You made it through the holidays and all of the delicious party foods.  Now you have a fresh start. While you think about what you serve your child on a daily basis, remember you have a fresh start as a New Year begins. A REAL opportunity to add more REAL food into your child's diet every day.  Just do it!  

Add more variety? Include more vegetables? Drink more water? Pack REAL food snacks for outside the home? Actively teach your child about REAL food? Cook more? Add superfoods? Sprout grains, nuts and seeds? Find a source for local grass-fed meat and poultry?
 

As moms, we are all in different places on the REAL food journey, but there is always more to learn and room to grow.  

Here are three suggestions for HOW you can add in more REAL foods and supercharge your child's diet starting today:

One:  Smoothies that are packed with fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, full-fat yogurt, whey protein, flax seeds, chia seeds and other nutrient-dense foods.  Go for color!  Check out some of our smoothie recipes and come up with some of your own.  Have your child help.  Start with a basic base of bananas or avocados for creaminess, low-sugar liquid like water, and deeply colored produce.  Add in spinach greens or kale every time.  Start out with a little and add a little more each week.  Have your child come up with silly names for your recipes and if she's old enough, ask her to write the recipe down so you can repeat it if you like it.  Email us ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) with any recipes you and your child come up with and we'll add them to our website with your child's name listed as the 'chef'.  Wouldn't that be fun to email to Grandma and Grandpa? Check out REAL Drinks for more ideas.

Two:  Include at least 3 colors with every snack or meal and always make one of them green.  Green vegetables are some of the most nutritious vegetables and are most often the ones left out of our diets. Chop arugula, kale, spinach, broccoli, chard and other green vegetables into small pieces.  Have them ready to add to tomato sauces, egg dishes, wrapped sandwiches, taco meat, meat loaf, hamburgers, casseroles - basically anything you can think of!  The more your child gets used to seeing greens and having to follow the 2-bite rule with each meal, the more greens will become the norm at your house.  After a while, eating greens will become second nature. Learn How to Transform your Picky Eater into an Adventurous Eater.

Three:  Grind fresh nuts and seeds to add to baked goods, pancakes, muffins and smoothies.  You will be adding healthy fats and protein.  If you soak your nuts and seeds overnight on the counter, covered with filtered water and a dash of unrefined sea salt, you will make them even more digestible by releasing the phytic acid that can interfere with mineral absorption.