Getting kids to eat healthily is somewhat a challenge and as parents, we can often feel guilty for not giving our children the right food. Introducing your kids to juicing is probably the easiest way to get them eating the right fruits and vegetables without them noticing, as blending can sometimes be difficult for children who struggle with textures. This blog post will provide you with easy juice recipes that kids can follow.
How to Start Juicing with Children
Why Children Should be Drinking Juice
Children who drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice from an early age are much more likely to eat more fruit and vegetables whilst growing up, thus being a healthier adult than children who don’t eat fruit and vegetables from an early age.
Drinking fresh vegetable and fruit juice will give them a high concentration of vitamins and minerals, which will be essential for healthy growth and development. You will also give their immune system a better chance of fighting of any nasty bugs.
You can introduce new foods buy disguising them with strong flavours. A good tip is disguising vegetables such as spinach and kale with lemon juice. The strong flavour of the lemon will often mask the taste of the vegetables if you get your proportions right. By doing this you will broaden your child's palette and give them a well varied balanced diet.
The first tip in getting your children to drink juice is by getting them involved in the juicing process. Get them peeling and chopping up their ingredients, this will give them a great sense of involvement and they might actually find it entertaining. You can also let them feed the ingredients into the hopper and let them watch as there fruit and veg turn into liquid.
If you are introducing your child to juicing you will want to start off simple. Use a couple of fruits and vegetables that you know they like, to begin with. Once they feel comfortable with the idea of juice, you can start introducing new flavours.
Very young children ageing around 2-3 years can become picky with their food, so to combat this put a small chunk of fruit or veg in their mouths, if they reject it that's ok don’t force them to eat it. But do try and put a small chunk of produce in their mouths every day. Your toddler will eventually learn to eat it, this gets them used to eating new food and experiencing new flavours.
Recipes
2 Carrots
2 Blood Oranges
1/4 Pineapple
Make sure to peel the oranges and pineapple before you juice. This juice will look like a darker version of orange juice you can buy from the carton.
1 Apple
1/2 Beet
3 Carrots
The beetroot will create a vibrant colour but the apples will mask the beetroot taste
1 Handful of Kale
1 Handful of spinach
1 handful of green grapes
2 Granny Smith Apples
1 Pineapple Spear
¼ Lemon
The green juice will definitely impress your kids and with a surprisingly sweet undertone, this juice will be gulped down in minutes!
As you can see the juice recipes are very simple, as young children, particular toddlers have sensitive stomachs. If you have older children, feel free to experiment with more daring fruit and vegetables. Please do remember never to substitute a child's meal for a juice and if you are introducing them to juice, your best off diluting it for the first couple goes.