Refreshing Watermelon Juice Ingredients:

8 cups cubed watermelon (chilled)

5-6 leaves of fresh mint or basil

Directions: Blend the watermelon with either the mint or basil in a high speed blender until everything becomes liquid. Strain through a fine sieve or nut milk bag and either drink right away, or keep in the fridge for up to 1-2 days (it’s always best within the first 24 hours). Mint adds a super cool refreshing twist to this delicious drink. If you want to switch it up, a touch of basil is a unique way to take this juice to the next level!

Enjoy this super cooling recipe on a hot day when you need to beat the heat!

Benefits of Watermelon:

1. Hydrating (watermelon is made of 92% water!)

2. Contains high amounts of Lycopene, an antioxidant

3. High in Vitamin A, B6, and vitamin C

4. Easy to digest

5. Watermelon is rich in an amino acid called citrulline that may help move blood through your body and can lower your blood pressure.

6. Contains natural sugar and helps curb those sweet tooth cravings without the guilt!

7. Can help reduce inflammation in the body

Eat or drink watermelon this summer in abundance for your health!

We know that fruits and veggies are good for kids, but have you ever tried to get a kid to eat them? Talk about a completely different story! What if it was as easy to get kids to eat their carrots as it was chips, a cookie, or a popsicle? What if kids could eat their favorite food, and have it be healthy for them? I’m optimistic that by applying a few of these tried and true tips, your kiddo will be on the healthy train in no time (and they might even get you eating a few more servings of veggies too!), making the kitchen a place of happiness, health, and peace of mind, knowing your kids are fueling their brains, bodies and activities with the healthiest fuel on the planet. 

 Let’s dive into 15 tips and tricks to get kids engaged in the eating process, excited about different foods, and make healthy eating a delightful tradition for kids and parents all around. 

