Smoothies are smoke bombs, trojan horses for nutrition
Know you need it but it tastes icky? Hide it in a shake.
I’m batting around the idea of making Newbtrition “flash cards” for a fairly simple reason. While these posts almost always get more sprawling than I’d intend, I’m hoping some simpler themes and messages emerge.
In the case of healthy smoothies/shakes, two common refrains get covered.
You could put something healthy together without doing a ton of work. Bad food choices aren’t your only option when you’re feeling exhausted and/or lazy.
Healthy food can be delicious, decadent even. Seriously.
Truly, if you eat a salad loaded in healthy stuff (instead of cheese and ranch dressing) and packed your blender with nutritious items every day, I’d bet you would be on a much, much, MUCH healthier path.
That said, such a statement brings me to another important point. This running series is called Newbtrition for a reason. Remember:
I am not a doctor, expert, nutritionist, or authority on these subjects. Hopefully these tips enrich your life. But please PLEASE PLEASE also consult experts, like an actual doctor. Especially if you’re dealing with something like diabetes.
Anyway, you get the idea: don’t take this stuff as gospel. Instead, consider it a gust of wind that hopefully gets you sailing toward a healthier, longer life.
If you missed it, here’s my treatise on salads.
Before I dive in deeper, a point that circles back to being healthier while being pragmatic about very human feelings of “I don’t wanna do that.” You don’t necessarily have to go wild with your salads and shakes.
Even if you just have a bit of frozen fruit blending with whatever will get it to actually blend, that’s still fruit you may not have otherwise consumed. Similarly, a salad that really is just mixed greens (or even just spinach) and a dash of dressing gets some of the healthiest stuff on earth in your body.
Much of the beauty is in how customizable this all is. And, by swapping in different fruits and other elements, you can keep shakes from being something dreaded: boring.
Notice that headline? I think one of the greatest elements of shakes and smoothies is that you can consume things you know you’re supposed to, but normally wouldn’t because of how it tastes.
To me, smoothies are like smoke grenades: they divert your attention from that icky thing, and get that into your guts. Call your blender a trojan horse for vegetables, fruit, and other healthy doodads (instead of warriors who will pillage a village).
Here are some of the “soldiers” I load up into my shakes/smoothies. Note that this is by no means a comprehensive list of smoothie options — again, you can put all sorts of things in there. Just, please make them healthy.
(Also, be careful with certain items — especially in concentrated forms — as even good things can sometimes go too far.)
Smoothie suggestions: the foundation
Fruit, especially frozen
Increasingly, I enjoy just eating fruit, but smoothies remain a great way to get even more in your system. With frozen fruit, you can also get that nice frozen yogurt/ice cream-type vibe, without the bad sugars and other sinister elements.
Hot take/cold give? Water instead of milk
There’s room for a way-too-long discussion of this; let me try to keep it simple here.
You’re likely to need some additional liquid in a shake/smoothie, even if it’s mainly for the sake of getting everything to blend nicely. More and more, I lean toward just adding water and a few tiny splashes of almond milk.
Both in shakes/smoothies and your larger diet, I’d recommend dropping milk and dairy as much as possible. There’s some really alarming data out there. Even if you’re to fussy to drop milk altogether, keeping it out of your shake shouldn’t be tough. After all, I’m not sure how you’d notice the difference.
Smoothie suggestions: seeds, powders, all kinds of stuff
Powders
Do your research on this, as there can sometimes be some quirks to how these powders/etc. are sourced. Also, remember that eating the whole food version of things is often the most fool-proof way to absorb vital nutrients and enzymes.
Nonetheless, practicality is key, and you could cover a lot of bases you’d otherwise leave empty. Here are some things I often add to the basics of frozen fruit and water:
Broccoli sprout powder: over time, I’d like to eat more broccoli (the dream: deliciously in Thai/Chinese-inspired dishes, but without the mountains of sodium that come from something like soy sauce). Lately, I’ve settled for this option. I find that you sometimes can taste a bit of that broccoli, but it’s subtle and doesn’t ruin the shake. If it does, maybe don’t use it for a while and/or try less. Broccoli is incredibly healthy, so find a way.
Psyllium husk powder: basically, this is Metamucil. In certain formats, people can struggle to consume psyllium husk — the pills, in particular, aren’t the easiest to swallow. Either way, I find it to be an element of a diet that’s largely solved what used to be a deeply annoying problem. And it apparently is a problem many people endure.
