Did You Know These Simple Tips To Make Your Smoothies Healthier?

Tuesday, June 19, 2018, 15:13

Smoothies are one of the most popular and healthy food options nowadays. Health-conscious or weight-conscious people opt for nutrition-packed smoothies on a regular basis to ensure the health -related benefits. Smoothies usually contain ingredients high in minerals, vitamins, and fibere, with many other added benefits.

Many of us lead hectic lives, and end up compromising on the health front. It leads to a casual approach towards our eating habits. For those of us, who have difficulty ensuring a nutritious or balanced diet on a daily basis, consuming smoothies is an excellent option.

What Is A Smoothie?

A thickened and smooth drink usually prepared with fresh fruits or vegetables pureed along with milk,
ice-cream or yogurt. Considered as liquid meal, a smoothie offers nourishing benefits of nutrients. The
most popular ingredients for smoothies are fruits, such as berries (raspberries, blueberries,
strawberries, etc.), pomegranates, bananas, apples, pears, etc. or vegetables such as cucumber,
broccoli, pumpkin, celery, leafy greens, etc.

Benefits Of A Smoothie

If you add a smoothie prepared with vegetables or fruits to your breakfast or snacks, you may be
assured of the various benefits as listed below:

• Provides high energy levels
• Improves digestion
• Enhances absorption of nutrients
• Is good for maintaining heart-health
• Is excellent for glowing skin or healthy hair
• Helps maintain healthy bones
• Boosts brain-functioning
• Helps lose weight
• Supports in maintaining a healthy weight
• Builds muscles
• Enhances immunity

How To Prepare A Smoothie?

The preparation of a smoothie is a very easy process. Start with cutting the fruits or vegetables of your
choice into pieces, put them into a blender, pour milk over them, and add ice. Blend the mixture till it
becomes liquefied.

Put sugar for taste, and blend for a few more seconds. Voila! Your smoothie is ready. Just pour it in a
glass and drink it! This method is the most easiest and convenient of all, with assured benefits.

To make healthier smoothies, just follow the following simple tips:

1. Use Aa Variety Of Ingredients:
2. Reduce Sweeteners
3. Avoid Adding Fruit Juice
4. Fresh Stuff
5. Spice Up The Smoothie
6. Add Seeds
7. Count Your Calories
8. Prepare At Home
9. Measure The Portions
10. Add Spinach
11. Avoid Adding Protein Powders
12. Controlled Servings

1. Use Aa Variety Of Ingredients:

Be it fruits or vegetables, it is a good idea to include a variety of ingredients in your smoothie, to reap
the varied and maximum health-benefits. The non-availability of some of these ingredients in certain
seasons may be inevitable.

To ensure optimum benefits, a constant changeover to seasonal ingredients would be a good idea.
There should be sufficient rotation of ingredients to avoid boredom and to keep the consistency
exciting.

2. Reduce Sweeteners:

Steer away from sugars or sweeteners in your smoothie. Instead, opt for whole fruits as natural
sweeteners, if possible. Fruits additionally provide various vitamins, minerals, fibere, and many other
nutrients, along with enhancing the sweetness of the smoothie.

The various fruits that may be used for sweetening are bananas, orange slices, mango, peaches, figs,
pineapple, dates, grapes, and so on. For reduction of sugar content in the smoothie, another way is to
use unsweetened or plain milk or yogurt.

3. Avoid Adding Fruit Juice:

Since the smoothie is an overall liquid food, adding juices to it is a common practice. But, the high sugar content in juices could result in piling up of sugar in the smoothie. Instead, opt for coconut milk or low fat greekGreek yogurt to prepare creamy, flavoured, and healthy smoothies.

4. Fresh Stuff:

Make sure that you use only fresh fruits or vegetables for better taste and nutrition. Using stale
ingredients could lead to issues related to digestion or any other health-concerns.

5. Spice Up The Smoothie:

Adding spices such as ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, etc. could enhance the flavour as
well as increase the nutritional value of the smoothie.

6. Add Seeds:

Chia seeds, hemp seeds, or flax seeds are rich in various nutrients, omega-3, fibere, etc. Adding them to the smoothie can be extremely beneficial.

7. Count Your Calories:

While you are consuming smoothies on a regular basis, keep a check on the overall calories that you
acquire. It would help regulate your weight, especially if you are looking for weight loss.

8. Prepare At Home:

Instead of going for grocery-based smoothies, prepare them at home yourself with the right kind of
ingredients and quantity. It will be healthier without unnecessary sweeteners, since readymade
smoothies from the store would often have high sugar content and fat, which would eventually do more harm than benefitting.

9. Measure The Portions:

Be specific with the amount of ingredients that you add to your smoothie, or you can run the risk of
heavy and sugar-laden, high calorie intake. Basically you would need to calculate the solid-liquid ratio in the smoothie to avoid the danger of calories or fat in it.

10. Add Spinach:

Rich in iron, a green smoothie prepared with spinach is a brilliant choice. However, greens such as kale or parsley could be either avoided or added later, owing to their bitter taste that could make you crave for sugar.

11. Avoid Adding Protein Powders:

Avoid adding artificial sources of proteins, such as protein powders to your smoothie. Instead, opt for
natural sources for your protein intake, e.g. tofu, little bit of peanut butter, etc.

12. Controlled Servings:

If you end up preparing a delicious smoothie, especially with your favourite ingredients, you might
experience the risk of giving in to craving for more servings. Avoid it! If you are skipping your meal, and consuming the smoothie as a healthy food replacement, even then it is better to avoid large portions and instead ensure high-on-nutrient ingredients.

All the benefits of smoothies listed above prove the relevance of healthy options that they provide.
Having a smoothie in at breakfast helps keep your body hydrated contrary to what tea, coffee or soda
does.

In hot climate, adding ice cubes to the smoothie for extra water could cool you off. The simple recipes, with ingredients of your choice make for a wholesome and delicious food or snack smoothie, which you could consume on a daily basis!

Disclaimer: The information provided in this article is for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.