Parents have a difficult job. Fear is everywhere, and if we
responded to all the adverts around us, making us afraid of the air we
breathe and the water we drink, we'd live a sad, drab life. Most of us
struggle to find the right food for our children. They need liquid, they
need vitamins, they need fiber and they need protein. Sadly many of the
popular drinks contain only carbohydrates, and rather too much of that,
they are also expensive. I found that my kids would drink cans, but
they had learned so much about pollution at school that when I suggested
water as a substitute they thought I was mad.
The problem with cola/soda is that it's sweet and kids get used to that. It can also contain caffeine which has more effect on small bodies than it does on adults. In fact when you get right down to it, you wonder why we let them drink it all. There are many alternatives. Sparkling water is one, smoothies are another.
Most of us think of smoothies as creamy drinks, and this is great initially when you are persuading your kids to try them out. Imagine if you could persuade your children to drink something which supplied them with the water they needed AND lots of minerals and vitamins, without the caffeine and excessive sweetness? Guess what? That ideal drink's a smoothie, so you'll need a blender.
Take a look at any smoothie recipe and one thing that will jump right out at you is the sugar content. Although smoothies are made with real fruit, modern tastes seem to prefer food which is far sweeter. The good things about this is that the sweet tooth is learned, so it can be unlearned. Ask anyone from outside the USA and they'll tell you that everything here tastes sweet to them, often too sweet, in comparison to the food in other countries. You will have to sweeten smoothies to get your kids to drink them at first, but don't copy recipes slavishly. Try to reduce the sweet element little by little. If you start with ice cream (which has already been sweetened) you'll be fine, but when you use fruit with yogurt, it needs a little something, so why not try honey? Honey is sweet but unlike sugar it does at least contain some minerals and vitamins, so it's a step in the right direction. The real trick is to slowly reduce the amount of sweetener in the smoothie until you get to the point where you can rely on the fruit alone. Not something that will happen overnight, but well worth doing.
Here are three smoothie recipes to help with the process.
1. The original ice cream drink. It's important to use strawberries and bananas here because they are nice familiar fruits - don't try to introduce anything weird or wonderful. If you can't get strawberries because of the time of year, frozen ones taste great.
Strawberry and Banana Ice Cream Drink
1 large banana
2 scoops of vanilla ice cream
3-4 fresh strawberries
Blend them all to make a refreshing drink that's great for the summer.
2. Staying with nice, familiar strawberries, blend them with fruit juice and start to introduce some other fruit.
Pineapple and Strawberry Smoothie
8 large strawberries
1/2 banana
3 pineapple slices
1 cup of apple juice (no added sweetener)
If this isn't sweet enough, try adding just a little honey.
Blend it all together until smooth and then add 1 cup of crushed ice as the final touch.
3. This last recipe introduces melon. I love the taste of melon, especially water melon, but I've never been able to persuade my kids to eat it. This recipe had the opposite effect. They liked the drink and so were curious about the fruit. The happy result is a house full of melon eaters.
Strawberry Fair
2 cups fresh strawberries hulled and chopped
1 cup apple juice
1/2 melon peeled and chopped into chunks.
As always, add honey if required.
I like to add ice cubes once the fruit is all smushed (technical term) together, the kids seem to enjoy the destruction involved!
Weaning your kids off cola is no easy job, but it's very worthwhile, especially if you can do it by introducing smoothies. You might just succeed in teaching them that not everything that's good for you tastes bad.
The problem with cola/soda is that it's sweet and kids get used to that. It can also contain caffeine which has more effect on small bodies than it does on adults. In fact when you get right down to it, you wonder why we let them drink it all. There are many alternatives. Sparkling water is one, smoothies are another.
Most of us think of smoothies as creamy drinks, and this is great initially when you are persuading your kids to try them out. Imagine if you could persuade your children to drink something which supplied them with the water they needed AND lots of minerals and vitamins, without the caffeine and excessive sweetness? Guess what? That ideal drink's a smoothie, so you'll need a blender.
Take a look at any smoothie recipe and one thing that will jump right out at you is the sugar content. Although smoothies are made with real fruit, modern tastes seem to prefer food which is far sweeter. The good things about this is that the sweet tooth is learned, so it can be unlearned. Ask anyone from outside the USA and they'll tell you that everything here tastes sweet to them, often too sweet, in comparison to the food in other countries. You will have to sweeten smoothies to get your kids to drink them at first, but don't copy recipes slavishly. Try to reduce the sweet element little by little. If you start with ice cream (which has already been sweetened) you'll be fine, but when you use fruit with yogurt, it needs a little something, so why not try honey? Honey is sweet but unlike sugar it does at least contain some minerals and vitamins, so it's a step in the right direction. The real trick is to slowly reduce the amount of sweetener in the smoothie until you get to the point where you can rely on the fruit alone. Not something that will happen overnight, but well worth doing.
Here are three smoothie recipes to help with the process.
1. The original ice cream drink. It's important to use strawberries and bananas here because they are nice familiar fruits - don't try to introduce anything weird or wonderful. If you can't get strawberries because of the time of year, frozen ones taste great.
Strawberry and Banana Ice Cream Drink
1 large banana
2 scoops of vanilla ice cream
3-4 fresh strawberries
Blend them all to make a refreshing drink that's great for the summer.
2. Staying with nice, familiar strawberries, blend them with fruit juice and start to introduce some other fruit.
Pineapple and Strawberry Smoothie
8 large strawberries
1/2 banana
3 pineapple slices
1 cup of apple juice (no added sweetener)
If this isn't sweet enough, try adding just a little honey.
Blend it all together until smooth and then add 1 cup of crushed ice as the final touch.
3. This last recipe introduces melon. I love the taste of melon, especially water melon, but I've never been able to persuade my kids to eat it. This recipe had the opposite effect. They liked the drink and so were curious about the fruit. The happy result is a house full of melon eaters.
Strawberry Fair
2 cups fresh strawberries hulled and chopped
1 cup apple juice
1/2 melon peeled and chopped into chunks.
As always, add honey if required.
I like to add ice cubes once the fruit is all smushed (technical term) together, the kids seem to enjoy the destruction involved!
Weaning your kids off cola is no easy job, but it's very worthwhile, especially if you can do it by introducing smoothies. You might just succeed in teaching them that not everything that's good for you tastes bad.
For more information on vita mix blenders or a vegetable juicer, contact Emma Greenwood at Fresh Start Juicers.
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