Kick-Start Any New Health Routine With These Simple Smoothies
What are some of the best ways to get the biggest bang for your health in a smoothie?
1) Keep it simple. contrary to trending health movements, you don’t need to add a ton of ingredients to a smoothie. Choosing a few high quality ingredients to add to your smoothie is going to allow your digestive track to get started slowly, waking up the stomach and digestive organs to let them begin their day. Not only is it going to be faster to use fewer ingredients in the mornings when you’re rushing out the door, but your body is going to thank you when it has 2-4 ingredients instead of 10-15 ingredients to pay attention to, process, and digest. Your digestive track is waking up too. Just like us, it wants to be gently woken up, not given a million tasks to do first thing in the morning!
2) Don’t be afraid of carbohydrates. Granted, there are healthy and unhealthy carbohydrates. Adding spoonfuls of sugar to a smoothie would not be the same as adding in a cup of nutrient packed mango! Fruits like bananas, berries, cantaloupe, mango, kiwi, pineapple, grapes, apples, watermelon, and oranges all have essential vitamins and minerals in them that we can benefit from. The carbohydrates in fruits are easy to digest, and give your brain and nervous system the healthy sugars they need to function properly. Remember the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”? Fruits should not be feared because of their sugar content. A few servings of fruit a day, added into a diet with non-processed foods like vegetables, whole grains, legumes, healthy proteins and fats is key to finding your health again and maintaining it.
Power Green Smoothie (Morning)
2 frozen bananas
2 cups spinach
1 cup pineapple
Coconut water or unsweetened Almond milk to blend
Getting some green into your smoothie is an amazing way to boost your health, especially if you aren’t a salad person, and that added spinach or kale is going to be the only green thing you’ll eat all day. A great tip to keep in mind for your smoothies is to save your fats and proteins (nuts, chia seeds, yogurt, protein powders) for later on in the day, when your stomach has had a little warm up. Still want your protein smoothie? Do it as an afternoon snack. Once your digestive system is woken up with your simpler morning smoothie, it will have plenty of digestive fluids moving and flowing, and can handle the heavier foods you’ll eat throughout the day.
Pick-me-up Berry Blast (Afternoon Snack)
1 cup frozen mixed berries
2 frozen bananas
1 scoop protein powder
Coconut water or vanilla unsweetened almond milk to blend
…Just the snack your body needs to get you through the rest of your day; full of vitamins, minerals, healthy carbohydrates easy to digest protein, and bright living food!
Fruits and vegetables are key to a healthy happy life. At the end of the day, it matters less if you steam, sauté, blend, bake, chop, air-fry, or disguise them, than if you are just making sure they are somewhere in your every day life. The FDA recommends about 9 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. Just by adding in 1 or two simple smoothies a day can help you meet this requirement and watch as your health improves! Choosing to replace your McMuffin or breakfast biscuit in the morning with something your body will digest easily, thrive on, and love, is one of the greatest morning routine starters you can make. Getting your day started off on the right foot can lead to a million other great choices…just think of the possibilities!