1. Rename foods to sound delicious. Call fruit “dessert”, call water “river juice”, call a plain fruit smoothie a “tropical delight”. It sounds silly, but these simple life hacks can make a huge difference in a kids perception of a certain food. 
2. Make it fun! Keep the atmosphere around food light, happy and exciting. When at all possible, try to not give negative behaviors any attention. Also with an unfamiliar food, they might not like it the first time, that’s okay, keep trying! 
3. Fruit smoothies with hidden veggies. I’m not talking about cabbage or cauliflower here. I’m talking about greens! Throwing greens into a fruit smoothie is a great way to eat up those greens without having to put a salad in front of your kids. Smoothies are a great way to mask the flavor, and enjoy every sip. PRO tip: use mild flavored greens for this, like spinach. Some greens out there are much more bitter tasting to kids and it might not be so hidden if the flavor is too strong, so choosing a mild green will go a long way to getting those servings of veggies in. 1 cup of spinach = 1 serving of vegetables.  
4. “Get-your-greens-in” pesto.  Made with spinach, kale, arugula or any other kind of green; adding in greens to your pesto is a great way to add servings of veggies for kids (and stretch the sauce out too!) Use this pesto the way you may traditionally use it, on pasta, or as a pizza sauce! 
5. Disguise veggies in other “comfort foods”. Mac and cheese with veggies in it? It can be done! Lots of creamy sauces can be made super healthy by adding steamed and pureed cauliflower or zucchini. Try steaming some cauliflower florets and blending them into a “mash” then add them into the cheesy sauce. Voila! You can also do this for alfredo, spaghetti sauces etc. Cauliflower is a somewhat neutral flavored food that can easily be added to tons of dishes! 
6. Cut food into shapes. Whether its heart shaped watermelon, or Mickey Mouse shaped blueberry pancakes. Kids LOVE shapes! Get creative with cookie-cutters to cut up some fun shaped fruits or veggies for snacks. 
7. Kale chips. Forget the veggie straws as a crunchy snack.  (They’re really just cleverly marketed potato chips). Instead throw some kale pieces in olive oil, salt, with maybe a little garlic powder and some nutritional yeast (optional) and bake in the oven on 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until crispy. These “chips” turn out healthy and delicious, making it easy to get in those servings of veggies. It’s hard to keep track of how quickly these disappear. I’ve eaten a whole tray in one sitting, before I even knew what happened! 
8. Frozen popsicles made from fresh blended fruits. Start by making a smoothie however you like it, with fresh berries, banana, maybe some mango or strawberries, and some sort of plant-based milk, then just pour into the popsicle molds and wait until the next day for them to set in the freezer. These are great things to make ahead of time for a weekend of fun in the sun. 
9. Spinach quesadillas. No matter what you’re making, throwing in some veggies that are “muted” in flavor is a great way to help your kiddo understand that veggies are here to stay. When you’re having quesadillas for dinner, they have spinach in them. When it’s spaghetti night, there are chopped zucchini and red bell peppers in the sauce. Not only does this normalize vegetables, it also begins to change kids’ palates when they are introduced to these servings of fruits or vegetables regularly. 
10. Zucchini bread. There is nothing more fun and delicious to bake than some fresh warm zucchini bread. Similar to banana bread, but with servings of veggies in each bite! Zucchini has a mild flavor that can easily be disguised in this amazing dessert. 
11. Fresh juices. Store bought juices are already processed and have lost so many of their vitamins, minerals, living enzymes and healthy impact that the original fruit or vegetable may have once had. Try juicing your own fresh fruits and vegetables to have on hand. These can be bottled and frozen for later or kept in the fridge for a few days to substitute for those sugary drinks kids always reach for! There are even reusable juice pouches that you can purchase to put your own fresh juices or smoothies in! 
12. Veggie snacks. Bite size nibbles are always a favorite with kids. Have a plate or bowl of cut up veggies and make them super available by having them already prepared in the fridge for a quick grab. Carrots and hummus, cut up watermelon, or already de-stemmed grapes are great ideas for grab and go fuel for after school snacks and quick turnarounds. 
13. Fresh lemonade. Lemons are a powerful fruit for a healthy body! Use 8 cups of water with 2 fresh squeezed lemons and a hint of natural sugar like honey, maple syrup, or coconut sugar to beat the heat and get in all the amazing benefits of this amazing fruit! Keep on hand for those hot days of summer! 
14. Fun straws, spoons or bowls. Have certain dishes that kids exclusively get to use certain items with. Have some fun fruit shaped straws that come exclusively with a smoothie. Or a special bowl that they only get to use with their fruit “dessert”. Kids will feel like they are getting something rare and exclusive, and adds tons of excitement to an otherwise normal meal. 
15. Have a “no thank you” helping. Growing up, this was a consistent tactic my parents used (and successfully I might add). If we didn’t want to eat a certain kind of food or meal, we had to eat a tiny portion of it as our “no thank you” helping. This got us as kids to at least try different foods, and over time, develop our taste buds to like that food. 

Last but certainly not least, give it time, and don’t lose heart. Taste buds take about three weeks to adjust to a new taste or way of eating but the good news is that they DO change. Give kids the delicious flavors of real fruit for a few weeks, and when they go back to having processed sugar it sometimes tastes too sweet. It’s the same with salty foods. When your kiddo is eating all the healthy snacks you’ve been replacing chips with, that first taste of a chip is going to be insanely salty. Once the taste buds change, the food preferences soon follow suit, your kid will be asking for fruits and vegetables in no time! 

What are some of the best ways to get the biggest bang for your health in a smoothie?

1) Keep it simple. contrary to trending health movements, you don’t need to add a ton of ingredients to a smoothie. Choosing a few high quality ingredients to add to your smoothie is going to allow your digestive track to get started slowly, waking up the stomach and digestive organs to let them begin their day.   Not only is it going to be faster to use fewer ingredients in the mornings when you’re rushing out the door, but your body is going to thank you when it has 2-4 ingredients instead of 10-15 ingredients to pay attention to, process, and digest. Your digestive track is waking up too.  Just like us, it wants to be gently woken up, not given a million tasks to do first thing in the morning!

