This month I wrote a tasty article for the Natural Awakenings magazine. Here’s the original post.

Smoothies: Easy, Kid-Friendly and Nutritious – includes 2 recipes!

Smoothies are a refreshing win-win for both parents and kids in the summer. They taste great and they’re packed with vitamins, fiber, antioxidants and protein.

While many stores carry pre-made smoothies, making them at home saves money and adds nutrition. It also presents the perfect opportunity for kids to get involved in making healthy food.

Smoothies are a “pack-and-blend” food. Just pack the blender with nutritious and delicious ingredients, press the button and they’re done! As kids become more independent, they can easily make this healthful snack for themselves.

Here are four easy ways to make them more nutritious:

1. Lower the sugar content by leaving out juice. Use water or nutrient-dense coconut water instead.
2. Increase the protein content by blending whole raw almonds, unsweetened almond butter or hemp seeds into the smoothie. Hemp seeds can be found at health-food stores. They’re high in healthful omega oils, protein and fiber, and they blend in easily.
3. Go green. A handful or two of spinach, or any other mild greens, blends easily in to a fruit smoothie. A half-cup of blueberries blended in will mask the green color, if desired.
4. Omit dairy. Give smoothies a creamy texture using bananas, hemp seeds or almond butter instead. Peel ripe bananas and place them in the freezer beforehand so they’re ready as needed.

Smoothies can be easily customized to suit individual tastes and dietary needs. Here are two easy and delicious recipes to start with.

Peach and Protein Smoothie

• 2 peaches
• 1 banana
• ¼ cup fresh or frozen mango
• 1 Tbsp hemp seeds
• 1 Tbsp almond butter or 8 raw almonds (optional)
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup water (depending on preferred consistency)

Blend and enjoy!

Power-Packed Smoothie

•  ½ banana
• ½ cup blueberries
• ½ cup strawberries
• ½ cup frozen or fresh mango
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of water (depending on preferred consistency)

Blend and enjoy!

Nina Manolson, MA, CHC, LMT is the Smokin’ Hot Mom Mentor and Family Wellness Expert. She’s the founder of SmokinHotMom.com and HealthyYummyKids.com. She helps busy moms look and feel their best, and helps them feed their kids well in a world that doesn’t. To get your F.R.E.E. Audio CD by mail and receive her healthy recipes and wellness tips click here.

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Nina Manolson, MA, is the founder of Body-Peace®.She helps women end the war with food and body and finally feel truly at home in their body—as it is.

She is known for her deeply feminist, anti-diet, body-peace® approach. She brings her 30 years of experience as a therapist, Body-Trust® Guide and Psychology of Eating Teacher to helping women create a respectful and trusting relationship with their food and body.

Nina’s Body-Peace® work is all in service of helping people get off the diet roller-coaster, and into a compassionate and powerful way of eating & living which creates a positive long-lasting change in and with their bodies. Her courses, coaching, poems and Body-Peace APP positively change the conversation that women are having with their body.

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