Fruit, Banana or Green Smoothie: Which Is Best For My Body?

 

 

There are so many smoothie options, but which smoothie is best for the unique needs of your own body? If you’re just starting out with smoothies — and you’ve been eating the standard modern diet — then you probably want to start out first with a banana smoothie, then later as your taste buds evolve, you can step-up to a fruit berry smoothie, and finally, once you’ve become more experienced using a blender, you can graduate to a green smoothie!

You can get more lifeforce and flavor out of your smoothie, by evolving your recipe over time. You can become leaner and more energized by discovering all the terrific things your blender can do for you!

 

The Three Nutrients You Should Put in Your Smoothies

If your smoothie is meant to be a meal — and not merely a snack — then it needs to contain the complete nutrients of a healthy meal. As your health and vitality improve, it’s time to develop your recipe further to increase the positive results by fine-tuning your nutrition.

You want to make sure that your green smoothie has the following key ingredients:

1. Protein: sprouted seeds, raw nuts, dark greens and vegetable powders
2. Carbohydrates: fruits are a good source of carbs
3. Fats: ingredients that our high in fat include avocados, coconut, chia and flaxseeds

You need all three of the above nutritional categories, but how much of all three depends on you and your needs and your unique metabolic type (some people handle carbs better than most, while there are other people who thrive with higher protein and fat).

 

How to Make a Banana Smoothie

Bananas and smoothies are best friends, especially for people new to smoothie-making. As long as you enjoy digestive regularity (translation: you’re not easily constipated!) then bananas are a fantastic way to begin. I tend toward vegan ingredients, but many beginners enjoy adding a little yogurt to their banana smoothies. Here’s a very valuable tip: freeze your bananas first!

 
You’ll probably be adding bananas, ice, yogurt, and nut butter to this entry-level smoothie. Refreshing, with the creamy richness of a milkshake!

How to Make a Fruit Berry Smoothie

Berries are loaded with life-affirming antioxidants. Antioxidants help you stay young and feel young! The next step up from a banana smoothie is to try using berries instead — blueberries are super healthy and delicious, but feel free to mix in whatever other organic frozen berries you can find at your grocery store or local farmers market. Slip in a bit of cucumber and celery, too, and try using seeds instead of nuts, and plant protein instead of whey.

Creating Your Own, Powerful Green Smoothie Recipe

 
Okay, so you’ve started drinking green smoothies, and you’ve begun to find a balance of fruit and vegetables that your taste buds eagerly welcome each morning. You’ve even probably started to notice improvements in your mood, energy level and general well-being. Basically, green smoothes are life-improving and you know it — so what else can you get out of them?

Through your own experimentation and sense of adventure, you can create your own smoothie recipe that will taste delicious and, over time, help your body to feel stronger and more powerful.

Fad diets will tell you to avoid carbohydrates but complex carbs can be an essential high-octane fuel and very desirable for your body (especially on days you exercise). If you are just starting out with green smoothies you’ll probably want more carbs. For beginners, carbs often come from fruit. For advanced blenders, carbs tend to come more often from vegetables — such as spinach, kale, or cucumber.

“…by mixing your greens, you will not let
the alkaloids build up in your system”

Protein comes in all sorts of forms, you can get a vegetable protein powder or a hemp protein powder and add a couple of tablespoons to your smoothie to help give you strength and repair tissues.

Fats will help you to feel full and satisfied after a smoothie, and help the smoothie to give you a sustained energy for hours.

Try Rotating Your Greens!

The challenge is to try to add as many leafy green vegetables into your smoothie as you can, while still enjoying the flavor and texture. However, it’s also a good idea to rotate your greens.

Plants need their leaves to survive but are constantly losing their leaves because animals eat them. To put animals off their leaves, the plants protect themselves by mixing all that nourishment with small amounts of alkaloids — which can be a sort of poison.

But by mixing your greens, you will not let the alkaloids build up in your system (in nature, animals like chimpanzees will constantly mix their greens by picking at different plants).

The same can be said for nuts and seeds, and some nutritionists believe that sprouted seeds are better in this regard.

But perhaps the best reason to have several different smoothie recipes that you’re always improving and evolving, is that it will keep blending fun and interesting to you!