Smoothies can provide much of the nutrition for patients who have undergone weight loss surgery and for those who just want to have some concentrated great nutrition with flavors.

There are some basics to making smoothies - so here is the simple Smoothie 101 course for you.

 

 

Sometimes it is the equipment. 

Here is my basic recipe now for Smoothies:

 

Use a Nutribullet - or some simple device

 

1 cup Oat Milk (or pick your favorite)

1 cup frozen fruit

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1 banana

1-2 scoops of your favorite protein powder

 

-- things to add

peanut butter - 1 tablespoon - 95calories

cocoa powder 1 tablespoon - 12 calories

 

Blend for 10 to 15 seconds

I put it into an insulated thermos so I can drink it all day long

Step 1 – the liquid base

Liquid is the first thing you should put in your blender.  Always put the liquid in first. If you put the protein powder in first it can get stuck in the blades and cause a mess.

I used to love that beast of a VitaMix - but now I use a nutribullet - it is much faster, and easier to clean up. The Vita-Mix was a beast, but it is just too much work 

Oat Milk is my personal choice for smoothies. This is readily available in most grocery stores today, and for those who are lactose intolerant, almond or oat milk is not an issue.  When you start making smoothies you will be drinking more “milk” than before, so it may uncover a lactose issue.  There are also milks made from oats, rice, hemp, and soy.  If the soy milk is free of isoflavins it should be fine, but the other milks are easy to come by. If you must have milk, consider the fat-free plus milk from Shamrock Farms.

Step 2 – The Fruits

Professional smoothie chefs talk about having a base fruit that provides the smoothie with a creamy texture. This can also be achieved with the proper protein mix, and find your favorite powder.  Otherwise, the base fruit provides a good creamy texture to the smoothie.

Great base fruits include apple, banana, mango, peach, and pear.

Step 3 – The greens

For green shakes- you still need a fruit base, although you can use less base fruit with some greens.

I don’t like Spinach, but funny thing- when blended in with fruits there is no taste. For many people, not getting enough greens means missing out on lots of micronutrients, and blending a green into a fruit flavor means you get the nutrients, but don’t have the taste that some find difficult to tolerate.

The ratio of greens to fruits is 2 parts greens to 3 parts fruit.  Most find being able to tolerate greens more as time goes on.  Other greens that work well include anything that is green and leafy such as kale, chart, parsley, and dandelion.

Step 4 – The Protein Powder

There are a lot of protein powders out there - so find one you like. Ok, I will make my own blend eventually.

Step 6 – the Ice

You need ice in your blender one way or another for the smoothie. If the fruits are frozen you may need just a bit of water, but if they are not then you will need to add 1-2 cups of ice.

BLEND IT

Different blenders have different abilities to incorporate the greens as well as the ice cubes.With nutribullet - I use frozen fruits and a bana.

Too Sweet – add a bit of sea salt to the mix

Too bitter – add more fruit

Too warm -  more ice