Starting your day with a smoothie is an absolute killer move–and I mean that in a good way! You are fueling your body with a combination of fruits, veggies and other ingredients that are clean, healthy and capable of nourishing your body with life and energy. There’s a big difference in how you will feel all day if you eat a processed soy sausage, bacon, a muffin or sugary cereal for breakfast versus a fruit and vegetable smoothie. Keep it clean and fresh in the morning and your day will rock.
A few important things you should know about smoothies:
- Smoothies should NOT taste like milkshakes. Sorry people but it’s time to man up!! Because if it tastes too good, which usually means it tastes sweet, it probably means you’ve used too much fruit or some type of sweetener.
- HENCE smoothies should always contain more vegetables than fruit.
- Always use greens in your smoothie, and rotate them to get the variety of benefits each offers: kale, spinach, chard, dandelion greens, beet greens, collard greens.
- Smoothies should always contain spices as they are loaded with antioxidants and this is the perfect place to use them!
- Don’t overthink your smoothie! You don’t really need a recipe. Just throw in stuff and experiment!
- In my humble opinion, you do not need to add protein powder to your smoothies. I am not a huge fan of the protein powder because most of them contain artificial sweeteners or stevia and are made with crappy ingredients. I also feel they can bulk people up. In addition, we don’t need enormous amounts of protein which many of the powders contain. What we do need more of is vegetables and fiber! I prefer to add protein naturally to a smoothie by tossing in some nuts, nut butter, and/or seeds. But if you really like to use protein powder, look for an all-natural type, preferably a plant-based one such as Amazing Grass Protein Powders or Whole Foods Hemp Protein.
Here’s a simple recipe to try! Warning: you may become addicted to morning smoothies!
Chocolate Banana Delight Smoothie
A fantastic way to start the day!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup water you can also just use 2 cups of almond milk and not use water
- 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed or flaxseed meal
- 2 tablespoons cacao nibs or cacao powder do not use regular Hershey's baking cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup walnuts
- 1 1/2 bananas they can also be frozen to make the smoothie colder
- 2 large handfuls organic power greens or kale or spinach
- 1 carrot
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper this increases the absorption rate of the turmeric
Directions
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Place all ingredients in the blender, starting with the liquids. Blend and drink!