Smoothies
Everyone talking about them, how do I join in on the fun?

Smoothies

Everyone talking about themsmoothie
how do I join in on the fun?

 

Objectives:

Participants will be able to:

•Explain the pros and cons of using Smoothies to replace meals or as a snack.

•Describe the main ingredient groups for a healthy and delicious smoothie.

•Be able  to make your own  a satisfying and delicious smoothie.

•Name the essential tool for making a smoothie.

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Healthy Breakfast or Snack

blender with fruit

 

 Link to Audio File Click to hear narration

Most of us, especially children, don't' eat enough fruits and vegetables. Smoothies can change this for you, your family and your patients. This is especially true if you keep the other ingredients healthy and you find them satisfying.  They help us to eat more fruits and vegetables quickly and easily. Unlike juices, you get all the fiber in a smoothie.. For a quick snack try 3/4 cup of frozen fruit, a handful of greens and nondairy milk and a teaspoon of coconut oil or nut butter.  For a complete meal, add more fruits veggies, twice the fat and a protein.

Barbara Rolls, a nutrition professor at Pennsylvania State University and author of the Volumetric diet book series  says, "most of us are not eating enough fruits and vegetables, so if [smoothies are] encouraging people to eat more fruits and vegetables, they're keeping the other ingredients pretty healthy and they're finding them satisfying, I think that could be a good thing."

 

 

 

Healthy or Not?

Pinterest or Google have a ton of great Healthy Smoothie ideas and recipes.

Pinterest or Google have a ton of "not so healthy" Smoothie recipes, there are some that are just ice-cream shakes.

Everybody's got a guide the best smoothies

type the search word
'smoothie' on Google or Pinterest or YouTube and you will get thousands of options.

 Link to Audio File Click to hear narration

 

Break it down

Meal Replacement Smoothie

Snack Smoothie

Liquid: Always start with a liquid. It can be juice or milk or water.  I stay away from the juices because of the sugar content and lean toward nondairy milks.

Leafy greens and other vegetables: use what you like.  Spinach tastes rather mild and is very good for you.  Experiment with other things like baby kale, arugula, Swiss chard, a little parsley, cucumbers and carrots.

Fruit: Bananas are high in sugar, but they are sweet and creamy so they taste great in a smoothie.  Peaches, pineapple, berries and melons work great also. Freeze your fruit if you like your smoothies creamy and cold. Try to work toward using more vegetables than fruit. 

Fat: I use smoothies as meal replacements in the morning. So, I always add some fat when I am making a meal replacement. It can be nuts, nut butter, flaxseed oil, coconut oil whatever is healthy and sounds good. Some people like to add avocado.  It's all good.

Protein punch: yogurt, nut butters (Yes, they work as a fat and a protein) or protein powder.

Boost it up:  Add flax seeds, vanilla, I always add cinnamon.  Add fresh ginger or basil, there are a million recipes and I have almost never had a bad smoothie.

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 Quiz Me

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Break it down

So you have this perfect meal replacement smoothie with your fat, your boost, a protein punch, your liquid, fruits and leafy green veggies.  Then you also have this light delicious snack with frozen fruits and fresh greens, a liquid and an optional boost and or fat.  This you tube video gives you 5 great delicious and nutritious smoothies for every day of the week.

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Nutrient Dense and Fat Containing

Fat is required for biological functions and is burned by your body for energy.  Fats are the highest energy food per gram and provide an excellent boost to your smoothie. Fat slows down gastric emptying (the movement of food through the digestive system) and markedly reduces the insulin spike associated with carbohydrate ingestion .2

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The Carbs

Having a balance of Carbs, fat and protein is important to building any kind of healthy meal. 

The same is true for your smoothies. 

Adding more greens than fruit can really pack a nutritious punch. 

But some people have to work to acquire a taste for greens over time. 

Experiment and try to get as much green in as you can.

Spinach and kale are excellent sources of iron and great to use in Green smoothies.  But don't be afraid to mix it up with Swiss chard, parsley, or other interesting greens. 

Fruit is often added to keep it sweet.  Bananas and pineapples are great naturally sugary fruits that can enhance your smoothie's flavor.   Berries have lower sugar content.

Some people add sweeteners, but it is up to you.  You don't want to add so much sugar or sweeteners, that you undo the health benefits.

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Macronutrient Availability

Blending and juicing both disrupt the mechanical structure of plant cells, which increases the accessibility of many micronutrients. Many beneficial micronutrients (carotenoids, polyphenols, and folate for example) are bound to large molecules within the plant cell like fiber, proteins, and starches. Processing, heating, and chewing break down these cellular structures to increase the availability of the bound micronutrients; however, many may not be accessible for our absorption by chewing alone. Blending increases our likelihood of absorbing these nutrients. The reason blending is better than juicing is because the micronutrients that are bound to fiber within the plant cell may be removed with the fiber by juicing.1

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Hydration

 

Start your day with fruits and veggies to get your body hydrated, add ice for extra cold hydration.  Milk and yogurt are largely water, so if your smoothie is dairy based, you still quench your thirst.

 

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Fun and Easy

Kids usually enjoy smoothies because they are fun to make and can be customized to their taste buds.  Keeping frozen naked fruit on hand makes them super cold for a summer snack.  For early morning recipes, put the ingredients you need together in a ziplock or two the night before.  Then you just blend and go before you leave the house for your busy day. 

 

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Don't skip the chew

 

Liquid greens should not take the place of whole fruits and vegetables. This is always better.  Because chewing and digesting whole foods slows and stabilizes the entry of nutrients into the bloodstream and helps keep insulin and other hormones balanced, says David Katz, founding director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center and author of "Disease-Proof: The Remarkable Truth About What Makes Us Well."  This is always the first choice, but for a busy family on the go, Smoothies are way better than pop tarts or other sugary morning options

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Progress

Here are two quick exercises to check your learning.

Align Activity

Below, you can align the groups of words in the heading they belong. Click Align to get started.

 

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Multiple Choice

Answer the following question. You can choose more than one answer.

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What do I need to get started?

Breville Hemisphere Control Blender

$199 on Amazon

 

 

A 16 oz blender or bullet.  I have a vita-mix, which helps to make them super smooth. But any good blender will do.  Be sure to use enough liquid and non frozen ingredients' first to make it smooth, then add the frozen fruit at the end.  IF you have a vitamix 5200, Breville Hemisphere Control Blender or a super power blender, you can freeze the fruit, even the yogurt, and it will be cold and thick and delicious.

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Vitamix 5200

$487 on Amazon

 

 

Progress

Answer the following question. You can choose only one answer.

 

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Take 5 to review

1.Pro is it is quick and easy to get a powerful nutritious punch in an easy, on the go drink, that can taste delicious.
Con is it is better to chew whole food than drink it.
Pro blending helps you absorb more micronutrients. 
Con is not everyone has a high powered blender.

2.The main ingredients are fat (optional), liquid, fruits and veggies, protein for meal replacement and boost options for a more powerful punch.

3.I would put some frozen berries in my Vitamix, with protein powder, coconut oil and cover it all with almond milk.  I might add truvia, flax seeds, vanilla and cinnamon for flavor.  Blend and go.

4.A good blender is essential.

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