The objective of Yo Greens is to encourage everyone, young and old, to eat their greens daily.
As a mother, I can relate to many parents’ struggles to make children eat vegetables. We try to camouflage vegetables to baked goodies, candies, chips, etc, just to provide a healthy meal or snack to our loved ones. We add chopped malunggay or carrots to our bread batter hoping that the kids will not notice or if they do, they will think it’s not so bad afterall.
Camouflaging vegetables may be fun at first but its effect is never long term. Chances are, they’ll eventually get tired of it. Also, veggies that are cooked, baked, or undergo heat will lose their nutrients by at least 25%.
Most children (and even adults) who dislike vegetables cannot stand the strong, bitter taste. But what if I tell you that you do not have to hide your vegetables anymore? What if you can serve it as it is and your family members (yes, even your husband) will still appreciate it?
When I first heard about microgreens, I became curious so I did a lot of research and tried planting and eating them on my own.
Microgreens are the younger version of the adult vegetables that we see in the market. They are usually harvested just 8-14 days from the time they were planted. Their taste is subtle and harldly noticeable — and that’s the key element — far from the bitter or yucky taste of adult veggies. My kids have tried them and although I wouldn’t say they super love it, they accept it and eat it, and that’s what really matters to me
I also interviewed a nutritionist who did some research and he told me that microgreens are packed with nutrients that are at least double to 40 times their adult counterpart. Can you imagine that? For the same amount of vegetables they eat, they gain much more benefits.
So there you have the two advantages of microgreens:
- They are more nutritious.
- They taste better.
I am not saying that we should stop eating the adult vegetables as the advantage of these is having more fiber that our body also needs.
But I am showing a possible solution to the worldwide struggle against eating veggies.
In this site, I have decided to share with you some basic things that we need for a balanced diet and how we can make it sustainable for our family. It may take more effort as I would like to encourage you to plant your own microgreens to be sure of its quality but wouldn’t we do whatever it takes to provide our family with the nutrition they need?
A balanced meal must contain at least 1 cup of vegetables which goes with other macronutrients such as protein, fats and carbohydrates. A cup of adult vegetables is around 25g at 16 calories. As for microgreens, same amount will be needed, which is 1 cup at only 6 calories. Yes, microgreens have very low calories.
Setting up and planting microgreens is simple. Maintaining it for the next 8 – 14 days will only take little time, especially once you found an efficient way to do it. You may also schedule planting once a week for the whole week’s provision. It is a fun activity and a joy to see your family enjoying the greens that you have prepared for them.