Anyway, since eating well is such an important part of getting healthy, I wanted to talk about smoothies, a healthy and amazingly tasty addition to your daily meals. I am not going to talk about the nutritional benefits of each specific item but I have researched most of them and found them to be useful. Perhaps in another post I will add the benefits.
I am not an advanced juicer so I don't put a huge amount of veggies in my smoothies. I have smoothies for breakfast on weekdays so we can drink them on our way to work.They are simple, easy, filling, and yummy! Here is what I normally do:
Base: Milk or juice. If you prefer a milkshake flavour then milk is a better base. I interchange because I like the fruity sour taste and my husband like the milkshake taste. Also, variety is great. But milk gets frothy when blended, so keep that in mind.
Fruits: It's good to balance the flavours of the fruits so you don't get too much of one kind in there. Oranges, cranberries, pineapples, kiwis, and mangoes are all citrusy. Apples, bananas, pears are more mellow. Then there are strawberries, raspberries, blackberries which is kind of in the middle. A mixture of the different levels will give you a good flavour. I normally buy fresh strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and kiwis when they are on sale. I clean them and put them in little sandwich baggies for the amount i want in each blending session. Sometimes I only get a couple of them at a time and when I get other ones, I just add it in to what I have. The rest I buy fresh and keep in the fridge. I don't like freezing all the fruits because it gets to watery somehow once it's made. I cut up a few apples, pears, mangoes and keep them in a bowl and thrown them into the blender with my frozen stuff as the week goes by.
Veggies: I have added cucumbers and lettuce to the mix and you can't really tell they are there. I tried carrots but they don't blend as well unless you have a juicer, which I don't. So I gave up on that. But flavour wise, it's not bad at all. I tried celery but didn't like the earthy smell it left behind. Lettuce is definitely the safest choice, in my opinion, if you are just starting.
Additional stuff: Yoghurt: It gives a creamy texture that helps things go down smooth. Try sticking to unsweetened Greek yoghurt to keep artificial sugars to a minimum. Chia seeds: Just throw a spoonful of these and they tend to keep things flowing well internally. Awesome nutritional sources. 1 spoonful of Protein whey or Spirulina. A small amount of honey gives it a nice sweet touch without needing sugar. Raw sugar or cane sugar are also okay if you want.
Making the smoothie: First add frozen fruits of strawberries, blueberries etc., and 2 or 3 ice cubes. Then add the fresh fruits cut up into pieces. Then add yoghurt, chia seeds, and spirulina. Then top it off with milk or juice. It takes a few tries before you know how much to add for the consistency you like. Blend well, even after it looks like it's all done, unless you like it chunky.
And Walah! Smoothie!
Eat well folks!
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