Raw Family Tips
– by Karen Ranzi
I teach a bi-annual class titled “Raw Food Fun for Kids,” a fun, lively workshop to provide children and their parents with a supportive framework for incorporating more fresh raw foods into their diet. Every class includes parents who are frustrated with their spouse and/or children who have an aversion to green leafy vegetables.
I came up with 5 tips to help kids enjoy those nutrient-dense, goul-colored friends from the plant kingdom:
1. Change the Texture
For example, a child may not like green leafy vegetables in a salad but may love them in a green smoothie, green soup, green pudding, green dip, or green dressing. My son, who is the opposite, will eat a green leafy salad jazzed up with shredded carrot, sliced tomato, and chopped radish, but will not go near a green smoothie or soup. So switch it up and see what happens with your child.
2. Make the Leafy Greens part of an Attractive Design
Encourage your kids to create artwork with their green leafy veggies. Ask them to put together a green leafy collage. When complete, the family gets to sample it together!
3. Kids love dips!
Add healthy, delicious fresh herbs and it’s even more likely they’ll dip their dark green lettuces, kale, celery, spinach or other leafy greens. If they have something really yummy to dip their fresh leafy greens into, they’ll be more likely to indulge. Favorite dips for us included those made from Raw Tahini (sesame seed paste) and Creamy Cucumber Dill (Dill is so refreshing – My daughter has always loved any dressing that is livened up with dill). Most children will be attracted to one or more of the fresh green herbs: parsley, dill, cilantro, basil, etc. Adding one of these to a new dip recipe could be the key to dipping those leafy greens! (My son adores parsley and so I’ll add loads of it to a Tabouli recipe.)
4. Get Your Kids Hungry
There’s a good chance they will eat green leafy vegetables being offered. When we would take rides as when going on field trips, I would bring some green leafy vegetables along with something more filling such as a pate or homemade nut butter. This was the perfect time for them to enjoy the greens used as a wrap!
5. Get your child working in the garden.
This is the most important of these tips. Harvesting your blooming crops together as a family will provide the profound connection to all that is Nature, and the sampling of Earth’s bounty will speak to the child about the natural food for humans.
Getting your children to love their green leafy vegetables can be a daunting task, but once they’re hooked it’s usually for life. The family and peer support in my class “Raw Food Fun for Kids” brings green leafy vegetables to life in many simple recipes. We all need to be creating this same fun environment in our homes.