2) Don’t be afraid of carbohydrates. Granted, there are healthy and unhealthy carbohydrates. Adding spoonfuls of sugar to a smoothie would not be the same as adding in a cup of nutrient packed mango! Fruits like bananas, berries, cantaloupe, mango, kiwi, pineapple, grapes, apples, watermelon, and oranges all have essential vitamins and minerals in them that we can benefit from. The carbohydrates in fruits are easy to digest, and give your brain and nervous system the healthy sugars they need to function properly. Remember the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”? Fruits should not be feared because of their sugar content. A few servings of fruit a day, added into a diet with non-processed foods like vegetables, whole grains, legumes, healthy proteins and fats is key to finding your health again and maintaining it.

Power Green Smoothie (Morning) 

2 frozen bananas

2 cups spinach

1 cup pineapple

Coconut water or unsweetened Almond milk to blend

Getting some green into your smoothie  is an amazing way to boost your health, especially if you aren’t a salad person, and that added spinach or kale is going to be the only green thing you’ll eat all day. A great tip to keep in mind for your smoothies is to save your fats and proteins (nuts, chia seeds, yogurt, protein powders) for later on in the day, when your stomach has had a little warm up.  Still want your protein smoothie? Do it as an afternoon snack. Once your digestive system is woken up with your simpler morning smoothie,  it will have plenty of digestive fluids moving and flowing, and can handle the heavier foods you’ll eat throughout the day.

Pick-me-up Berry Blast (Afternoon Snack) 

1 cup frozen mixed berries

2 frozen bananas

1 scoop protein powder

Coconut water or vanilla unsweetened almond milk to blend

…Just the snack your body needs to get you through the rest of your day; full of vitamins, minerals, healthy carbohydrates easy to digest protein, and bright living food!

Fruits and vegetables are key to a healthy happy life. At the end of the day, it matters less if you steam, sauté, blend, bake, chop, air-fry, or disguise them, than if you are just making sure they are somewhere in your every day life. The FDA recommends about 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Just by adding in 1 or two simple smoothies a day can help you meet this requirement and watch as your health improves! Choosing to replace your McMuffin or breakfast biscuit in the morning with something your body will digest easily, thrive on, and love, is one of the greatest morning routine starters you can make. Getting your day started off on the right foot can lead to a million other great choices…just think of the possibilities!

We’ve all been here. You stayed up too late watching tv and now you’ve got to wake up in a few hours. Or every night you try to get sleep but sleep evades you… Your body is tired, but your mind is wide awake, it’s 2:00 in the morning and you have to be up at 5:30am for work. 

“How can I wake up feeling rested, functional and awake tomorrow? How can I get 8 hours of refreshing sleep, when I only have 4 hours to do it in?” You ask yourself. I’ve asked this question in my own google browser too many times…

Trust me I’m no wizard, I can’t wave a magic wand and extend your alarm out  to give you four more hours of sleep while still allowing you to magically wake up in time for your job or responsibilities, but I do have some tried and true solutions to offer that will help you get the shut eye you need, train your body to sleep when it should, and perhaps by following one or all of these, allow you to get the beauty sleep you deserve. 

