by Joanna | Featured, Green Smoothies, Health, Kids, Smoothie Recipes
My son has been drinking green smoothies since he was four and he really loves them (although he sometimes complains that I give them to him all the time, LOL).
However, your children (and quite possibly your adult family members too) may be resistant to the idea to trying smoothie recipes with any green ingredients added. If that’s the situation, don’t despair!
In my experience, green fruit smoothie recipes for kids are always a success!
But, yes, you may need to use some tricks to encourage their consumption initially.
Let’s face it. Unhealthy foods are everywhere. Children are assaulted by less-than-ideal food choices wherever they go: birthday parties, convenience stores, street vendors, fast food joints, etc. Sodas, cakes, cookies, pizzas, fries, hot dogs, candy, ice cream. There is no escaping them. Not even school cafeterias are free from them. No wonder their taste buds get used to very sweet-salty-fatty foods.
The scary statistics is that 40% of the calories US children eat are nutritionally empty!
Getting children to eat healthy, balanced meals is a concern that MANY parents have. They are especially concerned about the lack of fruits and vegetables their kids are eating and it is no wonder… modern convenience foods marketed to kids are lacking in nutritional value. As a result children are not developing tastes or cravings for the nutritional powerhouse foods they need, namely fresh vegetables, fruits and leafy greens, as well as healthy whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds.
The great thing about green smoothies is that they disguise what might otherwise be considered unwelcome ingredients, including healthy leafy greens that may be eaten rarely or avoided completely.
With green smoothies, healthy nutrition is easy. With a few simple smoothie recipes, you can easily turn your blender into a tool for creating super-healthy fruit smoothie recipes for kids!
How to Get Your Kids to Love Green Smoothies?
Most kids and adults love these smoothies from the first sip and may never know they are drinking their vegetables unless you choose to tell them!
However, if you can’t get your kids to eat spinach or kale in their dinner salad (that is, if they even eat any salad at all), you will probably be doubtful whether you’ll be able to convince them to have a green smoothie – or any drink that has even a hint of green (except maybe a green Gatorade).
So, here is a motivational technique to get your kids (and yourself) to eat a lot of greens.
If your child refuses to drink green smoothies, start by making smoothies that don’t look green at all.
Start with preparing mostly sweet smoothies with lots of fruits or natural sweeteners. Children naturally love sweet taste of ripe fruit.
Then start incorporating celery in green smoothies. Celery hardly changes the color or taste of the smoothie and would be a great way to get children to start eating more of this nutrient-rich vegetable.
Start with a half or even a quarter stalk of celery. This is getting your food in the door. Your child may be suspicious about what is exactly in the smoothie, so don’t even tell him/her or let them see what is inside the blender.
Even if they don’t love it, they will not hate it either.
Once your child gets used to the celery, start adding small – and hard to detect – quantities of other greens.
Adding other color-changing ingredients, such as blueberries, will also help mask the green color that some children may find problematic.
With time, everyone in your home should get used to the taste, and even prefer it over the no-veggie version, which may start to seem too sweet and lack certain tartness. Our taste buds are really quite adaptable!
The key is to make the change gradually. Human taste buds are highly adaptable little organs, and you can reprogram them gradually. The taste buds aren’t sensitive enough to notice an addition of a small amount of new ingredients and reducing sugar. Over time, they’ll learn to enjoy the true flavor of fresh, healthy food and the lovely tastes that fresh vegetables, greens and fruits have to offer.
The good news is that taste buds adapt very quickly and within two-three weeks your child should be really enjoying more green smoothies.
More Tips to Make Sure Your Kids Drink Their Green Smoothies
Here are a few more tips to help you to get you started if you have picky eaters in your house:
* Start with preparing mostly sweet smoothies with lots of fruits. Add only a little bit of mild tasting greens (starting with celery or spinach). You may also add natural sweeteners, if you feel the smoothie is not sweet enough for your child.
* Use sweet, ripe fruits that your child loves. For example, strawberry, pineapple and blueberry are all time favorites.
