Rachael Finch's 4yo daughter drinks vegetable smoothies for breakfast. Here's her secret.

Rachael Finch is donned in a grey activewear singlet over a strappy sports bra. Her hair is pulled high into an effortless bun.

“Say happy Friday!” she coos to her four-year-old daughter, Violet, who’s wearing an adorable pink frilly long-sleeved top.

The mother-daughter duo is making “purple pig smoothies” – Violet’s favourite – for breakfast, and sharing the recipe with Finch’s 139,000 Facebook followers. The kitchen behind them is white and glossy and immaculate.

The five-minute long video shows the adorable little girl squeal with delight over the concoction of spinach, bananas, frozen berries, coconut milk, cinnamon, and almond spread. As the smoothie blends in the background Finch, 29, dances with her daughter.

This vision of a typical family morning is enough to make you bubble with envy. Indeed, you could hate Finch out of nothing more than pure hot jealousy, but there’s just something so damn likeable about the woman who first commanded our attention when she was named Miss Universe Australia in 2009.

As much as the purity of Finch’s life makes ours look muddy by comparison, it’s innately wholesome.

Pretending to be octopus’s is where it’s at while smoothies are being made. Happy Friday team! Check out my Facebook live vid from this morning for Violets ‘purple pig’ smoothie recipe & to see how we did it ???? Facebook – ‘rachaelfinchofficial’

A post shared by Rachael Finch (@rachael_finch) on Oct 19, 2017 at 3:10pm PDT

“Oh Violet is beautiful,” fans write in adoration as the BODByFinch founder pours purple liquid into a cup from which Violet drinks in big, thirsty sips. Meanwhile, many more women over on Finch’s Instagram page ponder one of life’s biggest, most difficult questions:

How the f**k do you convince a four-year-old to drink a vegetable and fruit smoothie, when basically the only thing four-year-olds want to eat is chicken nuggets?

It’s something I asked the fitness entrepreneur myself (albeit more politely) this week.

So… HOW?

“I believe that because I was eating really good things while they were in my tummy, Violet and Dominic got used to the taste of things like avocados and spinach and sweet potatoes even while I was pregnant,” Finch tells Mamamia. 

“That’s just their palate now.”

That perfect palate includes lots of “evening or lunch” purées – the last recipe she shared was a mixture of broccoli, carrot, chicken, brown rice, chia seeds and apple – as well as fruit and vegetable smoothies, and porridges.

It was convincing her they eventually needed to come off that was the hard part…????

A post shared by Rachael Finch (@rachael_finch) on Jul 23, 2017 at 6:03pm PDT

While claims that what you eat while pregnant will prevent woes with fussy eaters down the track might sound fictitious, they’re not. Finch’s insistence that her children’s food preferences were moulded from their conception is backed up by science.

In 2014, Julie Mennella of the Monell Chemical Senses Centre in Philadelphia told The Guardian that foetuses can discern flavours and tastes in their mother’s amniotic fluid. Mennella’s research has gone so far to find pregnant women who drink a 300ml glass of carrot juice every day give birth to babies who will more happily consume carrot when weaning.

Peter Hepper, the director of the Fetal Research Centre at Queen’s University in Belfast, agrees: “Foetuses exposed to garlic in the womb are more likely to prefer garlic in later life, indeed studies show up to the age of eight at least”, he says.

So yes, it appears the reason Finch’s four-year-old child and eight-month-old baby love healthy food is partly because it’s what they’ve always been exposed to.

“We are always cooking from scratch, we are pureeing good ingredients, I mean, this is how we make real food every day,” Finch says.

Listen: Rachael Finch spoke to Mamamia in the lead up to Dominic’s birth about the allegations she’s a ‘part-time parent’. (Post continues…)

For those who missed that divine parenting train of greeny, leafy goodness, and are struggling with their little terror’s penchant for nuggets, Finch says keeping it simple and introducing fresh, perishable food into your fridge and pantry is the way to steer your child back onto healthier options.

“Try not to over-stress yourself with it, don’t over complicate it,” Finch tells Mamamia. “Keep trying, and start with the basics. If you try and it doesn’t work, give it two days, then try again. Be persistent… at the end of the day, your child needs to eat, and will eat.”

Wellness is like a religion in the Finch-Miziner household; one that filters down from the matriarch into almost every facet of the young family’s life. In the coming days, the model and television personality will be releasing her very own activewear range, BODbyfinch, a luxe line of athleisure wear that she believes will take women from the gym to the supermarket, to the school pick up and back.

Nourishing her body and mind with the right food and plenty of exercise is a priority – one that makes her a better woman and mother, Finch says.

Such accounts of near-perfection can make us feel resentful and frustrated, sure. For many, eating “clean” is not easy, affordable or straightforward; add a screaming kid who just wants hot dogs for dinner into the mix and things are cataclysmic. But, no matter what way you twist it, Finch’s point is a worthwhile one: when we take care of our bodies, we lead more fulfilling lives.

Happy Sunday team! ???? Workout complete with baby in tow. Hope you find some time today to move, whatever it may be, you will feel so much better for it. Big thank you to my assistant for 1. the extra weight & 2. motivation! 3 ROUNDS ???????? Sumo squats Couch push ups Skaters Modified V crunch Sit up w. baby raise Side planks Thrusters Scissor kicks

A post shared by Rachael Finch (@rachael_finch) on Oct 14, 2017 at 6:04pm PDT

This isn’t to say everything consumed in Finch’s Sydney apartment is organic and sugar-free, though. Finch says she and husband of four years and nine months, Michael Miziner, also treat Violet to “sometimes” food.

“Treats are allowed to be enjoyed, but only sometimes… I think it’s only time for a treat once a week, or every now and then,” Finch tells me. For example, “If it’s a Sunday, and this isn’t an everyday thing, if she sees an ice cream stand then we will get her an ice cream.”

At this point, I hear a very small, very cute voice yell the word “ice cream!” in the background with excitement, and it dawns on me that I’m the journalist haphazardly throwing Rachael Finch’s dreamy life into disarray.

Rachael laughs.

“Yes, ice cream. And what’s ice cream for, Violet?”

The tiny voice squeaks back, “treat!”.

Phew. Off the hook.

You can find out more about Rachael Finch by checking out her website, here.