Making healthier choices with the VonShef Ultrablend.

If you’re a parent or carer of small people you’ll be very aware of the recent NHS Healthy Eating campaign.
You know it, the one with the catchy jingle
“Look for 100 calorie snacks, two a day max”

This campaign got me thinking, as well as singing.
When did snacks become such a ‘thing’?

For fear of sounding old, when I grew up we didn’t have snacks as standard.
We had three meals a day and maybe a treat on occasion but we didn’t ‘snack’.

Now snacks are as expected as breakfast, lunch and dinner.
It’s like two extra mealtimes in a day.

We all know I’m not the sanctimonious sort – I am as guilty as anyone for creating this ‘snack’ culture in my children.

We’re out having coffee, have a snack!
A quiet bit during a wedding/baptism/nativity? Have a snack!
A snack for containment purposes whilse out and about.

I was giving them snacks without thinking, without considering how much they’d had to eat already or whether they were going to eat again soon.

It was only when they were both home over Christmas and they were asking for snacks half hour after their breakfast that I’d realised I’d gotten them into poor eating habits.
The kind of habits I’d hoped to avoid in order that they shouldn’t end up fat like me.

I decided I was going to do something about it, I’m turning 40 this year and I’d like to lose weight. I’d also like to be a healthy example to my children.

Part of my plan included cutting out snacks and so I decided to do the same with the children, cutting out biscuits and brioche and attempting to replace them with something a bit better.

VonShef got in touch asking if I’d review their UltraBlend smoothie maker and I felt a cunning plan start to form…

Now, as an ex Slimming World member I find myself coming out in cold sweats when I think of blending fruit and veg.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT’S GONE FROM BEING SYN FREE TO BEING WORSE THAN CHOCOLATE COVERED CHOCOLATE. 

But now, as a sensible member of society, I realise that everything is OK in moderation and that my children will get more goodness from blended fruit and veg than none at all.

The Smoothie Maker

Sleek and compact, the UltraBlend doesn’t take up a lot of space and isn’t ugly – always a win.
It comes with a 500ml and 800ml cup, a spill proof lid for storage and one for drinking.
Fill the cup, whack it on, twist it and off you go.

Our first smoothie

A big handful of frozen red berries, a dollop of fat free natural yogurt, some spinach leaves and a dash of honey.

I’ll be honest, it was….worthy. And a little tart.
Not our most successful moment.

However, after a bit of trial and error, we’ve come up with two recipes we all like.

Strawberries, kiwi, blueberries, beetroot, a squeeze of honey and a dash of pineapple juice is a huge success.
Seth probably has more fruit and veg in the one drink than he’d normally have in a week AND HE DOESN’T REALISE.

A banana, strawberry and cinnamon milkshake is also a safe bet for Seth.

What’s really nice is that the kids love to help make the smoothies and want to choose lots of different fruits to put in them which they wouldn’t do if eating the fruit.
Small victories!

Although I would prefer an On/Off switch to twisting the cup to blend, I do like the VonShef UltraBlend.
It’s easy to use, easy to clean and has certainly helped in my quest to get more fruit (and sneaky veg) into the children, and me if I’m honest.

I received the VonShef UltraBlend for purpose of review. All opinions are, as ever, my own. This here is an affiliate link, if you choose to buy the product it will cost you no more but I might get a penny.