* Use well ripened bananas for creamy texture.
* Think how to make the smoothie making and drinking fun. One way that may work well for younger kids, is to come up with a cool name for your smoothies. Some ideas are: Bey-blade Blaster, Enter the Dragon, Shrek’s Favorite Smoothie, Cinderella’s Cocktail, Transformer’s Fuel, or other, depending on what your child’s favorite’s characters are at the moment.
* Use a pretty glass with a straw and a cocktail drink umbrella.
* Or use a non-transparent cup with a straw to completely mask the color of the drink.
* Ask your child to drink green smoothies before the child eats other things. My son drinks a green smoothie first thing in the morning, before he eats anything else. He usually gets another glass 1 hour to 30 minutes before dinner.
* Educate your children about the benefits of drinking green smoothies. Explain it to them in simple terms. You may be surprised how eager they are to learn.
* Freeze green smoothie into a Popsicle.
* If nothing else is working, consider a reward system. Although, I am not in favor of reward systems, especially when it comes to food, however, if your child is highly defiant, and all other methods have failed, you may find that using some kind of incentive is effective. Just, please don’t use junk food as treats for reinforcing good eating habits!
For best results, it’s important invest in a quality blender. The reason being you really want a your green to be as smooth as it can be, and not all blenders will be able to handle the job of blending, e.g. kale or collard greens, to perfection.
Most likely, your child will refuse to drink anything with touch pieces of kale or celery stalk. Read my review best smoothie blenders and comparison of Blendtec vs Vitamix. Both are excellent blenders for making green smoothies.
Also, although I recommend that you start with spinach in smoothies, add different greens as well. It’s important to rotate your greens, and not use the same ones all the time.
My son loves green smoothies. No, really. He is squinting because he doesn’t want me to take a picture 😉
Delicious Smoothie Recipes for Kids (& Adults too!)
How about a healthy strawberry pineapple smoothie recipe to start off with?
The tangy taste of pineapple adds a wonderful flavor to smoothies. If you learn how to pick a pineapple that is ripe, you will also get a sweet-tasting smoothie. Cutting a pineapple ahead of time and storing the slices in an airtight container in the fridge will save time when making the smoothie. Canned pineapple often comes with added sugar or preservatives, so using it may not be such a good idea if your focus is on healthy nutrition.
Green Smoothie Recipes For Kids
Ingredients
Strawberry Banana Smoothie Recipe
- 1/2 cup strawberries
- 1 banana
- 1/2 cup of spinach leaves
- 1 cup water
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Healthy Strawberry Pineapple Smoothie
- 1 cup fresh pineapple cubes
- 1/2 cup strawberries
- 1 banana
- 1/2 cup of spinach leaves
- 1 cup water
- One to two drops of vanilla essence
- One cup of yogurt and add a teaspoon or two of honey for sweetness (optional)
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Blueberry Pudding
- 2 cups blueberries
- 1 banana
- 1 stalk of celery
- 1 cup of water
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Kiwi-Mint-Spinach Smoothie Recipe
- 2 kiwis, peeled
- 1/4 small lime, peeled
- 1 banana, peeled
- 5 to 10 mint leaves (optional, to taste, if your child enjoys mint)
- 1/2 cup fresh spinach
- 1 cup of water, almond milk, or other non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Blend well and enjoy!
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https://greenreset.com/smoothie-recipes-for-kids/
Optional Ingredients
Sweeteners. My 8-year-old finds fruit smoothies pretty sweet on their own, so I never add sweeteners, but he’s been drinking smoothies since he was four. If you are just trying to convert your kids to drinking greens, you may want to sweeten their smoothies a bit. Experiment with adding agave syrup, maple syrup, a few dried figs, or any sweetener that your child will like.
Ice. Many smoothie recipes call for ice cubes. Personally, I’m not a fan of adding ice cubes to smoothies, except in the summer. So even if I use frozen fruits, like I often do (for example, I often use mixed berries in smoothies), I usually add warm water. In my opinion, drinking a cold smoothie is not great for our body and digestion. However, many people will not drink a smoothie unless it’s ice cold.
