Green Galore - 6 smoothie making tips for every taste bud
Why smoothies?
Smoothies are a fantastic way to ingest (and combine) a lot of healthy, supporting foods, in an easy to assimilate way. Basically, a sophisticated salad in your system, even before you had some 'real' food!
You can turn it into a real health energy bomb, adding beneficial supplements (which you don’t want to swallow), vitamins, protein powder, healthy fats, leafy greens, herbs and fruits. Having such a blend in the morning will stimulate your bowels for action, kickstart your metabolism, supply the needed nutrition for cells and brain, hydrate, and give you that much needed mental feeling that you just did something awesome for yourself!
How to?
There is no ‘best recipe’ for smoothie, only certain key ingredients and general rules which make smoothie making easier - the rest is entirely up for your creation and personal taste! Find and example recipe at the bottom, and enjoy the 6 general smoothie making tips presented below.
ONE, fiber. In general, it’s good if your smoothie has some substance to it - that means plants. It can be leafy greens (such as kale, rucola, spinach, parsley, cilantro, mint, basil etc), veggies (beetroot, celery sticks, carrot, cucumber, avocado), and fruits (berries, apple, banana, etc). Nuts and seeds are also fiber, and also protein and fats, so that is a great addition too! Think about adding 2 Brazil nuts (high in selenium), almonds, pumpkin seeds, as well as freshly ground flax seeds.
If you want to make it a full breakfast kinda smoothie, add some oat or millet flakes too.
Tip: If you are using fruits, think about their sugar content - although it’s ‘just fruit’, when you mix many sweet fruits like banana, mango, oranges etc together at once, it can cause an energy crash later on! Best fruits are those in the low glycemic spectrum, such as organic berries, and try to stick to just one ‘sweet’ fruit per smoothie.
TWO, protein. To make it a wholesome, blood sugar balancing meal, a smoothie must contain some protein and fat. Either use a protein powder (do pay attention to the additives and sweeteners in most flavoured powders), or just add some nuts (or nut butters) and seeds to the mix.
THREE, healthy fats. An important part of having sustained energy throughout the day, and such an important building material for our brain and hormones! Some ideas include: avocado, nuts, coconut milk, omega 3 oil (if in liquid form), a spoon of cold-pressed & virgin flax, hemp, coconut or olive oil.
FOUR, vitamins, antioxidants and superfoods. While the addition of greens, veggies and fruits (especially those berries!) provides a lot of both, you can bring the smoothie to the next level by adding some lemon juice and zest (only from organic lemons though!), a slice of ginger, turmeric (powder or fresh) and freshly ground black pepper.
Tip: If you feel comfortable to do so, you can add some liquid or powdered supplements, like vitamin D or E, probiotics, fish oils, collagen powders, adaptogens, etc. I like to add some of my encapsulated supplements!
FIVE, flavourings. With a lot ingredients playing around in your smoothie, you might need something to round the flavour and bring it all together so that is kind to the palate too ;). Usually, the sweetness of fruit, like a banana, does the trick. But you can also think of adding a date, a touch of honey, or a bit of sweet spice, like cinnamon.
SIX, hydration. Water does a great job in mixing all the goodies in the smoothie, but you can also add the fancier coconut water (bonus electrolytes in the mix!) or coconut milk (adding richness and creaminess, and please try the coconut + blueberries + lemon combo!), or add any plant based milk.
Bonus wellness tip: skip the use of ice cubes or frozen bananas in some recipes. Warm or neutral temperature drinks and foods are much better for our morning belly! Unless it’s a really hot summer day, and you need a cold, refreshing treat, that is :)
Recipe: Superpower Green Smoothie
- handful of kale
- handful or rocket
- small handful of parsley and cilantro leaves
- half an apple
- half a cup of organic berries
- 2 celery stalks, chopped in small chunks
- spoon of almond butter (or protein powder of choice)