Serve Green Smoothies For A Preschool Snack?

Absolutely! On Green Eggs and Ham Day. Why would I go to all the trouble to read a book about trying green stuff and not offer the kids the best green food I know of? (I wouldn't offer ham, thats for sure!)

There were six kids in the class. My bravest student downed his and asked for more. The other kids asked what it tasted like and he said "strawberries". I had put mostly peaches in with the greens so that it would be bright green. My daughter polished hers off quickly as well. Three other kids tasted it and one wouldn't take a sip. I wonder what would happen if I served it regularly? I bet I could get five kids drinking green smoothie. I also served green grapes which were a big hit and since crackers are the expected type of snack I served bright green guacamole chips, not something I would personally eat, but the kids loved them and said they tasted just like Doritos.

Books for the long e sound. We were reviewing the letters s,a, and m.

Pin the egg by the ham...

Mama Bear Smoothie, Baby Bear Smoothie

Am I the only green smoothie mama who makes different smoothies for her than the kids?
I like my green smoothies to taste and look, well... green.

My husband recently drank his FIRST green smoothie at a Green Smoothie Girl demo. She makes the smoothies at her class with tons of berries so they won't be green and he really liked that. She also adds agave to some of the smoothies for the really timid and he liked that too. My husband and kids consume a lot of sugar outside the home and I think they need sweeter smoothies to enjoy them than I do. So, I make boring spinach-banana-berry smoothies for them and I get all the crazy, adventurous, good stuff with really high greens ratios.

Pina Colada *husband said this was good, but he only had one sip
2 cups water
1/3 blender parsley
2/3 blender spinach
1 1/2 Tbs flax oil
8 drops stevia
1 banana
1 pear
1 cup frozen pineapple
1 Tbs coconut milk powder
makes about 5 cups

Parsley
2 cups water
1/3 blender parsley
2/3 blender spinach
1 1/2 Tbs flax oil
8 drops stevia
2 bananas
1 pear
makes about 5 cups

Giving green smoothie to the neighbor kids, thumbs up!

Well, I did it again today.

A little 7-year old girl was playing at my house, she stopped to watch with interest as I filled my blender to the top with swiss chard and spinach. Later she came to me asking for a snack. I asked her if she would like to try green smoothie. "Sure" she said bravely, "I'll give it a try". I gave her a dixie cup, half full. She drank it all and had another cup. Then she saw the 8oz jars on the table that I had set out for my own kids. My daughter told her friend, "we have smoothie for dinner every night." Her friend's response was an envious "you get that much!", she clearly felt cheated only getting a 5oz dixie cup. I asked her if green smoothie deserves a thumbs up, she said "yes". I told her to go home and tell her mom she had chard and spinach for her afterschool snack. (the proof was on her face, heh, heh)

I gave a neighbor kid smoothie once before with similar results, he drank it all. I'm always nervous about these unexpected samples because our greens to fruit ratio is pretty high, but so far, so good.

This is the smoothie she sampled (chard-spinach-stevia-flax oil-banana-frozen peach-orange)

Green Smoothies and Breast Feeding

I've nursed four babies. And let me just say, nursing makes me HUNGRY! So hungry in fact that with the first three, nutrition went out the window in a desparate attempt just to feel full.

UNHEALTHY:
For my first three babies I doubled my portion sizes of everything. I purposely ate anything I knew was high fat and high calorie like donuts, chips, and cookies. I also added extra butter, sour cream, cream cheese, and peanut butter to everything just to get full. (I still lost weight eating this way because my metabolism was in high gear, but we all know you can't keep eating like this for long without consequences!)

HEALTHY AND EASY
With this baby, I started drinking a green smoothie everyday. Wow, I feel soooo much better! Finally, I can eat healthy while nursing!

I still have to eat a ton of extra food, twice as much in some cases, but it is usually whole grains, legumes, nuts, unprocessed meats in small amounts, salads and plenty of healthy oils (olive oil, flax oil, coconut oil) and butter which isn't ideal, but better than margarine. I eat this instead of the junk and I feel FULL. Eating twice as much food before without green smoothies still left me with overwhelming cravings and hunger, so I credit the difference to green smoothies.

I think green smoothie should be standard fare for all nursing mothers. Honestly, they should give you your first one as soon as you deliver that baby and teach you how to make one before you go home from the hospital. That is what I think. If you are feeding two, you NEED it. Green smoothie gives moms an energy boost too. And don't forget, green smoothies are weight loss enhancers, which is a big deal to most new nursing mothers.

Update:Although I'm no longer nursing I'm still trying to solve the puzzle of what would have been best to eat as a nursing mom. I always see moms who are well past that stage, who have all the answers. They say "if I had only known what I know now, I would have done it then and I would have felt so much better too..." Well, it is true, several years later with no babies, I am a much healthier eater and my health is better in every way. However, I am not going to say "if I had only known", I did know and it was too much to handle then. Having a baby is Hard Work. You feel tired and hungry because its such a physically demanding full-time job. Lots of things slide. You don't drink enough water, you snack on sugar a lot because you are weak and its hard to have resolve, you don't have time to plan and prepare the ideal food. This is what i say--do the best you can and have faith in yourself that when you are past the stage of having babies some day, things will get better. Trust me, all the exhaustion now is worth it! Kids are worth it.