5 tips from a Children's Mercy chef to help adults and kids have a healthy diet

Children's Mercy Chef, Mark Mollentine, has a long history in Kansas City of creating delicious, exciting, award winning foods and sauces that are fan-favorites. He also has a passion for teaching adults and children how to eat healthy. His ground-breaking work at Children's Mercy is putting him on the map internationally for transforming typically fat-ladened, high-sugar, high-calorie cafeteria food into more healthy options. He has five tips for people who want to give it a try.

TIP #4 MAKE HEALTHY CHANGES SLOWER

Chef Mollentine suggests starting with 2 or 3 healthy changes in what foods you buy and how you will cook those foods. Then, once you master those changes, add 2 or 3 more additional healthy changes. He believes the slow start will mean a strong finish and create a long-term healthy change.

TIP #5 TRY SOMETHING NEW

He challenged parents to start their healthy change in the grocery story by trying something healthy they've never tried before. Whether it's a low-calorie, low-fat beverage or a low-calorie low-fat food or a vegetable they've never cooked with or eaten. Chef Mollentine admits that choosing fresh foods over frozen and baked over fried, and diet drinks over sugary sodas is not easy; but he insisted that it's worth it. He encouraged parents to set the example of healthy eating so the parents and their families will have a reduced risk of developing diabetes and heart disease that is often linked to high-sugar high-fat diets. Many hospitals across the U.S. are taking Chef Mollentine's advice and converting their hospital cafeteria food into a healthy menu.

See Chef Mark Mollentine's top 3 tips and the full story via KSHB.