Green Smoothies and Sugar

This sounds like a good idea. However I did see on a television programme (one of these health ones) that a Mum gave her kids smoothies once a day to try and get them to eat more fruit and then her child needed fillings and her dentist said it was due to the smoothies as blending them up and drinking them made it more concentrated. Something like that anyway. Maybe check with their dentist or do some research?

I agree, that is too much sugar! What is the serving size? My six year old loves spinach, carrots and broccoli dipped in ranch dressing or plain hummus; he calls it his salad. When he was smaller, I would blanch the broccoli first, to make it more tender. Now he likes it raw. Good luck!

The thing about kids is that, typically, they'll believe whatever you tell them. Coupling that with the fact that, with smoothies, if you put the right things in (ie, bananas, which will mask the flavor of _anything_ else you add) they'll have no idea what else is in there. Trust me, just throw in some carrots and broccoli and only bananas (and, perhaps, strawberries) for fruit and they'll be none-the-wiser and you'll have significantly less sugar.

Now, I don't know if they're right there with you as you make it, but, y'know, make sure they're not, give them a smoothie and see what they say. Don't tell them until they've had several that there are basically only veggies in it. And, if for some reason they actually don't like it, chalk it up to a "bad batch" and find a happy medium.

Typically my smoothies consist of spinach, bananas, carrots, broccoli, rice milk (because I'm lactose intolerant and hate soy) perhaps a tablespoon of honey, frozen cantaloupe, a bit of ice and, on occasion, some berries; more often blueberries for their antioxidant properties. My batches usually make enough smoothie for two people. The whole thing, all together, is 53 grams of sugar, so one serving is about 26.5. Cut out the cantaloupe and you'll lose seven grams per serving. Cutting the rice milk cuts out another seven per serving. Honestly I've found that the difference between using water and rice milk for thinning is really minimal.

Checking out your second post it doesn't sound like you're really overdoing it by _too_ much, but there are obviously ways to cut it down more, as you probably should, considering how much sugar they likely get from other sources. But for further clarification ... the two servings contain 50 grams? So in each serving they'll be getting 25?

Anyhow, just my two cents; obviously you have to find what works best for you. Good luck!

Okay, so here is my opinion. Yes, they are getting a bit of sugar. Are they getting a lot of other sugars throughout the day? If this is their main source of sugar, I don't know that it is a huge issue. Of course, you could use half the fruit, as I'm not sure you could really taste banana, apple, strawberry, AND peach. Perhaps do just strawberry and peach, or banana and strawberry. Just an idea to achieve a good taste without so many fruits at once.

On the other hand, kudos to you for finding a way to sneak veggies in on your children. :flowerforyou: That should not be overlooked!

I can't do math to save my life but that doesn't work out that badly sugar-wise, right? I try to not eat more than 5g of sugar per item. I sometimes make a smoothie with 1/4 cup raspberries, 1/4 cup blueberries and 3 cups of kale/spinach/greens and tbsp of fat that works out as 5g but honestly I can't see it appealing to kids. I would just be careful on portion sizes etc. but I think that smoothies are a great way to get kids used to the taste of vegetables, but if they can eat veg as part of a meal then that may be a better option. Also just be careful you are not consuming too much raw leafy greens because it is linked to thyroid/kidney issues.

Tina, I used to use more fruit in my smoothie, but now I just use one banana. Totally sweet enough, and not a lot of sugar. I add chia seed, and a protein powder, veggies, etc.... I also add a little vinegar and lemon juice to balance out the oxilates in the spinach and Kale. Of course , never ditch the whole apple or celery, etc...for a smoothie. Always love that variety of texture as well!

As I define "smoothie," it's just blended fruit, not juicing. Is that what you mean? If so, there's nothing different about it than just eating the fruit. I can't tell here how much fruit you and your children will be eating each day--do you mean basically one serving or one fruit of each of those listed? If so, that seems completely fine and not really high at all--one serving for an adult is about .25 of the total, if I'm estimating correctly. If there's more fruit than that just think about it as you would that amount of fruit. If you mean juicing, it's different since you'd use lots more fruit than what would make a good smoothie, and it would be much more sugar intensive. I'm not really sure how to compare.

I haven't had a smoothie in a while, but I used to really like banana, berry, almond milk or milk, and lots of kale or spinach, but unfortunately the color definitely wouldn't work for a child. Tasty, though.