How to Sneak in More Fruit & Veggies

We all know by now that we should be eating at least five servings of fruits and vegetables each day. But knowing and doing are two different things, aren’t they? Sometimes it is just not easy to get them all in there. There is this constant temptation to fill up on convenience and junk food so I found I really needed to get creative. Let me share some of the ideas and fun things I have done to “sneak” some extra fruit, veggies and nutrients into my family's diet.

1. Start the day with a breakfast smoothie. All you have to do is throw some fruits, low-fat yogurt or non-dairy milk and ice in a blender. You may also want to add a scoop of protein powder in there for good measure. Smoothies are a great way to throw in super food without the kids knowing. Just blend for a few seconds and you have the perfect breakfast ready to go.

2. Dried fruit makes an excellent snack any time of the day but be careful they are not full of added sugar! Look for things like blueberries, pineapple, coconut, goji berries and dates. Dried fruit are great oatmeal toppers.

3. Make a homemade trail mix and call it someting fun!! I like to make "monster mix" for my family. The kids take it to school and share it with their friends, it makes a great conversation piece at recess. It's kind of fun to hear their food stories when they get home and the excitement they share when they feel like they are "teaching" (as mine would call it, lol lol) their friend about their snack.

4. Hemp and ground flaxseeds are great toppers for cereal, oatmeal and yogurt. Sometimes I'll even mix them together, and throw in organic dark chocolate chunks for extra antioxidants! Chocolate always gives that little bit of excitement when trying new things especially when it comes to the kids!!

5. When my children were small, I came up with fun names for veggies and looked for fruit that was very bright and colourful. We had "night vision carrots", "super power super seeds"& "green monster spinach", to name a few. Get creative with your names! Try star-fruit, dragon fruit and papaya, they are all super colourful, juicy and full of fun! Sometimes we would play the taste testing game where we choose fresh foods, outside of our norm, sit at the table and start tasting together. It was fun to watch their palette grow and amusing to listen to them make up their own rules of the game hahaha.

Happy Adventuring!