Also, feel free to experiment and mix and match the ingredients! Have fun!
How to Make Smoothies That Are More Filling
Although many adults (and sadly, many children as well) are drinking green smoothies to help them lose weight, my son is very tall and thin, so I try various ways to add more calories to his meals.
I often add nuts, seeds and/or quick oats to smoothies to make them more filling. My son is at the age when he is growing very quickly and burning lots of calories, so I want him to have adequate amount of nutrition during the day.
One of the recent favorites in my home is this Banana-almond nut smoothie – check it out!
Really, any smoothie recipe can be adjusted to be more filling and have more “staying power” by adding one of the following ingredients:
- Substitute part of water with non-dairy milk or yogurt: oat, rice, soy, almond, hemp, coconut water, or raw nut or seed milk. Experiment with various kinds of milk. Skip cow’s milk, and try one of the various non-dairy milks available today: almond milk, organic soy milk, hemp milk, rice milk, coconut milk, or other.
- Add avocado. In addition to healthy fats, it adds wonderful creaminess to smoothies.
- Add 1/4 cup nuts or seeds, such as walnuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or ground flax seeds. Pre-soaking your seeds and nuts is recommended, but not required.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of seed or nut butter. Almond, peanut, cashew butter, tahini, etc. Avocado, whole nuts and nut butters and milks will add some healthy fats to your smoothies. These fats to improve absorption of nutrients, as well as will slow down the release of the fruit sugar into your bloodstream. Don’t overdo it, use these ingredients sparingly.
- Add 1/4 cup up to 1 cup of whole grains: oats, cooked brown rice, quinoa or other whole grains. Oats don’t need to be cooked (I use the one-minute quick oats). Other grains will need to be prepared in advance. If you have leftover grains, even better!
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
by Joanna | Featured, Green Smoothies, Health, Smoothie Recipes
Based on my 4+ years experience with smoothies, I can definitely say that drinking green smoothies is the quickest, easiest way to obtain incredible health results without a lot of fuss or effort.
Simply by adding one green smoothie to your diet every day will likely start to bring about amazing positive change in your body. When the body gets the foods it needs, it can heal itself.
Green Smoothies are fast and extremely easy to make. No matter what your schedule is, you can manage making a Green Smoothie. From start to finish, it takes less than 5 minutes, and that includes cleaning up!
I’ve been drinking them for years, and I honestly cannot remember the last time I was sick or had a cold (I used to have colds ad least 3-4 times per year. Plus I suffered from seasonal allergies and a host of other issues.)
Here is my list of why drink green smoothies in no particular order:
15+2 Reasons To Drink Green Smoothies
Start drink the smoothies 2-3 times a day, and you will experience so much more energy and health benefits that it will soon become your second nature. And – if you are overweight – you will likely start losing weight really quickly too, because you will be eating less of the fattening foods that you normally crave.
15 Reasons to Do it For Yourself and Your Family
1. Green smoothies make healthy nutrition effortless. Let’s face it: most of us are very busy these days, and healthy nutrition is one more item on the already too long to-do list (often falling to the bottom replaced by more urgent tasks). No wonder that eating enough of green leafy vegetables is often a problem with many people, especially children. Fortunately regular consumption of green smoothies forms a good habit of eating greens. After a few of weeks of drinking green smoothies, you may find yourself craving and enjoying greens. You will become addicted to them, which is a good thing!
2. Green smoothies are incredibly nutritious! Because green smoothies incorporate fresh fruits and veggies, they are usually high in vitamins A, C, K, E as well as calcium, fiber, and protein. The darker, leafy greens also provide a variety of important phytonutrients like beta-carotene and lutein, which protect our cells from damage. Some even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fats that are important to brain health and functions. Most experts agree that we need to eat fresh fruits and veggies every day. The USDA recommends that we eat at least 3 cups of the leafy green variety every week.
