Dr. Mai Uchida’s grandmother encouraged her to “eat your food as if you are painting a picture in your stomach.”

The idea was to picture each food as a paint color. So she imagined the reds from a tomato as roses in her stomach, the brown of the rice filling in the soil for those roses, and the yellow from yolk eggs getting transformed into butterflies swooping around the roses. In no time, the meal had translated into a painting, and in the process, Mai had been encouraged to eat a healthy rainbow of colors. Try stomach painting at your table. Ask family members to share images of what each color of their food might paint in their stomach. If they are so inspired, they can also draw, sew or cook the images!

This idea is adapted from Anne Fishel’s book, Home for Dinner: Mixing Food, Fun, and Conversation for Healthier Families and Happier Kids.