Guest Post by Raw Melissa—Eat Your Vegetables!

Eat Your Vegetables!

By Raw Melissa

I was in the grocery store last week, checking out. I loaded my stuff onto the conveyor belt and the checker started scanning each item. Sounds normal enough, right? Well, my cart of groceries is never normal. For checkers it usually involves a lot of questioning and looking at the price reference sheets because I buy so many “unique” items. This particular day was no different. It went something like this:

First items out of the cart: 3 parsnips.

Checker: Searching price reference sheet.

Second item: 1 head of bok choy

Checker: Searching price reference sheet.

Third item: 2 artichokes.

Checker: Searching price reference sheet.

Checker: “Why do you have them in two different bags? Afraid they’ll mate?” She laughs.

Me: “My kids like them. I told them they could each get one. They wanted to put them in their own bags.”

Checker: “Your kids like these?”

Me [in an ‘I-know-it’s-crazy’ tone]: “Yeah. They do.”

Checker [incredulously]: “How’d ya do that?!”

Many professionals have differing views on how many servings of fruits and veggies kids should get. Some say five and others say up to nine. Numbers aside, the one thing the professionals and all of us parents DO agree on is that our children need MORE fruits and veggies. So let’s start there. My grocery store experience gives examples of my top two most favorite ways to get my kids to eat more fruits and veggies.

First: Pick unique items you may not know much about (and don’t worry about preparation; you can find out how to do anything on the internet!). My kids and I took a pomegranate over to a friend’s house and after sharing it with the family, it was nicknamed “cardboard” because of the white membrane in which the seeds are embedded. The great thing is, the kids really liked the exotic fruit.

Second: When you’re in the produce section, tell your kids they GET to pick their favorite fruit and veggie to take home and eat whenever they want. You might be surprised at what they choose. My son picked a package of six Asian pears once. He had them gone in two days.

Oh, by the way, “mommy” and “daddy” artichoke got eaten. I checked the fridge and there were no babies. Next time I see the checker I’ll have to tell her our little two-separate-bags plan worked.

Here are some amazingly delicious and “kid-friendly” ways to get more fruits and veggies into your kids’ diets.

Green Purple Smoothie

2 C packed fresh spinach

2 C fresh orange juice

1 fresh mango

2-3 C frozen blueberries

Blend in a blender and serve right away. You may add a banana or a tablespoon of honey if your children prefer it sweeter. This is a wonderful way to get greens down your kids without the fuss. And it’s purple – not green!

Carrot Apple Juice

3 apples

1 med-sized carrot

Put through a juicer and serve right away. If you don’t have a juicer, you can cube the carrot and apples, blend in a blender, then strain. This is a very sweet tasting juice that most kids will love and believe it or not, carrot juice is full of calcium!

Chocolate Dipping Sauce

½ C natural cocoa powder (available in health food stores)

½ C agave (natural honey-like sweetener available in all health food stores)

Whisk together until smooth. Serve in bowls with assorted cut-up fruits such as strawberries, bananas, oranges, pears, kiwis and pineapple. Shh! Don’t tell, but sometimes I serve this to my kids for dinner!

Thank you, Melissa, for the wonderful guest post! The girls and I are going to try out thie recipes this week! To learn more about Raw Melissa visit her site at RawMelissa.com or follow her on twitter: @rawmelissa.<-->

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