Discover this new orange smoothie recipe with more health benefits compared to the classic orange banana smoothie! It's perfect for people with diabetes and weight loss.
Lovely, I hope you're doing great at the beginning of May. Surprisingly the pollen is falling heavily here, making it hard to appreciate the weather! In times like this, we need to boost our vitamin C intake!
Vitamin C acts as an antihistamine, therefore reducing the severity of allergy reactions. It's essential you eat foods high in vitamin C if you're fighting any disease or struggling with allergies.
What about this orange smoothie that I've been drinking for a few days now? It's loaded with vitamin C and antioxidants that will support your immune system, as well as help you reduce inflammation.
I love oranges, and I've been eating them a lot these past few months. I add them in salads like in this red cabbage salad or in this brussels sprout salad. Recently, I sent you a recipe on how to make orange peel powder.
To appreciate this orange smoothie, please use a high-speed blender.
Oranges health benefits
Oranges are known for their vitamin C content, but they offer more than that;
- They're also high in dietary fiber,
- 86% of an orange is water/juice, perfect for hydrating your body.
- Oranges contain potassium, calcium, and folate.
- Boost your antioxidants by eating oranges. They'll offer you flavonoids and carotenoids that have been shown to promote health and reduce the risk of certain diseases and cancer.
- Although oranges are high in fructose, glucose, and sucrose, a reason why some people might veer away from them, the dietary fiber in oranges slows both digestion and absorption. This promotes satiety and may reduce glucose uptake in the blood.
- I recommend eating whole oranges vs drinking their juice. This way you'll get the mentioned dietary fiber by eating the membranes. Orange juice has no dietary fiber, and therefore, it can spike your blood sugar if you're concerned about this.
Together with oranges, I used other ingredients like turmeric, ginger, orange beets, yogurt, milk, and baked sweet potato.
Sweet potatoes
I hope you do love sweet potatoes, they're nutritious and filling. I love them in smoothies when I want to reduce sugar or solid food intake. Sweet potato is perfect for replacing banana in a smoothie.
I used a cup of boiled sweet potato to make this orange smoothie. It makes the smoothie creamy, and it's sweet enough (at least for me) that I don't need a banana or any other sweetener.
Sweet potatoes are a source of phytochemicals like carotenoids, phenolic compounds, and vitamin C.
According to the National Library of Medicine, sweet potatoes have "antimutagenic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticarcinogenic, hepatoprotective, cardioprotective, and anti-inflammatory properties", all the reasons for you to start adding this root vegetable to your meals.
Boil your sweet potatoes the day before to leave them time to cool. Learn how to boil sweet potatoes. You can also use baked sweet potatoes. In this case, bake them with their skin so that they can keep the moisture.
Please note that the above sweet potato benefits concern colored cultivars because most phytochemicals are color-related.
I used golden beetroot. It does have a sweeter flavor compared to its red cousin. Golden beet also goes well with orange for this smoothie. If you can't find one, leave it out. Otherwise, use a red beet instead. But, you'll not end up with the beautiful golden color of this orange smoothie.
Which yogurt is the best
- Whenever you want to get the benefits of yogurt, always choose a non-sugared yogurt!
- Read the ingredients to make sure that there are probiotics like lactobacillus and bifidobacteria.
- I use plant-based yogurt. Find a brand that uses the minimum ingredients possible!
Even though some people argue that these bacteria are killed/destroyed by the stomach acid, some studies have found these friendly bacteria in feces after yogurt consumption. This means that some of these bacteria still get the chance to get into the intestines. Which is a great thing!
What types of oranges to use
Use oranges that are juicy. Also, look if possible for oranges without seeds. This orange smoothie used whole oranges instead of orange juice.
Can you make this orange smoothie in advance?
Even though this orange smoothie will hold well for a day or two, I highly recommend you drink it immediately to get all the benefits of vitamin C. Vitamin C is light sensitive, and it degrades very quickly!
Tips
Put unskinned sweet potatoes in your freezer for about an hour before making this smoothie. This way it will be so easy to peel off the skin.
I believe this recipe finds you well, keep on eating healthy to fight diseases and aging.
You've the power to heal yourself, Githu.
Discover other healthy smoothies
Mixed berry smoothie with brewed tea
Weight loss kale smoothie for breakfast
Delicious cherry chocolate smoothie
Promote your health with this orange smoothie
Equipment
- a kitchen knife
- A chopping board
Ingredients
- a medium golden beet
- a small piece of fresh ginger
- A fresh turmeric root
- 2-3 medium juicy oranges
- 200g 1 cup nonsugared yogurt (I use plant-based)
- 1 cup Cooked sweet potato
- 1 cup Milk (I use plant-based)
Instructions
- Clean the oranges, the beet, ginger, and turmeric
- Peel the oranges using a knife. Remove the seeds if any. Cut them in quarters
- Cut the top and the base of the golden beet, no need of peeling it, cut it into small pieces
- Cut ginger and turmeric into small pieces. I don't peel them
- Put the above ingredients in your blender and add the yogurt and blend at a high speed
- Now add the rest of the ingredients and blend again, add more milk till you get a smooth creamy smoothie
- If you like a chilled smoothie, then add ice cubes together with yogurt and sweet potato.
- Serve immediately.
- Thank you for your visit, please do share this recipe by pressing the sharing button
Notes
- Store your ingredients in your fridge so that they can be cool before blending. Otherwise, if you like really cool smoothies, prepare the oranges in advance by peeling them and removing the seeds. Cut them into quarters before freezing them.
- You can also cut the beet into pieces and keep them in your freezer.
- I'd not recommend freezing cooked sweet potato unless you are freezing it for a few hours or a day. Cooked sweet potato if frozen for long will become watery losing its taste!
- This orange smoothie isn't quite sugared! Which suits people with diabetes and those on weight loss programs. If you're just starting with smoothies or want a sugared treat, then add a banana.
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