Smoothies are not only delicious; they are also super healthy! Typically, smoothies are made with some type of fruit or vegetable or a combination of both. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), there are loads of health benefits to eating fruits and vegetables.
How to Maximize the Health Benefits of Smoothies
Smoothies are a handy way to pack these daily nutrients into one convenient serving. Adding supplements, like Healthful Seasons smoothie enhancers to different smoothie recipes will pack that one-shot serving with an extra nutritious boost. Smoothie enhancers add benefits that are unmatched with foods alone.
Collagen peptides are one of the most beneficial smoothie enhancers for women. As we age, the levels of collagen in our body drops. Lower collagen contributes to crepey skin, joint pain, weakening muscles, wrinkles, gastrointestinal problems and more.
Mixing a Healthful Seasons hydrolyzed collagen to your smoothies may offer you the most efficient and effective way of digesting and utilizing collagen.
Healthful tip: To process collagen, we need vitamin C (1, 2). To help your body digest hydrolyzed collagen. That’s right! Without it, the collagen cannot do its primary job, which is to strengthen and restore skin, nails, and hair.
Did you know that not all forms of Vitamin C are equal in terms of effectiveness? The most popular and well-known Vitamin C source is ascorbic acid, but it can sometimes cause gastrointestinal issues. This is why it makes sense to find a good alternative, such as Calcium Ascorbate.
Calcium ascorbate is a more stable and effective form of Vitamin C and will provide greater health benefits than ascorbic acid.
How to Make Smoothies Affordable
Nowadays, smoothie and juice bars are all the rage. As we navigate the pandemic, many of us are willing to pay a big price to protect our health. The average price range of a smoothie is approximately $5 to $7, and with each extra smoothie enhancer or booster that price goes up.
With some prep time and the right ingredients, there’s a more economical way. Purchase your own fruits and vegetables and smoothie enhancers so that you have control over what’s in your smoothie.
How Smoothies Can Support Your Wellness Goals
When you’re in control of your daily diet, you can control your nutritional intake whether for your wellness journey that means minding calories, added sugar, protein, or nutritional diversity. It all depends on your goals: weight gain, weight loss, and maintaining weight can all be accomplished with smoothies.
For example, smoothies are one of the best snacks to support strength training goals. Just add in common high protein ingredients like Greek yogurt, chia seeds, flax seeds, nuts and nut butters, or oats.
Best of all, eating more of these nutrient-dense foods can reduce your risk of heart disease, decrease your risk of chronic diseases, and protect against certain cancers.
Healthful tip: Eating fruits and vegetables may make you happier (3, 4, 5, 6).
The Step-by-Step Guide to Smoothies
Step 1: Choose your fruit/vegetable and wash it.
Need some inspiration? Check out our top ten recommendations for fruits and veggies.
Step 2: Choose your extras (i.e. yogurt, spices, chia seeds, etc.)
Step 3: Choose your smoothie enhancer(s) (i.e. Collagen, Ashwagandha, Maca, Acai, Lucuma)
Step 4: Toss it in a blender.
Step 5: Hit the power. Pour and enjoy.
Yep. That’s how easy it is!
But there are all sorts of ways to achieve nutritional needs, a variety of flavors, consistencies, and colors. You can even make fun smoothies to celebrate the seasons throughout the year. For instance, nothing beats a Poolside Pineapple Smoothie in the summer!
With fresh fruit, you can make drinkable smoothies, and with frozen fruit you can make ice-cream-like bowls that are delicious and nutritious. All can be blended with any Healthful Seasons smoothie enhancer to add that extra boost of nutrition to your diet.
How to Make Smoothies Faster
Women are busier than ever. We get it. We understand. We’ve lived it and we’re still swinging through the zoom life along with you. So, trust us—prep ahead of time! Take one day out of the month to bulk buy, prep, refrigerate or freeze, so that you can easily toss your pre-measured smoothie ingredients in a blender throughout the week.
How to Wash and Store Smoothie Ingredients
Wash vegetables under cold water. Combine 24 ounces of cold water and 8 ounces of white vinegar in large bowl. Soak vegetables in this solution for about 5 to 10 mins to clean bacteria and loosen dirt. Scrub your root vegetables (i.e. carrots, celery, beets) with a vegetable brush to get rid of the remaining dirt.
Seasonal tip: Bulk buy fruit and vegetables when in season or on sale. Typically fruit and vegetables at the peak of ripeness can be found discounted. This makes it more economical and convenient to freeze. Try to purchase your fruit and vegetables over a weekend so that you can prep for the next couple weeks (or even months). If you get this down, you will find it much easier to prepare your smoothies throughout the week.
Healthful tip: Since spices, seeds and nuts have a longer shelf life, buy on sale, and prep your pantry for daily use.
Research
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminC-HealthProfessional/
- Cleveland Clinic Health Essentials https://health.clevelandclinic.org/the-best-way-you-can-get-more-collagen/
- U.S. Department of Agriculture, MyPlate https://www.myplate.gov/eat-healthy/fruits
- Slavin, Joanne L, and Beate Lloyd. “Health benefits of fruits and vegetables.” Advances in nutrition (Bethesda, Md.) vol. 3,4 506-16. 1 Jul. 2012, doi:10.3945/an.112.002154
- Pem, Dhandevi, and Rajesh Jeewon. “Fruit and Vegetable Intake: Benefits and Progress of Nutrition Education Interventions- Narrative Review Article.” Iranian journal of public health vol. 44,10 (2015): 1309-21.
- Have a Plant, Fruits and Veggies for Better Health: https://fruitsandveggies.org/stories/buzz-eating-fruits-veggies-actually-makes-happier/