The trick to getting a family to eat more fruits and vegetables is making food more fun and an easy-to-prepare part of daily meals.

"Including a colorful variety of fruits and vegetables in meals and snacks can help crowd out calorie-dense foods that provide too many calories and too few nutrients. That's a big step forward in the fight against obesity," said Elizabeth Pivonka, president of the Produce for Better Health Foundation.

Here are some tips on how to do that:

•Include a tray of fresh and marinated vegetables with low-fat dips as an appetizer.

•Start the meal with a hearty broth-based vegetable soup.

•Prepare a bowl of fresh fruit and keep it filled throughout the day for snacks.

•Increase the amount of vegetables and fruits in stuffing recipes. Use apples, pears, mushrooms, celery, onions or peppers.

•Bake sliced sweet potatoes with orange segments or apple slices and a little orange juice, brown sugar and a dab of butter.

•Prepare a spinach salad as a side dish. It can be made easily with ready-to-serve baby spinach, sliced mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, sliced red onion and a few toasted walnuts.

•Add a fruit salad with a scoop of sherbet to dessert menus. Frozen berries, cherries, melon balls and peaches make easy additions to fresh fruits. A squeeze of lemon or orange juice keeps colors bright.

For more healthy-eating advice and recipes, visit www.5aday.org.

This story is provided by State Point Media.