So Ive been trying to get more greens into my son. He is pretty good, he will munch on cucumbers and loves his sautéed veggies but if the lettuce isn’t crunchy he doesn’t really want it. So I am gonna talk about first the benefits of dark green veggies (spinach, kale collard greens and so on) why we need them and how much of them we need daily. Also, how to get our little munchkins to eat them with out complaints but actually get them begging for more. You’ll get my full resources and even some cute pics!
Dark Greens:
You have your lettuces which include Romain, green leaf, butterhead, arugula. Then we go into Kale, Mustard greens, cabbage, broccoli, spinach, collard greens, Swiss chard and edible green leaves.
At this link you will find a quick view on how these vegetables are usually prepared http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/list-dark-green-leafy-vegetables-1647.html
Dark green vegetables contain tons of vitamins such as: A, C, E, K and B. In dark greens you’ll get benefits of antioxidants that can protect your cells. And they also contain high levels of fiber, iron, magnesium, potassium and calcium.
If you would like to continue your study follow this link https://www.ars.usda.gov/plains-area/gfnd/gfhnrc/docs/news-2013/dark-green-leafy-vegetables/
Now, like I said my son won’t just sit there and munch on some spinach (and usually my husband complains if I only put that on his salad 🙄 men 🤦♀️ smh) so I had to get creative. Jr lovvvvves fruit smoothies. So I decided to just blend the stuff up! He will drink two to three sippie cups full and his tummy will be happy, And I will be happy because he will be in taking his greens and not just having apple juice all day. See the problem with just juice from the store is that you get that sugar content with out any fiber and when there is no fiber it only take moments for the sugar to get sucked up. Where as the fiber will help your body slowly process sugars. So even though in the smoothie it’s still all liquified you still get all that great fiber! So real mom talk here... your child will not have a sugar high and he will have super awesome poops 💩!!
Side note: store bought juice is also all heated up so you’re getting straight sugar and no benefits from the juice. If you still want to give your child juice I suggest to water it down. They will barely know the difference if at all.
If you juice at home try to do less apples and sweet fruits and more veg like carrots, beets and greens.
So my secret to getting jr to intake good greens is to make a smoothie pretty much every day. I’ve gotten to the point where I just leave the blender on my counter (which has freed up some much needed cabinet space) and when I am done blending all I do is rinse the blender real quick. If you don’t let it sit in the sink all day it is crazy easy to rinse or give a light washing and it’s clean for the next use.
His smoothie contains:
Frozen fruit
As much spinach that I can stuff into the blender
Small handful of arugula (this does have a strong taste)
Two or three spoonfuls of whole milk yogurt
Chia seeds
Chia seeds
Children vitamins added (this is completely optional)
Spirulina powder
You could add in more veg too or different powder blends that meet your own family’s needs.
“According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, you should consume between five and 13 servings of fruits and vegetables each day. This is equivalent to about 2 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups daily, depending on the amount of calories you need to consume for your weight and level of activity.”
Now, I know a lot of moms that are like, “if the smoothie doesn’t look pink or beautiful my family won’t touch it!” Well, I get that, and trust me these smoothies will either look brown or green. But if you can get them past the color the taste is amazing they won’t care about the looks. Just don’t put it in a clear glass and they won’t even care! Or for my son I call it his green goblin smoothie or the hulks juice and I make it into a silly thing and he thinks it’s fun and hilarious.
- Rachel
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