3. Green smoothies are easy to digest. When blended well, all the valuable nutrients in these fruits and veggies become homogenized, or divided into such small particles that it becomes easy for the body to assimilate these nutrients. The green smoothies literally start to get absorbed in your mouth!
What people don’t typically know is that the cell walls of many leafy greens are incredibly durable and hard for the body to break apart. Chewing really well helps to “break” the cell walls and allow access to the nutrition inside, but very few people chew their food that well, especially children. This is just another reason that green smoothies are so wonderful. Using a blender breaks these cell walls apart and makes these nutrient easily available. The blender “chews” the greens for you!
4. Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after. No cooking or washing pots and pans required! It’s also much easier than juicing–even the most health conscious people do not consume enough green juices on a regular basis because it takes too long to prepare them and clean the equipment after juicing. I used to do a lot of juicing in the past and I still do it, but let’s face it – it is quite time consuming and really messy. My problem is over since I started making green smoothies. Making smoothies is a super easy way to eat lots of greens, and a great alternative to juicing.
5. Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for people of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the green vegetables balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding nice zest to it. Green smoothies are simply the best tasting dishes for the majority of adults and children.
6. Green smoothies reduce cravings for sugar and other processed foods that are not good for you by flooding your body with nutrients. When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet (in the form of salad dressings and other foods you would normally eat). One reason we crave certain foods, is that these foods contain opiate-like chemicals that make you crave them. The primary addictive foods include sugar, chocolate, cheese and meat. The other reason is this: The diet that an average person consumes today is deficient in many essential nutrients. If your body does not get what it needs to function properly, it will demand you eat more and more food. Green smoothies will provide your body with the nutrients that it needs to function.
7. Green smoothies can help you lose weight by reducing those cravings that keep sabotaging your weight loss goals.
8. Green smoothies are perfect food for children of all ages, including babies of six or more months old when introducing new food to them after mother’s milk. Kids love smoothies and most will never notice they are drinking their vegetables unless you tell them! If you can’t get your kids to eat spinach or kale in their dinner salad, you will be amazed to see them relishing these very same ingredients inside a fruit smoothie. Of course, you have to be careful and slowly introduce new ingredients to avoid food allergies.
9. Green smoothies, unlike juices, are a complete food because they retain all fiber. They provide a feeling satiety, and can be used to replace meals.
10. Green smoothies are loaded with fiber, which helps improve digestion and elimination. The fiber acts like a powerful broom that sweeps the colon of toxins and waste. In each smoothie you’ll be getting plenty of FIBER – so forget about those colon cleansing supplements!
Green smoothies cleverly disguise what for some people may otherwise be unfavorable ingredients, which are essential to our health.
11.Green smoothies allow you to easily use up leftovers, such as leftover fruit and greens in the same way as you might put your leftover vegetables in a soup or stew.
12. Green smoothies can help you achieve beautiful skin, bright eyes, shiny hair, and a more youthful appearance. There is no skin cream or hair conditioner available on the market today that can compare to the beautifying effects of a regular supply of green smoothies. You will also need less makeup, deodorants and soaps.
13. Green smoothies can help you achieve overall improved health, increased energy and clear thinking. In one drink you will be consuming more nutrients than you have in a week if you live on processed foods!
14. Green smoothies will help you save energy and money. You will not you have to cook anymore and there will be little cleanup. You may notice that your tolerance to heat increased, so you won’t need air-conditioning nearly as much. You won’t need any (or take fewer) supplements. You’ll be clean and beautiful from the inside!
You may be wondering if it’s actually possible to experience all these benefits! Actually, it is . I read testimonials all the time from people all over the world who have experienced the power of raw and living foods, and I noticed that the benefits I mentioned above are the ones almost everybody who tries this way of eating experiences!
However, green smoothies habit goes well beyond adopting a few simple recipes for health and weight loss. Don’t let the simplicity of the recipes and ingredients fool you. You will see improvements in your life in many other areas, not just health and weight management.
