Smoothies: a Great Blend of Flavor, Convenience, and Nutrition

According to the USDA's MyPlate, a tool for healthy eating, most adults should be eating two and a half cups of vegetables and two cups of fruits every day to achieve a healthy style dietary pattern (“Your MyPlatePlan," 2020). Even for the most well-intentioned, this can be difficult to achieve given the pace of our daily lives. One idea you might think about incorporating into your routine to achieve this goal is the use of smoothies.

Smoothies are essentially just a blended mixture of fruits, vegetables, liquid, and sometimes other ingredients such as nuts, seeds, oats, yogurt, and ice. The benefit of smoothies is that they are a versatile and easy way to consume a healthy amount of fruits and vegetables into your diet in a portable meal or snack requiring very little time to prepare. When preparing smoothies, you can use fresh, frozen, or canned fruits, and vegetables, in any combination. This versatility makes them a great option year-round.

By consuming blended fruits and vegetables instead of juices, we can retain the fiber found in these foods instead of removing it like juicing does. This leads to less food waste and increases satiety, or fullness, compared with drinking fruit and vegetable juices. Fiber is also a beneficial nutrient for digestive and heart health, which many of us do not adequately consume.

Smoothies also can be a great option for kids who might be picky about eating vegetables. When mixed with fruit, vegetables such as fresh spinach, lettuce, and cauliflower tend to blend into the flavor quite nicely. A great way to get kids involved is to allow them to choose what goes into their smoothie. For younger children, you can even make it a science experiment! Add one fruit or vegetable, blend, and observe the color. Choose another fruit or vegetable, and ask the child, “what color do you think it will be next?" Add the next item, blend, and observe.  Spinach makes a lovely green color and blueberries make a beautiful purple. If your child craves a bit more sweetness in their smoothies, you can add 1 to 2 dates for natural sweetness and added fiber.

So, what makes a great smoothie? Essentially there are three elements:

1. Choose 2 to 3 cups of produce. including fresh, frozen, or canned fruits and vegetables.
2. Choose ½ to 1-½ cups of liquid (water, low-fat milk, or plant-based beverage) depending on your desired consistency.
3. Add any extras – ice, oats, nuts, seeds, yogurt, spices, flavor extracts, etc. – and place all the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. 

Here are several tips to ensure your smoothies are a success!

If using all or mostly frozen produce, you will not need to add any ice. The amount of liquid needed increases when using dense and/or frozen produce. Only use 100% juice in small amounts for flavoring and, instead, combine the produce with other liquid(s) as mentioned above in #2. Blending will be easier when you roughly chop large produce into smaller pieces. If using canned fruits, be sure to select those canned in their own juices, instead of syrup, to avoid adding unnecessary sugar.

To make smoothies even faster, you can combine non-liquid ingredients in plastic or reusable bags and store in the refrigerator or freezer for later. Simply dump the ingredients in a blender, add the liquid, and blend. To clean the blender, simply rinse, then fill one-third full with hot water, add a drop of dish soap, blend again for thirty seconds, rinse again, and leave to air dry. This method ensures that debris is loosened from under the blender blades and prevents you from having to wash the blades with a sponge and possibly cutting yourself. Keep in mind that once your smoothie is prepared, it is a perishable food and should be consumed or refrigerated within 2 hours.

By incorporating smoothies into your family's regular meal rotation, you are adding a great source of nutrients to your diet in the form of fruits and vegetables. Enjoy!

Try these three easy recipes

When preparing the recipes, start with clean countertops and utensils. Wash hands with soap and water. Wash whole fresh produce by rinsing strawberries, romaine, and spinach, and gently rubbing banana, apple, pear, and lemon under cold running water. Prewashed packaged items do not require further washing.

Strawberry Milkshake Smoothie (1 serving)

• 1 banana (fresh or frozen)
• 5 medium strawberries, leaves removed (use fresh when available)
• ½ cup frozen riced cauliflower
• 2 Tablespoons cashews
• 2 pitted dates
• 1 cup skim milk or plant-based beverage

Green Smoothie (2 servings)

• 2 heads romaine lettuce (root removed)
• ½ cup spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 apple, core removed
• 1 pear, core removed
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ½ cup water

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie (1 serving)

• ½ cup canned pumpkin
• 1 banana
• ½ cup rolled oats
• 1 cup skim milk or plant-based beverage
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• Ice as desired

References

Your MyPlatePlan: 2000 Calories, Age 14+. (2020). Retrieved from MyPlate U.S. Department of Agriculture website