Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Drinking Green Boosts Immune System


A few weeks ago, my 2-year-old daughter was sick. Again. She is so unlike my 5 year old boy who very seldom ever gets sick, and when he does he's over it within 24 hours. This was the third time in the last few months she had been sick. First with the flu, then with a head and chest cold, and then with a fever, swollen gums, sore mouth and sore throat. UNCLE!!!! (This last one is called the, ahem..."Coxsackie virus". Hehehe!)

This got me thinking about the immune system and how to strengthen it.

Greens provide vast amounts of nutrition and help to strengthen the immune system. Unfortunately, my kids aren't keen on nibbling rabbit food... so, I googled "green drink recipe for kids" and it came up with Dr. Oz's (as seen on Oprah) Green Drink Recipe.

Knowing my daughter's finicky taste buds, I altered the recipe in hopes that she would actually drink it! Here is my recipe...
  • 2 apples, cored
  • 2 big handfuls of spinach
  • 1 celery stick, chopped
  • 1 thumbnail length of ginger root, peeled
  • 1 lemon - juice only (use peel slice for zest)
  • 1 medium cucumber
  • 1 carrot, chopped
  • 1 ripe banana
  • Handful of strawberries
  • 8 oz container of strawberry banana yogurt
I tossed the ingredients in a blender, added a handful of ice cubes, then pureed quickly for one minute.

Well, unfortunately, she took one sip, said "Mmmmm!!" and then she was done. Yep, one sip. And the, "Mmmmmm!" must have been just to make me feel good. What a nice little girl.

So, with all the delicious green puree still sitting in the blender, I got an "ah-ha!' moment and filled my popsicle molds up and threw them in the freezer! Guess what? She likes green popsicles! Yaaaaaay!

What about you?? Do you have a great green drink recipe you would like to share? How do you help strengthen your kid's immune systems? And for Heaven's sake...how do you get your kids to eat their greens?!!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Blog Widget by LinkWithin