We have recently started back on Dr. Fuhrman’s Nutritarian diet. I’m determined to keep it going this time for more than a few months. That’s hard when you have kids to feed!
I know this is going to take some work and I’m going to have to be creative as I slowly transition my kids into eating a Whole Food Plant Based diet. What is a WFPB diet? To learn more about what a Whole Food Plant diet is read Dr. Fuhrman’s book, Eat to Live. You will be glad you did!
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So many variations for Healthy Fruit & Green Smoothies
Use the recipe below as a starting point. I often change up the frozen fruit & green choices I use depending on what I have in my refrigerator. I’ll usually keep the banana, milk, flax, & orange juice as the base. The one pictured here – I just used strawberries, mango, & frozen spinach to get the great green color, but it still tasted sweet!
Transitioning to WFPB Diet with Kids
So, since I’m transitioning my kids into this WFPB lifestyle, I’m going to need to use mostly WFPB Recipes that they are going to like and maybe tweak them a little. Kind of like a step down approach.
So, this morning I wanted to see if I could get them to drink a “fruit smoothie”. We used to make them years ago and they liked them then. I don’t tell them there is greens in there and that really makes a difference with my oldest.
The other trick is to make sure you use a little more fruit to greens ratio in the beginning so it is sweet AND to make sure you blend it VERY smooth. A high powered blender is a must. I used to use a Ninja Professional blender, but recently upgraded to the Vitamix 5300 and I can tell you it is a WHOLE NEW WORLD! The smoothies are ACTUALLY smoothie and you don’t get little green bits stuck in your teeth – the Vitamix is so awesome and worth the cost!
I purchased my Vitamix at Sam’s Club for about $350 – you can also find them on Amazon and the certified refurbished ones are a little less expensive and just as good as new.
So here is the Fruit & Greens Smoothie Recipe. It is adapted from Dr. Furhman’s “Eat Your Greens Fruit Smoothie” to make a little more kid friendly for picky eaters.
Related Reading – Check out my journey on becoming WFPB diet. Start on Week 1.
Kid Tested WFPB Fruit & Greens Smoothie Recipe
- 3-4 cups of spinach or kale (frozen or fresh)
- 1 banana
- 2 cups frozen fruit (like mango, blueberries, strawberries, tropical mix, raspberries, pineapple, peaches – any mix!)
- 1 cup or more of unsweetened almond milk or soy milk (I just keep adding the milk until I get the desired consistency)
- 1/2 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (NOT store bought)
- 1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
Blend all ingredients together in a high-powered blender until smooth and creamy. Add more milk if it is too thick.
Using the tropical mix really helps sweeten it. The tropical mix we had was strawberries, pineapple, mango, and peaches. Then I added some blueberries. It was probably 1.5 cups tropical & 1/2 cup blueberries but you can use ANY fresh or frozen fruit. I like the coldness the frozen fruit give it, but it will required more milk so its not so thick.
For the fresh squeezed orange juice, don’t use store bought juice and don’t worry about having to pull out a big juicer every day. I just use a simple hand lemon squeezer like pictured to juice my oranges really quick. They USUALLY are just small enough to fit. Even if they hang over a bit, it still works.
This makes a pretty big batch. I was able to split it between myself and 2 sons, giving them a little smaller portions than myself. This was our breakfast for the day!
I didn’t tell my oldest there was spinach in there and put it in a dark colored cup. He said he really liked it and drank the whole thing!
More great kid favorite recipes:
Healthy Fruit & Greens Smoothie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup spinach or kale fresh or frozen
- 1/2 banana
- 1 cup frozen berries (strawberries, blueberries, and/or raspberries)
- 1/2 cup frozen mango
- 1 cup unsweetened almond or soy milk
- 1 orange, juiced
- 1 tbsp ground flax seed
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to a high-powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy. If you are using Frozen Fruit, then it will be thicker. You can either add more milk or orange juice to adjust the consistency, or thaw the frozen fruit in a microwave to have a thinner consistency. Tip: I use my lemon press/squeezer to juice the oranges (they are just small enough to fit usually) instead of pulling out my juicer.
- If you have picky kids, start with a small amount of greens and gradually increase as they get used to the taste.
Nutrition
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Love it! Very tasty
I’m happy to hear you enjoyed it as much as I did!
I havn’tmade the receipes, but they sound great. I live at a CCRC so usually eat at the dining rooom, but want to try to start making my own food
I’m glad you have been enjoying looking at the recipes. I hope you get a chance to start making them.