There is something about starting my day with a smoothie that sets my mind and body for an energized day. I strongly believe that every smoothie needs a vegetable component, and usually the vegetable component is in higher ratio than fruit. Do this, and you set yourself up to eat more vegetables in one meal than some people eat in a whole week. Since the blender does all the hard work, it also gives your GI a break from having to work so hard to digest (there are no teeth in your stomach!). Blending smoothies keeps all the pulp and fiber that juicing removes, giving you the most bang for your buck in one glass.

I have started my day with a smoothie of some sort for years, but I have a handful of tried and true smoothies that are on repeat. My son has also eaten a smoothie almost daily since he was in utero. We usually share a high-fat, high-protein breakfast together (fried eggs in ghee are our jam!) and we’ve made this smoothie so many times together he can do it by himself.

In addition to the unspoken vegetables that should sneak into every smoothie, you also need the three essentials, or holy trinity of smoothies, if you will:
1) Fiber
2) Fat
3) Protein

Fiber, fat, and protein will slow the digestion and absorption of nutrition. Without these, you basically have a milkshake. I also get asked often where we get our glass straws. We bought them from Strawsome a few years ago and have never had one break, even with a toddler using one daily! I find he’ll drink almost anything through a straw, and I’ve been known to feed him soup through them too!

I use coconut water as the liquid base for most of my smoothies, especially if they have spinach in them. The alternative of using a dairy product (milk, yogurt, or kefir) is they contain enough calcium that it inhibits the absorption of iron from the spinach or other leafy green like kale. Through most of my teen, 20, and pre-natal years, I’ve been desperate to absorb as much iron as possible.

Go-To Green Smoothie

• Servings: 6 servings
• Time: 5 minutes
• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients

Go-To Green Smoothie

• 1 16.9 fl oz mango coconut water (I like this Vita Coco brand)
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup kale
• 1 avocado
• 1 packet of Vega coconut almond protein powder
• 1 packet of Amazing Grass Super Green powder
• 1.5 cups frozen mango

*You could do without the powder packets if that’s not your thing, however I find this a great way to add loads and loads of nutrition that I can’t get from anywhere else. It also gives it a depth of flavor and sweetness, but there is enough sweetness in the flavored coconut water and mangoes that you could also do without the flavored protein powder.

Directions

Wash and rinse your spinach, kale, and avocado. Add all ingredients in the order given, always putting your frozen things on the top of the blender for the best blend, otherwise you will be stopping to “burp” the blender and let air out of the pockets. This smoothie makes approximately 6 servings.

We refrigerate ours in sealed glass jars for up to 3 days.

Photos and Content Copyright © Jaclyn Beaty Nutrition, 2019