Dinner battle lines are drawn. I’m barking out the orders. 

“Less talking more eating”. 

“Use your fork”. 

“Stop playing with that, it’s dinner time not play time”. 

The blonde haired angels sat either side of me apparently gleeful in their defiant retorts. 

“I don’t like carrots” (non-sense!). 

“I’m full.  Can we have pudding” (not if you’re full). 

“Have I eaten enough now” (you’ve barely eaten anything!). 

My girls Aria and Sylvie are seven and five. They’re actually pretty good eaters, and not too fussy about what foods they will or won’t eat. They will eat broccoli, for example. But they won’t touch leafy greens, with the exception of kale when it is crispy baked. 

I love cooking and running my own business means I work from home and the luxury of choosing to finish at a time that will let me prepare a home cooked meal for the kids. I am nearly vegetarian or flexitarian (labels are naff), which means I tend to cook a good amount of vegetables. The kids will eat these vegetables, but often as a result of our nightly dinner battle routine. And yet I am still concerned that they may not be getting enough fruit and vegetables in their diet – certainly not the newly recommended 10+ a day, and possibly not even the old 5+ a day. 

So I really feel for all the parents whose children are more fussy or flat out refuse to eat greens. It must be extraordinarily hard and stressful trying to keep them on a healthy path! 

In November 2015, I received a call from Michael Mayell. I learnt in the course of my conversation with Michael that he had started a new business called Nutrient Rescue, which produced wholefood plant powders to deliver micronutrients required for good health. His aim is to make Kiwis the healthiest people on earth, by enabling them to easily consume the equivalent of 4 fruit and vegetable serves, making the target of 5+ a day eminently doable, and even bringing the seeming impossible 10 serves a day within reach of everyone. 

“Did you know that 65% of kiwis don’t eat 5 serves of fruit a veg a day?” Michael claimed in his ‘man on a mission’ excited manner. He then reeled off a host of New Zealand health epidemics like obesity, diabetes and depression that he attributes in large part to diets too high in animal products, dairy, gluten, sugar and alcohol. 

I was sold on the vision and have since that day worked alongside Michael and his team on business strategy and execution, to deliver on his mission.
I have also consumed the Nutrient Rescue Red Shots and Green Shots products daily, and am a convert and evangelist.  I’ve experienced greater energy levels, enhanced and balanced moods, better skin and hair and less susceptibility to the endless coughs and colds that come home with my kids during winter. 

But the real revelation has been the ease at which I can get the equivalent of 4 serves of fruit and leafy green veg into my girls daily. 

The Green Shot comprises wheat grass, barley grass, pea, broccoli sprouts as well as manuka leaf and spearmint – just the type of greens that my girls prefer to avoid.  A teaspoon in water delivers the equivalent of 3 serves of fruit and leafy green veg.  

The Red Shot comprises blackcurrants and boysenberries.  If you haven’t heard yet, blackcurrants are a genuine superfood, delivering a huge quantity of anthocyanins (a nutrient responsible for the purple colour) which according to ground-breaking studies by Plant & Food Research have fabulous qualities including massive antioxidant activity.  A teaspoon of Red Shots is equivalent to one serve of fruit and have the antioxidant power of 6 serves of fruit. 
The products are not a meal replacement or a dietary supplement. They are simply wholefood plants with the water removed (usually via freeze drying). They are intended to be taken in addition to your usual diet – but preferably with things like meat, dairy, sugar, and alcohol dialled right down. 

Aria, Sylvie and I consume a teaspoon of each of the green and red powders mixed with a shot glass of coconut water each. The Red Shot is delicious and masks the appearance and green taste of the Green Shot, and the coconut water adds just enough natural sweetness.  

Aria and Sylvie literally run up the stairs to get their “shots” and take great joy from the process of mixing them in the shaker that is provided with the product. 
However, perhaps the most joy is taken from the resulting purple moustaches evidencing their healthy consumption! 

Nutrient Rescue is a real lifesaver for a busy health-conscious Daddy.