Smoothies

Smoothies
Smoothies are SUPER fun for kids to create becayse with this simple formula they can be CREATIVE. And making smoothies is opportunity to discuss why we want to EAT A RAINBOW of colors. What do I mean by this?

Foods do three things for our bodies: they help us GO, GROW, and GLOW.

1. Go foods are carbohydrates that give us energy to move and keep our organs running.
2. Grow foods are proteins that we eat for growing and repairing our bodies.
3. And Glow foods are naturally colorful fruit and vegetables that offer our bodies different vitamins, minerals, and fiber (things our bodies need but cannot make on their own.)

Smoothie making turns our discussion to Glow Foods. These colorful foods help us fight off infections, keep our skin, hair, and organs healthy, our eyes sharp, our bones strong, and our intestines running well. What’s fascinating is that each color offers us something different: GREENS give us iron, potassium, calcium, vitamin B, C, E, and K (think healthy bones), REDS give A and C and help our heart. YELLOWS offer us potassium and vitamin A and C, and boost our immune system. ORANGES give us beta carotene, for our eyes. BLUES and PURPLES help out brain function. And WHITE and BROWNS (think onions) offer anti-tumor properties and help keep blood pressure and cholesterol low.

Making smoothies is a great way to drink the full range of rainbow fruit and veggie colors. Before we start making them, it’s helpful to discuss tastes - sweet, sour, salt, fat, bitter, umami (savory) - and to think about what each fruit or vegetable (and other ingredients like yogurt, peanut butter, cocoa, milks) offer your smoothie to help balance out the tastes. When a smoothie falls flat, think about these tastes - does it need more sour, more sweet, more salt, more bitter.

Students can then create their own smoothie recipe and write it up on a recipe card. Above is a smoothie chart that I created to make it simple to teach SMOOTHIE MAKING. And below is an incredible chart of the vegetable and fruit nutrition rainbow that was created by Russell van Kraayenburg for Chasing Delicious, who was so kind to offer this image for the purpose of educating kids and adults on this very topic.