1. Give yourself a sleep schedule. Set a time to go to sleep and wake up every day. No matter if it’s a work day or a weekend. Routine helps condition your body to know what to do, and when. Nothing happens overnight but slowly your body will begin to adapt to whatever routine you’ve decided. You’ll begin to feel sleepy at the time that you’ve set to go to bed. This also works for you to wake up at the same time every day. If you do it often enough, you don’t even need an alarm clock! 
2. Create an evening ritual to help your body know that it’s time for bed. One hour before the time that you’ve designated that you are going to go to bed, put your phone and electronics away, turn off the TV, do your evening hygiene routine, read a book, diffuse some essential oils, whatever it is that tells you and your body that it’s time for bed. Then when it comes to that time that you set for yourself to go to bed, lie down. Even if you aren’t falling asleep right away, your body still is getting rest, and that’s a good thing. Evening rituals will condition your body to unwind in the evening so that the sleep that evades you, one day will find you again. 
3. Keep a pen and paper by your bedside table, when your mind is racing with a to-do list for tomorrow, something that bothers you, or the thing you told your work you would do but forgot, write it down. This subconsciously tells your mind that it doesn’t have to stay “on” to remember it anymore. That job is being done by the notepad and now your mind can rest. 
4. Diffuse essential oils. Oils are my best friend, I use them for everything. My favorite part of my nightly routine is picking a relaxing essential oil or blend of two oils to help me calm down for the evening and get my body ready for sleep. My favorite ones for sleep are lavender, vetiver, cedarwood and frankincense. 
5. Get away from electronic screens. There is  a reason for why I mentioned turning off electronics in your evening ritual an hour before you go to sleep. Blue light from your phone, laptop, TV, and tablet disrupts your internal clock and simulates daylight outside. When this happens, the melatonin that the pineal gland usually sectretes at night time either is secreted in smaller amounts or not at all. When this happens it’s really hard for your body to go from “awake” mode to “sleep” mode so suddenly. By turning off your electronic screens, your body gets in tune with the rhythms of nature. Naturally your body will begin to realize that when it’s dark outside, it’s time to sleep! 
6. Make sure you are getting enough Magnesium. Magnesium is an essential macro-mineral that we need in our bodies. Studies are showing that people with low magnesium levels have a harder time sleeping, struggle with insomnia, have restless leg syndrome, and can experience higher levels of anxiety and feelings of restlessness. What you might be missing is this mineral. By supplementing a good quality magnesium into your day or enhancing your diet with foods rich in magnesium, you might just help your body get that restful sleep that it needs! Here at Blossom we love Natural Calm, a high quality magnesium supplement, and eating avocados, nuts, seeds, legumes, dark chocolate (not at night), whole grains, bananas, and leafy greens to boost magnesium in our bodies. 
7. Reduce EMF exposure. More and more research is coming out about these types of energy waves and what they may be doing to our bodies. It comes to us in the form of wifi, cell towers, smart meters, microwaves and the like, and may be interfering with our bodies nervous system function. If your wifi box is near your bedroom, try moving it to a different location. Keep your laptop off at night, and your cell phone either on airplane mode or across the room from where you sleep so that this exposure can’t interfere with the sleep that you’ve earned. 
8. Aim to get sleep during the 10pm-2am window. Your body does incredible work healing, repairing, and restoring itself during this timeframe. Getting one hour of sleep during this window compares to 2 hours of sleep outside of it, as far as deep sleep, repair, and healing goes for your body. Even if your sleep is light, interrupted, intermittent or spotty during this time, at least try to get even 10 minutes of sleep during this window. Your body will thank you for it. Just choosing to spend this time laying down even if your mind is wide awake during this time has immense benefits. If your norm is only getting 2-6 hours of sleep at night, aim to get them during this window. The rest you are giving your body allows it to get to work preparing you for the next day, giving you a feeling of being refreshed and restored. 
9. Get adjusted! Chiropractic adjustments reset the nervous system and take us out of the “fight or flight” stress mode, by activating the parasympathetic or “rest, digest, and relaxation” part of our nervous system. Adjustments keep our nervous system functioning properly, keep us healthy, and help to reduce our stress response so that we are better able to be at ease and fall into that sleep state quicker, stay in it longer, so that our body can repair, mend and restore. Allowing our bodies to get the deep sleep we need so badly. 

Our bodies are so amazing. They function for us even under the most difficult situations, adapting as needed. When you can’t sleep, and you feel like it’s your body that is working against you, just know that this is not the case. Our bodies always work for us. They are always supporting us, helping us, and always have our back. Know that when you can’t get any sleep it isn’t your body that is the enemy, because they would never betray us. Something else is amiss. Thank your body for the work it has done for you, and then decide that together, you and your body are going to figure out the solution to whatever is the culprit. Know that your body is an amazing warrior fighting alongside you to find the rest you deserve, and together you’ll discover the answers that work for you. Test the solutions provided above, add your own solutions that you have discovered, and rest easy.