, read my previous blog post with a yummy recipe for carrot cupcakes with light cream cheese yogurt frosting!

Jake testing out his new NB 890v3 shoes in gray/orange. He didn't want to wear his other sneakers after trying these on!I received a pair of sneakers and a subscription to ChopChop Magazine to promote exercise and healthy recipes in my family. Now here's your chance to win a pair of New Balance 890v3 Rainbow shoes and a one-year subscription to ChopChop Magazine (retail value $70)—you can do one or both options below:

1) Shoot me a comment below or send a private message to "Contact Me" in the left sidebar by May 24 to enter to win these two awesome items. Include your name and email address (it will not appear publicly). Also feel free to share your best family tips for eating more fruits and vegetables. Do you sneak veggies into soups or pizza, or blend fruits into smoothies? I'd love to hear your ideas and will randomly pick and contact a winner on May 27!

2) Visit www.newbalance.com/rainbow to enter the contest, which runs through May and includes a monthly prize pack including a pair of 890v3 Rainbow shoes, a one-year subscription to ChopChop, and a grand prize of a $400 gift card to a local grocery store. You must be 18 years or older to enter.

Purely Pears: Home-Delivered Meals for Baby

If you’re a busy mom of infants or toddlers, you’d probably welcome any little convenience to get through the day. A new Boston-based company Purely Pears delivers freshly prepared organic baby food to your front door. They offered me samples to taste and experience the efficiency of their delivery service. Since my son is beyond toddler, I enlisted the help of my coworker Margaret, an RN at Dana-Farber who is mom to the über-adorable 9-month-old Mayla.

Purely Pears delivers free of charge within a 20-mile radius of Boston and offers two stages. Stage 1 includes apples, pears, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, broccoli and peas. Stage 2 offers combinations like apple, sweet potato and nutmeg; peas and cinnamon; and butternut squash, apple and pear. After you place your order, it is freshly made, packed within 24 hours and delivered to your home, office or daycare in an insulated cooler. It can be refrigerated for up to 4 days.

The verdict

After trialing Purely Pears products for a week, Margaret's verdict was in. She was impressed with the overall appearance, noting the bright colors and super smooth textures of the purees. They smelled like real fruits and vegetables, which confirmed their freshness. She felt that the flavors and odors were more authentic than popular store brands. “Mayla loved every one of the flavors! It was also the first time I introduced her to spices and she ate them right up without hesitation.” Margaret said big pluses were the convenience of home delivery and knowing that high quality, fresh ingredients were used without additives. 

A lot of food!

Margaret's only negative note was that the container size of 5 oz. was a bit large as Mayla could eat at most half a container at one meal (store baby food is packaged in 2.5-3.5 oz. sizes, which would be more realistic). She had to divide the purees into 2 or 3 oz. containers so that she could refrigerate or freeze them separately and reheat only what was needed. (Margaret emailed the company to check if freezing was ok since the website did not mention this; they replied that the products were good to freeze for up to one month.)

Margaret transferred the food into smaller serving sizes.The website offers a 3-day, 7-day or 1-month supply. The 3-day supply includes nine 5-oz. containers for $29, which Margaret noted would realistically last Mayla eight days because she ate about 5-7 oz. per day. She did feel the price was steep; however the home delivery and quality made it more acceptable. Overall Margaret gave highest marks for freshness and that it passed Mayla’s taste-test with flying colors!

Photo credit: Dr. GreeneI like this concept because it supports exposing infants to great-tasting fruits and vegetables as soon as possible so they have an early positive experience...before they are introduced to cookies and other processed sweets that will win them over. The two most common problems I encounter when counseling the pediatric population is 1) overweight kids and 2) picky eaters, often with produce being the target of dislike. Most commercial jarred baby fruits and veggies don't taste great and pureeing fresh produce can be time-consuming, so Purely Pears might be a nice occasional option if you're on a budget. Also I love that they add spices, a taste that new parents may not think to expose their kids to. Spices and herbs are rich in antioxidants but have distinct and sometimes strong flavors; again, if kids are exposed early, they're more likely to accept them throughout their childhood.

