High Fiber Broccoli Smoothie Recipe for Kids

This High Fiber Broccoli Smoothie Recipe is an easy way to add more fiber to your kids diet!

Some days it’s hard to get much fiber into the kids. This can definitely be a problem, as fiber is essential for good digestion.  Kids fiber needs vary from kid to kid, but a good rule of thumb is 5+ their age.  So, if I have a 5 year old, 10 grams of fiber per day is a good guideline.

Fiber has a lot of health benefits besides just helping with constipation:

• Fiber slows digestion so the glucose can enter the bloodstream more slowly; helps to control blood sugars.
• Helps prevent overeating because you feel full and helps maintain a healthy weight.
• Can help lower cholesterol
• Helps maintain bowel health

What is fiber?

Dietary fiber includes all parts of plant foods that your body can’t digest or absorb. Unlike other food components, such as fats, proteins or carbohydrates — which your body breaks down and absorbs — fiber isn’t digested by your body. Instead, it passes relatively intact through your digestive track.

Including a lot of fiber in your diet is definitely a healthy way to eat.  You can find it in a variety of foods, such as:

• Broccoli (3 grams for  cup)
• Cherries (3 grams per cup)
• Banana (3 grams for 1 medium banana)
• Avocado ( 14 grams for 1 avocado!)
• Flax meal (1/4 cup ground flax, 7 grams of fiber)

So, we put all these fiber rich foods into a smoothie!  If you haven’t used broccoli in a smoothie before, you really can’t taste it with the flavors of the fruit.  It is however helpful to have a really good blender so you don’t have broccoli florets, or chunks that won’t fit through your straw.

Give this smoothie a try!  Let us know what your kids think!