This way of eating will affect other areas in your life too. You will cleanse and detoxify your body, and this will lead to trigger the desire to clear and cleanse your lifestyle, your relationships, your work. You are likely to experience the desire to drop unhealthy habits, open your heart more and improve your life in both large and small ways – including, perhaps, adopting a more compassionate way of eating completely vegan diet (if you aren’t already doing it).
2 Reasons to Do It For the Planet & Other Living Beings (Hint: It’s not just about YOU!)
The reasons that I already talked about should already be compelling enough to start drinking green smoothies regularly. However, there are two more reasons that I want to talk about, which go far beyond individual health and simple convenience.
1. Green smoothies are completely vegan, and therefore compassionate for all beings living on this planet. No foods derived from animals are used to make them. Some recipes in this book use non-dairy milk or yogurt, and – even if you are currently a meat and dairy eater that has never tried almond, hemp or soy milk (organic only, to avoid GMOs) – I ask you to reconsider.
Few of us question the morality of eating animals, and even people who feel it’s absolutely wrong do it anyway out of habit. Eating with a clear conscience–feeling good about everything you put in your mouth–lightens up your life. This goes beyond simple substitution one ingredient for another in the name of better health or decreased waist line, even though that will happen too.
If you are like most people, you probably don’t want to hear about the horrific treatment of animals that are raised for food. Like it or not, there are great amounts of suffering involved, and by cutting out dairy (and meat), you are reducing your involvement in that.
If you think dairy production is not cruel because no animals are killed, think again. Dairy cows are considered the most cruelly treated animals in factory farms. They are kept constantly pregnant, and their calves, considered byproducts, are separated from their mothers right after birth and put to death when they are still babies.
2. Green smoothies are completely plant-based, and therefore Earth-friendly. Eating a plant-based diet is good for our planet. Animal farming is the #1 cause of climate change in the world. In fact, it has a 40% larger carbon footprint than all transportation around the globe combined. That means that every car, truck, bus, train and plane on our planet combined is almost half as bad for our planet as modern animal farming.
It takes 2,500 gallons of water to produce a pound of meat, compared to only 25 gallons to produce a pound of plant food. 70% of the grain grown in the US is used for producing meat. Currently, a third of the land on our planet is used to raise farm animals. If that land were being used to grow plant foods that are fed directly to people, no one would have to go hungry. Fruit trees give the highest yield of any food for the space it takes up. This means much more food grown in much less space. Plus, no processing or packaging is required. When made from locally grown, organic ingredients these benefits are further multiplied.
Green Smoothies: Do it for your health, do it for the planet, do it for the animals.
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
by Joanna | Green Smoothies, Smoothie Recipes
Whether you are trying to improve your health, lose weight, get more energy, clear your skin, get sick less often – one habit that will help you tremendously to achieve your goals quickly is drinking green smoothies every day.
Most people know that to be healthy and achieve ideal weight they should be eating a healthy diet that includes loads of fresh fruits and vegetables. However few people are able to actually do that consistently each and every day AND in quantities that can really make a difference.
Forget the “apple a day keeps the doctor away” or even the 3-5 servings a day of fruits and vegetables!
To really notice a difference, you need to take MASSIVE action – which means eating LOADS of fresh RAW fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens.
Did you notice the words LOADS and RAW?!
LOADS means at least 60% or MORE of your daily caloric intake
Note: while many raw-foodists claim that 100% is best – and they may be right – it is very difficult to do for an average person – I should know because it’s VERY difficult for me, and in most cases not necessary – at least not in the beginning.
RAW means not steamed, cooked, baked or processed in any other way (although, frozen or dried are acceptable).
I know, for most people, it’s not easy to eat so much of raw stuff on a regular basis, but just like with anything else in life, you need to make a commitment and stick with it.
There are many problems we face when attempting to eat large quantities of raw vegetables – especially greens – every day:
- Most of us don’t chew well enough and long enough, so our bodies are unable to absorb as much as they should from the vegetables we eat.
- For most people salads are not very palatable unless they soak them in a fatty dressing; and consuming too much fat, even in the form of avocados or nuts, is not good for you!
