It can be hard to get enough veggies and fruit into our diets, especially when we’re busy and when our kids may not want to eat quite what we would like them to! But without those fruits and especially those green veggies that we are missing, our bodies don’t work as well. We can get sick more often and generally feel more run down and tired. That makes it even harder to eat the good stuff… a vicious cycle, really. You may have tried vegetable juices but been put off by having to clean the juicer, by the fact that you lose the vegetable fibre during the juicing process or by the expense.
One innovative drink can really help. The Green Smoothie, first coined by Victoria Boutenko in 2004, is a delicious and easy way to incorporate more leafy veggies and more fruit into your and your children’s diet. The idea is simple: Put a handful or two of greens, some fruit and some water into your blender, and blend until creamy and frothy. The fruit camouflages the taste of the greens very nicely and you can really play with the colours getting everything from a strong bright green to a red/purple, to a chocolate brown colour.
You can play with texture too, adding more or less water to adjust thickness. The clean up is very easy: pour the smoothie straight into glasses and then add clean water and a drop of detergent to the blender – just blend it again to clean. The whole process is quicker than making a cup of tea and the blending increases absorption of the nutrients and makes the greens easy to digest.
You can play with your own ideas for smoothies or use recipes – there are even Smartphone apps for Green Smoothies. Get your kids involved in picking what goes in and in naming the resulting drink – one child I know takes great delight in making his “witch’s brew” each morning. As you and your family get more used to drinking your greens, you may find yourselves gradually increasing the amount of greens in the smoothie compared to fruit, but the important thing is that it tastes good so you want to keep drinking it. Give it a try with one of these recipes, and start to feel the benefit s to your health.
Recipes:
Banana Yum!
- 1 large handful baby spinach
- 1 large ripe banana
- 1 cup water
- Blend and enjoy! Makes 2 cups of smoothie.
Red delicious
- 1 small head red butter lettuce
- 1 red apple (cored)
- 1 handful frozen raspberries
- 1 cup water
- Blend and enjoy! Makes 3-4 cups of smoothie.
Miranda Bone APD AN
Accredited Practicing Dietitian & Accredited Nutritionist
Master of Dietetics, Bachelor of Human Nutrition
a2z Health Group,
Suite 2, 3 Male St, Brighton
Ph: (03) 9798 4081 Web: https://a2zhealthgroup.com.au/
Check out my blog: http://mirandabone.com.au/
Michael graduated with a Bachelor of Physiotherapy from Melbourne University. Since then, he has had over 21 years of experience as a physiotherapist and is also a qualified D.M.A. Clinical Pilates Practitioner.