Dates: As you can see from that video above, prunes (or dried plums) can really help you not be “stopped up.” However, I don’t put prunes in my shakes for an amusingly simple reason. I actually enjoy them on their own, periodically throughout the day.
Instead, I often toss a couple dates in a shake. They add a wonderful, candy-like chew to the mix. For some, dates could give that extra nudge for a shake to go from “meh” to “I would drink this even if I didn’t think it was so good for me.”
Expect a whole post on nature’s candy down the line. But, yeah, dates are pretty nice additions to shakes.
Amla powder: Often, blueberries serve as my base frozen fruit. I always include amla powder, too, as it apparently blows the already-impressive antioxidant power of blueberries out of the water. Some of this goes over my head, but the stuff just seems ridiculously beneficial, so it goes in my blender every time.
Protein powder: Shakes are a great place to plop down some extra protein. Just make sure the powder you’re throwing in there isn’t packed with bad stuff. Personally, I tend to only use a bit, but others may pour in more. (Future post alert: despite what you’ve been led to believe, there are a stunning array of protein sources that aren’t meat-based.)
Matcha powder: basically powdered green tea. I’m a proponent of using tea, coffee, and sparkling water/seltzer to get soda out of your life, in part because tea especially presents some staggeringly promising benefits.
Ground flaxseeds: Flaxseeds are so beneficial, they get a solo mention in Dr. Michael Greger’s Daily Dozen. Make sure they’re ground, though.
Style preference aside: some people prefer a thicker (I guess shake?)-like feel to their blended healthy beverage. Personally, I like it to be more watery and easy to drink, maybe leaning closer to a smoothie (or even juice, but remember that actual juice is almost always bad news). In my experience, flaxseeds and psyllium husk can contribute to a thicker beverage, so I tend to add them — but with a lighter touch.
Luckily, I’d argue that flaxseeds tend to disappear into plenty of other mixes really well. My wife makes some delicious oatmeal where I couldn’t give any flack for the flax, as just one example.
Chia seeds: This is a relatively new addition, so pardon a lack of info. Along with deeper cut info, they stand alongside stuff like flaxseeds and protein powder as elements that can help you feel full longer.
So many other options: while putting all of this stuff in one shake may be too much for some (laughs maniacally), it’s again wise to remember that you can put all sorts of stuff in there. Maybe that’s where you want to hide something like ground ginger or turmeric + pepper?
Pro tip: take your time eating your smoothie
Paradoxically, I prepare my shakes/smoothies in a way that could be slurped down quite quickly, but I instead take my time. Generally, I try to stretch out my SMOOTHIE SESH to a half hour.
I’m going to go ahead and screenshot a graph from Dr. Greger’s bit on smoothies here:
OK, the point about your enamel makes my preference for a watery smoothie less silly: with a straw in tow, I hopefully can avoid damage to teeth. (That’s also why I try to get my hibiscus fix in cold form, rather than hot tea.)
Either way, the more patient approach to consuming a smoothie could really be important in impressing upon your brain and belly that you’ve actually consumed a meal, or at least something that will cover you for a while. This can be important, especially if it’s replacing what would be a bad meal — or, if not replacing it, at least buying you time.
Final frozen thoughts: find what works for you
There are plenty of templates for healthy smoothies. You could pay a premium for a largely premade one (though even then, I’d add water, amla powder, and other things to round out the nutrition). You could be pretty simple and still make a better choice.
But don’t give up if you don’t like how the first one tastes. Figure out what you like, and the healthy things you can hide in anything from a blueberry chocolate mix, a mint-chocolate contraption, maybe something peanut butter + banana related, or even a more savory/spicy mix.
If you slug down a really healthy shake, you may notice things quickly. Sometimes, I get that “Requiem for a Fruit” feeling.
But sometimes it may be a bit more subtle. Maybe you don’t have that same sugar crash feeling you would at other times. Perhaps you can distracted from hunger, then realize “Huh, the shake actually did hold me over for a while.”
Or perhaps you simply get the peace of mind of realizing that you’re adding more fruits and veggies to your diet. If these tactics equate to getting your homework done, then this is sort of like getting the “Sparks Notes” treatment with fruits, vegetables, and other healthy items.
