L’s Guide to Smoothie Success!
An easy and approachable way to get more healthy foods in our diet is by drinking smoothies. Smoothies are super convenient because we can make them ourselves at home, and we also can find plenty of convenient options for smoothies to go from local restaurants. Smoothies are very energizing, because they’re incredibly nutrient-dense and are really easy for our body to digest. When we order a smoothie from a take-out place, it’s easy to select an appetizing choice because the establishment has a good understanding of what ingredients compliment each other.
This guide is to help inspire you when you’re crafting your own combination of ingredients at home. As you learn what flavors you enjoy together, feel free to be as creative as you please!
Health
This guide is designed to help you build balanced, healthy smoothies. A lot of smoothie places add sorbet or sugar to their drinks, and while this can be good if you don’t consume much fresh fruit otherwise, for the purpose of directing you in the healthiest direction, I’ve omitted ingredients that I don’t think are very healthy. This includes animal products, as I have learned a lot of disturbing facts about how animal ingredients negatively impact our health. I used to add greek yogurt to my smoothies to make them creamier, and I thought this was a healthy choice because of the protein (incorrect, animal-based protein is very difficult for our body to digest) and the probiotics (not worth the other off-putting components in dairy products), but after researching and educating myself on proper nutrition, I now know better! Our intake doesn’t have to be perfect, but we can always improve! So I have included a wide selection of plant-based additives (including protein sources) so that we may have the best recipe for healthy success!
Blending
The order of ingredients matters when building a smoothie. If you’re using a traditional blender, you’ll want to have your liquid base and juicier fruits at the bottom so they blend up first and the liquid sucks all the frozen foods down toward the blades for even, smooth blending. I use a Nutribullet for my smoothies, so I put my frozen food in first because with a Nutribullet you screw the blade on top and flip it over to blend it. The basic rule of thumb is to have your liquids and fresh foods next to the blades.
Consistency
The amount of fresh and frozen fruit we choose also matters when crafting a smoothie. If we use all fresh fruit, we’ll have to add some ice to chill the smoothie or it’ll be a warm, soupy drink. If we’re using all frozen fruit, we’ll have to add enough liquid to help the ingredients blend together, or it’ll be a big chunk of unmixed frozen foods. The more liquid/fresh fruit you use, the looser the smoothie will be. If you like a thicker, milkshake-consistency smoothie, try to use as little liquid as possible, possibly stirring the smoothie in between blending cycles to help it mix. I used to use an immersion blender for really thick smoothies because I could muscle the blender down on the ingredients and force them to blend into a thick, creamy concoction. Experiment each time you create a smoothie to find what style of drink you like best!
Creaminess
I put bananas in almost every smoothie I make because they make the smoothie rich and creamy. My #1 smoothie tip is to buy a big bunch of yellow bananas (organic if possible), peel them all at once, break them into smaller segments, put them in a baggie or container, and then store the banana chunks in the freezer. The frozen bananas will act like ice and chill the smoothie while keeping the flavors full and creamy, versus using ice will make your smoothie actually icy (crunchy) and can water down the other flavors in the drink. Other frozen fruits have more water content than the creamy and carbohydrate rich banana, so I really stand by them being the best ingredient to make your smoothie thicker and richer. Similar foods to make your smoothie more full-bodied would be sweet potatoes, nut butters, or avocados (creamy foods make creamy smoothies).
Flavor Profile
When building a smoothie, try to pair ingredients that compliment each other. Keep in mind that a balanced flavor profile comes from combining sweet and tart flavors, so if you use all sweet or all sour fruits, your smoothie may be less appetizing than a mix of both. Because bananas are sweet (the riper bananas are, the sweeter they are), I like adding tart fruits like berries (strawberries/blueberries/blackberries/raspberries) and tropical fruits (pineapple/ kiwis/oranges) to add a little zing to my drink. Strong flavored fruits are perfect for overpowering any green veggie flavors in your smoothie, such as pineapple masking the taste of spinach. When you’re first learning what flavors best suit each other, try to keep your ingredient list pretty minimal. Having a 3-ingredient smoothie can be really delicious and sometimes adding too many flavors into one drink can confuse the overall taste. We can also sweeten an overly-tart smoothie with naturally sweet ingredients like cocoa powder, dates, apple juice, mango or by simply adding more bananas.
Liquid Base
If you’re using a lot of water-dense fresh fruits for your smoothie, you may be able to get any with not adding any additional liquids to your drink; but usually we have to loosen our frozen foods with some kind of liquid base. When deciding what liquid to add to your smoothie, choose a flavor that goes well with the other foods you’re blending together. Some great options for liquids would be plant-based milk (coconut milk, almond milk, cashew milk, macadamia nut milk, walnut milk, rice milk, soy milk, hemp milk, etc), fruit juice, coconut water, herbal teas, or even water. Always avoid using dairy milk. Cow’s milk has an average of 1 million somatic cells per spoonful. Somatic cells are cells sloughed off in dairy production, and 1 in 6 cows have infections that turn 90% of their somatic cells into neutrophils, meaning they form pus as a natural defense. Umm, gross! Leave that out of your beautiful smoothie! You won’t notice the different with plant-based milk within the other bold fruit flavors in your drink.
Boosts
Smoothies aren’t just for fruit! We can hide all kinds of leafy greens, veggies, and healthy supplements in our smoothie if we balance them with sweet/tart/strong-flavored fruits. Some of my favorite veggies to add to smoothies are spinach, carrots, celery, or cooked sweet potato. We can also increase our intake of healthy fats by sneaking seeds, avocados, or even coconut oil into our drink. The best rule of thumb for boosting your smoothie with any unfamiliar or exotic ingredients is to start by adding a small amount and gradually increasing how much you add until you find your preferred balance of ingredients. For example, I used to just add a few leaves of spinach to my smoothies and now I add up to 2 cups at once! Remember some is better than none. We can also invigorate our smoothie with spices and seasonings such as cinnamon, vanilla, lemon, ginger, mint, even cayenne pepper! Use your best judgment and have fun experimenting!
Protein
Adding protein to a smoothie can transform it from a drink into a meal replacement. There are many plant-based protein powers available (pea protein is my favorite) and I would recommend avoiding whey and animal-based protein at all costs because it’s very stressful for your kidneys and liver to process those products. I rarely add protein powers to my smoothies because plenty foods are naturally abundant with protein! For example, spinach is 51% protein! Most leafy greens have protein, especially greens like spirulina or chlorella (up to 60% protein). You can also use nut butters such as peanut, almond, walnut, cashew, or hazelnut butter to get a protein boost in your drink. Seeds are also an excellent source of plant-based protein. Hemp seeds, chia seeds, flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds are all delicious additions to most smoothies.