How To Blend The Perfect Smoothie

Whether you want to boost your immunity, support your metabolism, build radiant skin, or have humming all-day energy, you can rely on the power of plants to fuel your body.

Since I'm always looking to squeeze an extra dose of nourishment into my day (without a lot of fuss), I befriended smoothies long ago. In less than 5 minutes, you can have a delicious meal or snack that’s bursting with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants. That’s what I call real fast-food.

By selecting the most wholesome ingredients, you can say goodbye to dragging energy, nagging inflammation, brain fog, and blood sugar crashes in the time it takes to push ‘blend’. With a little know-how it's as simple as throwing a handful of fresh ingredients into a blender and letting the bounty of real food do what it does best: nourish your body.

First, let’s talk about which ingredients to choose. I find adding 1-2 ingredients from each of the following categories helps blitz together a perfectly balanced smoothie.

FRUIT: Nature’s fuel, fruit is a great source of natural energy. Fruit is quickly digested, providing immediate energy without the crash associated with refined sugars. Top picks: banana, berries, cherries, pineapple, citrus.

GREENS: Adding greens to your smoothie is an easy way to up your veggie game. Enzymes and fiber from greens give us our fill of vital nutrients and activate mitochondria - the energy systems of our cells - which fire up our metabolism. Top picks: spinach, kale, zucchini, cucumber, micro greens.

PLANT PROTEIN: Plant-based proteins are a clean burning fuel that provide the building blocks for strong muscles, while keeping inflammation at bay. Top picks: hemp seeds, non-gmo soy, pea protein, sacha inchi.

HEALTHY FATS: The right kind of fats serve up long lasting energy, nourish our brain, help us absorb some vitamins and minerals, and keep our hormones in check. Top picks: avocado, ground flaxseed, chia seeds, raw nuts/seeds, nut butter, coconut butter or oil.

ANTIOXIDANTS: These warriors help us age gracefully by warding off cellular damage and cleaning up waste called ‘free radicals’. They pack the most nutrient density into each serving, charged and ready to revitalize your cells. Bring on the radiant glow! Top picks: matcha tea, cacao, goji berries, spirulina.

LIQUID: Plant-based milks can clock as much (or more!) calcium than their moo-milk counterparts, but leave behind the inflammation and digestive woes. Top picks: coconut milk, non-GMO soy milk, oat milk, almond milk.

Now let’s talk how to make it. There are very few rules to making a great smoothie. They’re simple and always modifiable. Nevertheless, following an overall ‘architecture plan’ while building a smoothie can ensure it gets whipped up into perfection.

Here’s how to make a perfect smoothie, from start to finish:

1. Hard ingredients. Hard, chunky ingredients, like frozen fruits, dried fruits, nuts and seeds, go in first so that they are closest to the blades.

2. Soft ingredients. Soft, chunky ingredients, such as fresh fruits, vegetables, leafy greens, nut butters, tofu, and so on are next.

3. Proteins and superfoods. If you add powders to the smoothie first, they may get trapped below the blades of the blender, and adding last often clumps them together into undesirable, unblended solids. Adding them just after the base and the bulk, but before the liquids, makes them stick to the base ingredients and give you a perfect blend.

4. Liquid. Liquids should always be added last. This distributes them evenly, and avoids “smoothie splash” — a problem then adding chucks ingredients to a blender already filled with liquids (think of cannonballing into a swimming pool).

5. Ice. Ice can be added either first or last. If your smoothie contains very hard ingredients like nuts, blend everything but the ice into a creamy mixture first, then stop the blender and add the ice before blending once more. This allows the blender blades to process the hard ingredients properly so you won’t be left with chunks of food. Otherwise, simply add the ice first, with other base or bulk ingredients.

With all this in mind, have fun with it! Make room for curiosity and modify to your heart’s content. If you have kids, get them involved, too. Smoothies can be fun and nourishing for the whole family.

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