Earlier this week our local paper, the Tulsa World, published an article about the 12 Week Health Initiative at Gabby's school, Metro Christian Academy. I wanted to share about it here on the blog since Fridays have suddenly become such a highlight. Each week well over a thousand students, faculty and parents are exposed to a delicious way to increase the amount of fruits and veggies in their diet with our Go Green Smoothie Challenge.
I've been keeping the Vita Mix busy as the kids and adults line up to guzzle down the green goodness. It took a little coaxing at first, but once they had a taste, nearly all the kids gave the thumbs up to the green smoothies, which I make with a heaping serving of spinach, strawberries, banana and orange juice.Metro's 12-week Health Initiative is a program that was created over 3 years ago to encourage healthy diets and lifestyles for students and their families. Since this is Gabby's first year at Metro, I was delighted to be asked to be part of such a great program dedicated to health education and inspiration.
I have loved watching as the kids come streaming into the lunch room, grimacing as they first see green drink being poured into sample cups, but once they try it, they are all smiles and generally come back for more. Today when I arrived at the school with my blender and ingredients in tow, some of the kids in the hall cheered and said, "She's back!! It's the green juice lady!!" Some of the older kids are throwing money at us and asking for full size cups. It's so encouraging to know these kids are realizing that good nutrition can be fun AND delicious!
In addition to the the Go Green Smoothie Challenge, Metro kids have other healthy-living challenges, such as learning about the importance of drinking more water, getting them moving with walking the school's new nature path and we have a committee that has planning underway for a school sponsored garden which will be maintained by students and parents.
This fact has surprised more than a few people, but the Go Green Challenge is sponsored by Arby's. We couldn't do it without their generous contribution. To get the exact recipe or read the Tulsa World article in it's entirety go here.
PS....to all you juicy juicers: I'm still on the juice train, although I did have to taste a few samples of the smoothies today. I feel great and already lost several pounds. I'll bring you up to date tomorrow on what I've been drinking and share a few more recipes!
How are you doing today?
