This healthy green smoothie will fuel your body with nutrients rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals! From greens like spinach, radish green, and arugula, these wholesome ingredients are a great way to ensure your daily veggies intake!
It can be challenging to add greens to smoothies, especially when you're starting with smoothies. However, adding small amounts and different types of green veggies to smoothies creates healthier and more nutrient-rich results.
If you like smoothies, you'll love this healthy treat packed in a nutrient-rich combination of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals in each sip. It's a great way to level up your morning!
However, I should admit that this green smoothie is not for beginners, even though it combines a variety of nutrients from amazing ingredients, such as radish greens, spinach, arugula, lemon, flaxseeds, ginger, yogurt, and banana.
Ingredients in this green smoothie
Spinach contains nutrients and antioxidants like magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, vitamin C, and soluble fiber. In addition, the leaves have a mild flavor, making them fantastic to add to a green smoothie.
Arugula/rocket salad adds a tart, peppery flavor to this smoothie. It's a great source of vitamin C, quercetin, and kaempferol, three antioxidants that help reduce oxidative stress, with anti-inflammatory properties.
Radish greens are rich in vitamins A, B6, C and minerals like iron, magnesium, and potassium. These leaves have a rough texture, so I like adding lemon to the smoothie when using radish leaves to improve the taste.
Banana is a magic ingredient to make the best green smoothies for natural sweetness and a creamy texture. Bananas are rich in potassium and vitamin B6.
Ginger is high in vitamin C and gingerols, phytochemicals with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties.
Yogurt adds some creaminess, fat, and probiotics. Make sure to use plain yogurt.
Flaxseeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids and high in proteins, and they're also rich in lignans which have been shown in various studies to be cancer protective.
Lemon is high in vitamin C, which acts as antioxidants.
Tips to make a healthy green smoothie
Switch the greens: Spinach is by far the most preferred green for smoothies because it blends well without leaving any taste. However, make sure to include other greens. Kale, lettuce, beet greens, and radish greens, like in this smoothie, are easy to add.
Use water or milk: The healthiest smoothies are blended with water, and water in the smoothies counts for your daily water intake. That said, use a healthy milk of your choice with no sugar or food additives.
Add healthy fats: Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, and you need fat to absorb fat-soluble vitamins and some nutrients like turmeric. Throw in some nuts, seeds, or avocado in your smoothies.
Use the 20/80 rule: If you're drinking smoothies to heal or improve your health, like in my case, then use fewer fruits and more vegetables. High-fruit smoothies end up being loaded with sugar which might give you a different result than you expect in the long run.
Remember superfoods: From spices to healthy powders, add superfoods to take your smoothies to the next level, like in this superfood smoothie.
Should you make smoothies in advance?
- Green smoothies are the best when served fresh, right after blending them. When made in advance, they end up having altered colors and flavors.
- Blending veggies and fruits means we alter their matrix by breaking them finely to release nutrients and phytochemicals, thereby increasing their bioavailability. Storing smoothies affects these nutrients and increases their loss.
Therefore, meal prep smoothies by having all the ingredients packed in small portions and ready to use.
Enjoy this smoothie and find more aspirations here.
You've got the power to heal yourself, Githu.
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Recipe
Fuel your body with this healthy green smoothie.
Equipment
- kitchen knife
Ingredients
- a small piece of ginger
- 2 tablespoon flax seeds
- 1 banana
- a few arugula leaves
- a few radish greens leaves
- a handful of fresh spinach
- 1 tin/100g plain yogurt (plant-based when possible)
- 3 cups water
- ½ a lemon (squeezed)
Instructions
- Clean all the greens, lemon, and ginger
- Cut the lemon and squeeze the juice
- Put all the ingredients according to the order above and blend
- Serve immediately and enjoy.
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