(NAPSA)—Adding calcium to your child’s diet can be easy when you serve tasty meals and snacks that are fun, too. Calcium is good for children’s bones and teeth, and studies show that getting enough calcium is good for heart health. Yet most children do not get enough calcium in their diet. In fact, it’s believed about 30 percent of kids ages oneto five, 70 percent of preteen girls and nearly seven out of 10 teenage boys do not eat enough dairy or calcium. That’s where the 3-A-Day program comesin. Theinitiative was created as a simple reminder for families to be sure they eat three daily servings of dairy foods. Three servings of dairy a day provide kids with a powerful package of nine essential nutrients including calcium, potassium, phosphorus, protein, and the vitamins D, B, B12, riboflavin and niacin. Oneof the best ways to get kids to eat more dairy is to serve them cheese. It’s good for children’s overall health, it’s high in calcium, and it can be fun to eat. For instance, one company makes a full line of individually wrapped snack cheese under the name Frigo Cheese Heads. It includes string cheese, Mini Bars and Snack Sticks. The fun, healthy snacks can be packed in lunch boxes, served for breakfast or eaten on the go as a quick energy boost. They can makeit easier for kids to get the calcium they need— a one-ounce serving provides 20 percent of the recommended daily value of the nutrient. Try these tips for adding calcium to your child’s diet throughout the day: Lunch Try a tortilla wrapped around a slice of turkey and a Colby Jack cheesestick. There are a number of fun ways to get children to eat three servings of dairy food every day. Peel apart a stick of string cheese and melt on top of a frozen pizza for an extra cheesy treat. After School Snacks Offer your children healthful snack choices after school. Try Mini Bars or string cheese with wholegrain crackers, pretzels, graham crackers or carrot sticks. Top a toasted bagel with Light string cheese for a quick, handheld snack. An added bonus to serving Frigo Cheese Heads: Get a fivedollar rebate on the DVD/video of the popular Pixar movie, “The Incredibles.” Families can munch on fun cheese snacks and watch the adventures of retired superheroes called back to action. Your kids may even learn some lessons about healthy approachesto life in the process. The animated tale focuses on the importance of being true to yourself, working together as a family and the valueof love, respect and dedication. Look for specially marked packages of the cheese for moredetails. For more information, visit www.frigocheeseheads.com or www.3aday.org. Editor’s Note: Specially marked packages of Frigo Cheese Heads, featuring the DVD /videooffer, will start appearing on shelves in February. The DVD video will be released in March.