Want to try for yourself? Purely Pears is offering FitMamaEats readers a special discount of a 3-day food supply for $20, which includes delivery. Just use the code FitMama20 at checkout. Another savings option is their Mombassadors program that offers discounts to you and friends that you refer into the program (good idea for moms' groups!).

Be Berry Careful at Pinkberry

It took me a while but I finally made it to a Pinkberry. The Street on Route 9 in Chestnut Hill has transformed the landscape that used to house some decent stores into a trendy and upscale strip. There's still a lot of construction underway but today I met up with fellow Healthworks fitness trainer Tracie to check out Lululemon and Pinkberry. I know that Pinkberry is insanely popular in New York City and I've been thrilled to see frozen yogurt (made with real yogurt) shops popping up around Boston. Pinkberry debuted in 2005 after much creative thought, giving as much attention to detail in the store design as the product itself. Its website states, "Pinkberry is a great tasting and healthy frozen yogurt with nonfat and lowfat flavors that are packed with live and active cultures—so much so that Pinkberry carries the seal of approval from the National Yogurt Association." Early on, Pinkberry received flak for calling its product "all natural" when it contains several additives and fillers to improve the texture, and for not containing enough active live cultures to qualify as real yogurt. It has since erased the term "all natural" and does now contain the Live and Active Cultures seal from the National Yogurt Association, meaning that it must contain at least 10 million cultures per gram at the time of manufacture. But still I'm always a skeptic about foods touted as "healthy," so I dug into Pinkberry's menu. 

PROS: Pinkberry's frozen yogurt contains several active live cultures, or probiotics, including S. thermophilus, L. bulgaricus, and L. acidophilus, which may be beneficial for digestive health and strong immune function. Most of the flavors are fat and cholesterol free and very low in sodium. There are several fresh fruit and vegetable (cucumbers and grape tomatoes!) topping choices, which add a burst of nutrients. The menu lists detailed nutrition information so you can make a very healthful, calorie-controlled choice...if you bring a calculator to do the math, as you'll see next.

CONS: The nutrition facts page lists some bizarre measurements to calculate calories. It states at the top that a standard frozen yogurt serving size is 1/2 cup, or 100 grams. It then lists Pinkberry's available sizes, followed by numbers that don't carry an explanation:

Pinkberry Serving per cup size: Mini .9 | Small 1.4 | Medium 2.3 | Large 3.7 | Take Home 7.1

A chart of all the flavors follows with the serving size in grams (varies from 96-120 grams depending on the flavor) and the calories in that serving. I'm guessing that this chart is listing an approximate 1/2 cup serving or ~100 grams, and the numbers in bold above are factors to multiply by the calories, since Pinkberry doesn't offer an exact 1/2 cup serving? So for example, the original flavor has about 100 calories per 100 grams; a small cup (100 x 1.4) is 140 calories, a medium 230 calories, and a large 370 calories. The coconut has 140 calories per 100 grams so a medium size would provide 322 calories. The toppings range from 25-100 calories per serving, if the staff are indeed sticking to one portion. But even if they do, I noticed that most customers were ordering a medium size loaded with 2-3 toppings, which could potentially add up to more than 600 calories for just a medium cup.

Left: Small original with honey almond granola 170 calories, 1 gram fat. Right: Small strawberry with strawberries, raspberries, and yogurt chips 225 calories, 3 grams fat.

Bottom Line: Pinkberry wears a health halo, which research shows can cause people to eat larger portions and more calories than a full fat/calorie food. If weight control is not your problem, then this would be a great place to enjoy a potentially nutrient-rich treat. If you are watching your weight, beware that you can't eat all you want. Stick to a small cup with one favorite topping (or 2-3 fruit or vegetable toppings), which will keep it under 300 calories.