- Preparing a large salad takes a lot of time, from rinsing and spinning the lettuce, chopping the vegetables, making a dressing, and most importantly: chewing it all! Who has an hour to spare every day for such a routine?
That’s one of the reasons why green smoothies have been growing in popularity so quickly among the health and weight loss enthusiasts – they are SUPER HEALTHY, SUPER EASY to make, and SUPER TASTY too!
It’s a habit that will only take 10 minutes of your time a day, and provide you with incredible benefits – it’s the highest-impact activity that you can undertake to improve your health and well-being.
What matters is that it’s a habit that will only take 10 minutes of your time a day, and yet provide you with incredible benefits – it’s the highest-impact activity that you can undertake to improve your health and well-being.
The positive effects of drinking your green smoothie that takes just 5 minutes will be felt throughout the day.
Plus, your spouse and your kids will love them, too – I promise!
So, what is a Green Smoothie?
A green smoothie is simply a fruit smoothie made with your favorite greens and veggies added in!
Greens such as kale, collards, spinach, parsley, romaine lettuce, bok choy, and other edible weeds. The darker the leaves, the more nutrients the vegetable usually has.
Some of the most delicious fruits for green smoothies are: bananas, pears, peaches, nectarines, mangoes, strawberries, blueberries, and apples. You may also try less sweet combinations with adding some non-sweet fruits and vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes, celery, beets and carrots.
I realize that the color of this tasty, tremendously beneficial drink might have you saying “No Way” to even tasting this mixture… but, you shouldn’t let the “greenness” of this smoothie keep you from all of the health benefits you will get from it! The best thing about green smoothies is that they cleverly disguise what for some people may otherwise be unfavorable ingredients.
All experts agree that we need to eat fresh fruits, veggies, and greens every day – and most of us don’t eat enough of them!
The cell walls of some leafy greens are incredibly durable and hard for the body to break apart. Chewing really well helps to “break” the cell walls and an allow access to the nutrition inside but unfortunately few people chew their food that well, especially children.
This is just another reason that green smoothies are so wonderful. Using a blender to pulverize the greens breaks these cell walls apart and gives us a nutrient boost we would not otherwise get. The blender literally “chews” the greens for you!
The idea of blending greens and other vegetables to make a healthy liquid meal, a sort of “magic potion”, is not new. If you search the web and local bookstores, you will likely find some resources about the subject. They may come under different names – some call them green smoothies, green soups, blended salads, green concoctions or whatever else – it does not matter.
Green Smoothie Recipes to Get You Started
When looking at the photos below, you may wonder where’s the green? Fact is, this is a great recipe for beginners. Berries are excellent for masking taste and color of greens in smoothies. When in doubt, leave out the greens, and just stick with celery.
This is a classic combination: strawberry and banana. Plus kale. But you won’t even notice. Or if you do, you won’t mind. I promise!
You may be wondering what do oats have to do with green smoothies, but if you try this recipe you’ll really be amazed at how good it tastes. This is a more filling smoothie, perfect for breakfast or snack.
I started adding nut butters to my son’s smoothies, and now I’m getting addicted to them. If you never tried adding almond butter, or peanut butter or other nut butter to a smoothie, you are in for a treat! Almond, peanut, hazelnut, macadamia, cashew butter, tahini, etc. – adding any of this will make your smoothie deliciously rich, creamy and distinctly buttery.
Plus, the fats in these butters will help with absorption of nutrients, and slow down the release of the fruit sugar into your bloodstream (great for people with high blood-sugar level issues).
They will also increase calories in the smoothie – something I’m looking for when making smoothies for my very active nine-year-old son. He is not a big eater in the morning, so a smoothie with nut butter, with some oats, is a good option. (If you are trying to lose weight, make sure you don’t drink too much of these rich smoothies, or cut back some in other areas.)
Questions? Comments? Suggestions?
If you have a favorite recipe, why not submit it here in the comment section of this smoothie recipes blog for others to enjoy too!
I also welcome any comments, questions and suggestions. Thanks!
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