I’ve heard all sorts of excuses why people don’t eat breakfast from “I don’t have time,” to “I’m just not hungry yet.” If either of those excuses are true for you, here’s a solution: fruit. Fruit is fantastic. It comes in its own packaging, it’s easy on the go, and it takes little to no preparation. If you have a little more time, or inclination, however, fruit smoothies are an even better way to go. Fruit smoothies are fantastic because you can add superfoods to them to give you more bang for your buck.
When I make breakfast, I prefer a green smoothie to just about anything else. A green smoothie is simply a fruit smoothie with leafy greens added to it. I try to rotate my greens, but usually I use spinach or kale. You can also use chard, mustard greens, parsley, the tops of carrots, beets and turnips, or any other leafy green (you can even add other veggies, like celery for added nutritional power). Green powders also work great for when you don’t have fresh greens on hand, or if they become very expensive. Green powders are a great way to incorporate algae like spirulina and chlorella. When you start making green smoothies, I recommend that you start with a 2:1 fruit to greens ratio. If it’s not sweet enough for your taste, add some more fruit. As you grow accustomed to the taste, you can add more greens, or cut down on the fruit, or both. I also like to add a tablespoon or two of ground flax seed to my smoothie.
Why are green smoothies so great, you ask? Well, take a blueberry-banana smoothie for example. Without the greens or flax seeds, the smoothie is healthy, but not a powerhouse of nutrition by any means. However, when you add the greens and flax seed, the nutritional value skyrockets. Plus, according to http://www.nutritiondata.com, the green smoothie with the added flax seeds is only 110 more calories than the fruit alone.
Check out these images from the Nutrition Data website:
Here are some of my favorite green smoothie combinations:
Blueberry, banana, greens (turns purple, so you can disguise the greens from anyone who doesn’t know)
Strawberry, banana, greens, orange juice (turns a really gross color brown, but it’s delish!)
Mango, banana, spinach
Mango, lime, coconut water, spinach
Beets, pear, spinach, coconut milk, apple juice (it sounds very strange, but it’s really good)
Try whatever combinations you normally would, but add some veggies, and you’re on your way to an awesome start to your day.
Hmm...do you use fresh or frozen fruit & veggies? I'm thinking I may give this a try...
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your vast nutrition knowledge!
I use both. When produce is affordable, I use fresh, but oftentimes I use frozen. When bananas are on sale, or when they put out the bags of the "overripe" bananas for super cheap, stock up, peel them, and freeze them in chunks in a ziploc freezer bag. Same thing for berries in the summer. Get a ton of blueberries and freeze them up. When they run out, you can always get frozen berries, but make sure you get the unsweetened ones.
ReplyDeleteFrozen veggies tend to be cooked before they're frozen, so they lose some nutritional value. I'll talk about that later, though.