Despite the best efforts of the Healthy 2010 Initiative, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported that most Americans are not getting enough fruits and vegetables a day to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

And that’s putting it mildly, considering the Initiative’s goals were not at all lofty.  As an example, the objective was that 75% of Americans over the age of 2 should consume 2 servings of fruit per day, and 50% of us should have 3 servings of vegetables a day.

However, even taking such a “baby step” approach has not had the impact the CDC had hoped for.  Specifically only 32.5% of adults eat two or more servings of fruit, while only 26.3% eat three or more servings of vegetables.

Perhaps the best approach would be to think of our children when we try to incorporate a healthy lifestyle.  Most parents will do for their children what they might not do for themselves; in other words, in trying a “family” style approach to the issue, maybe we can not only help our children reach the Initiative’s goals, but we can also make ourselves more aware of what we ourselves are putting into ourselves. And after all, the Initiative's goal is that all Americans, not just adult American's, reach the fruit and vegetable goal.

Food Consumer launched a “survey” among those we happen to know to determine how to insure a more nutritionally balanced lifestyle.  Here are some of the tips we received from those who’ve been able to “creatively” incorporate healthy eating principles:

1. Plan your meals. This one can be tough at times, because we live in a drive through society. We're busy, and so are our children. But, planning our menus is huge; flying by the seat of our pants, even though at times it may be unavoidable, is not the way to go for the long haul. Trust me: been there, tried that, it never worked.

2. Instead of focusing on a nutritionally balanced day, it may be easier (and just as healthy) to try and maintain a balanced week. After all, there will be days when all your child will want to eat is cereal. Rather than fighting him over this, just remember there are six more days in the week. Chances are he will get tired of Cheerios, and you can then introduce another food group by day. 3 or 4.

3. Try to visualize your children's eating habits as you would a marathon. Training for a long distance event like that requires specialized training that will take some time. No athlete was able to run an entire race without devoting hours to improve conditioning. The same holds true with children; we have several years to get them race worthy, and that's okay.

4. If you must, resort to subterfuge. Pam K’s approach is to shred zucchini into her spaghetti sauce and carrots into her chili; her kids are none the wiser.

5. Remember, the simpler the fruits and vegetables, the better. If we always drown the broccoli in a stick of butter, or bread, and deep fry the okra, it will be harder to help them develop a taste for simple foods.

6. That said, if your child refuses to eat broccoli lightly seasoned, then go ahead and put it in a casserole. For the sauce, you can substitute low fat soups, sour cream and cheese for the densely caloric varieties. Also, recipes calling for French fried onions taste just as good with those you saute (in olive oil) yourself.

7. If you are vegan, remember that your children need the amino acids in complete protein to help keep their growing muscles strong. The good news is that this doesn't have to come in the form of animal protein. Just consider that beans, by themselves, are not complete proteins. But if you combine them with whole grain rice? Voila. Same with peanut butter: combine it with whole grain bread to complete the amino acid puzzle. Imagine, all of that without having to "eat mor chik'n!"

Though it would be nice, encouraging kids to eat nutritionally doesn't happen through osmosis. It's a process, and as such, we will have detours and rough spots along the way. But, the key is to try and be as consistent as possible, and if need be, well . . . a little tricky.