"Magic" Eat-Eat Juice

A discussion on Facebook made me decide to post our smoothie recipe as well as various benefits we see from drinking smoothies.

First, my kids call all drinks "juice". We have juice, water juice, eat-eat juice (smoothies), bubble juice (anything that fizzes), tummy juice (peppermint tea), and tater juice (potato soup). The MonkeyMobile even gets "go juice" (gasoline).

Two of my kiddos have a diagnosis that lands on the autism spectrum. Most children of trauma (foster care, adoption, divorce, NICU, the list is very long!) have issues with sensory integration and need help to process what is happening around them.

Because of this, we try to be a very sensory-aware family. We use sensory-processing language and teach the children about their sensory needs and how to meet them.

One of our best tools to calm the while family down during sensory overload times is Eat-Eat Juice. It works for several reasons: working to suck thick liquids through a straw causes both sides of the brain to communicate and organize the neurons, causing a calming effect; cold is an amazing sensory awakening experience and it awakes all the receptors in the mouth, causing a calming reaction for sensory-seeking kids (especially for children who bite, scream, or chew on things...might also help with breaking the pacifier habit. I haven't tried that, but the thought just came to me.); cold and sweet together typically is better received for sensory-avoiders (don't like to get dirty, don't like touch, don't have to be touched and still say "ow") and helps them tolerate new sensory experiences a little better; finally smoothies are a great way to get fruits and some veggies in your little ones who avoid them.

Because of the calming effects, we often make smoothies right before walking out the door for a long car ride. The kids don't get their Eat-Eat juice until in their car seat/booster with their belt on. It's hard to scream and fight with your siblings if your hands are occupied with the cup, your mouth is busy slurping it, and your tummy is full sweet, nutritious yummies. :-)

We choose to use local, raw honey in our smoothies to help with our seasonal allergies. It needs to be local. The closer to your home, the better. The rationale is that bees collect pollen (which causes the allergic reaction) from local flora and it's then incorporated into the honey. Raw honey isn't pasteurized, so the allergens are still present in the honey. Consuming small amounts daily causes the body to slowly build immunities and then when the allergy season hits, the body isn't sent into panic mode.

I know that last year, my entire family was miserable all fall. This year, after several months if smoothies, we still had allergy issues but they were very manageable. We gave the toddlers only about four doses of allergy medication all season as opposed to four doses a day last year.


A few tricks I've learned:
Peel, slice and freeze the bananas before using in a smoothie.
Using frozen fruit means skipping ice, so no watered-down nutrients.
Thicker is better if using for sensory issues.
Wash out cups immediately.
Blueberries/blackberries tend to stain things easily.
Raspberries/blackberries tend to have tiny seeds that stick to teeth or get stuck in spill-proof cup regulators.
Cherries tend to need more honey to have the same "sweetness".
We use vanilla yogurt because it hides the yogurt flavor for my sensory kids.
We DON'T use Greek yogurt. We can make it plenty thick with regular and find regular on sale more often. (when you go through as much ad we do...cost starts to really add up)

Recipe (in the order I toss it in my blender):

Yields about 3 16oz servings plus 2 6oz servings....enough for all non-infants in the family.

1 cup (8oz) milk
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 cup frozen berries (strawberries, typically)
1 frozen sliced banana, breaking apart slices if needed
4-5 (to start) spinach leaves
3 Tablespoons raw, local honey

Our blender has an "ice breaker" setting which I pulse to break up frozen fruit, then I set it to "smoothie" until it's all well-blended. If the blender motor is getting hot and struggling, add a little more milk.

Pour into cups with straws and enjoy!

What do YOU put in your green smoothies?