How to Make a Superfood Smoothie

Make mornings fast and healthy with my Meal Replacement Smoothie Guide.

As part of my functional medicine treatment plan, I’m suppose to eat every 2-3 hours. In a child-free world, that’s not quite as hard, but with a baby around, finding the time to prepare a snack and then eat it is a much harder task than I would have guessed!

Instead of making elaborate prepared snacks that I need two hands to eat with, I’ve been making a smoothie for either my morning or afternoon snack because once it’s prepped, I can sip on it with one hand—mom win!

I’ve always loved smoothies, but used to make the mistake of loading them up with tons of fruit and fruit juice. They tasted like dessert, but were essentially all sugar. No wonder they tasted so good, right?! I’d end up with a quick sugar high and then crash, so now I opt for using much less fruit in my smoothies and packing them full of vegetables and superfoods.

They keep me full longer and I don’t get the same crash when I’ve mixed in ingredients that are rich in healthy fats and fiber. It’s probably the easiest way to get in a ton of essential vitamins and nutrients every day too.

I’ve tried my fair share of smoothie recipes and I won’t lie, I’ve made some pretty bad ones. I once made Jess taste one. Her response? “This tastes worse than dirt,” haha! Don’t worry, today’s recipe doesn’t taste like dirt at all! But, before we dive into the recipe, what the heck is a superfood!?

What Is A Superfood?

Superfood, a buzz word we hear all the time now. People tell you to fill your diet with things like quinoa, kale, Greek yogurt, green tea, almond milk, goji berries, salmon, ginger and other foods you never considered eating before.

But, what exactly is a superfood?!

According to dictionary.com, a superfood is defined as a food that is considered exceptionally beneficial to your health and boosts the natural function of our immune system because of their naturally high content of vitamins, minerals, fiber, antioxidants, or omega-3 fatty acids.

That’s not to say that other fruits, vegetables, proteins, seeds and nuts are not good for you, they simply don’t pack quite the nutritional punch as superfoods do!

Benefits Of Eating Superfoods

This one might be obvious, but the benefits of eating a diet rich in whole foods, vegetables and very little to no processed or sugary foods can improve just about every function in your body.

Maintaining a healthy diet of whole foods that includes lots of superfoods will improve your energy levels, digestion, mental focus, your sleep. They can help to reduce your risk for disease and illness and overall leave you feeling more energetic.

At the end of the day, that’s how I want to feel! Energetic, balanced and joyful. Believe me, a diet overall like this can do wonders for you. It’ll boost your body’s natural function and things just start to fall into place.

But, what it you don’t like the taste of a lot of these superfoods?! No problem-o! I love a good smoothie and mixing in some of the powerful foods into a yummy smoothie can hide some of the flavors that you might not be in love with.

How To Make A Superfood Smoothie

There’s two ways of making a superfood smoothie. You can by a mix at the store, which can be super helpful when you don’t have a lot of time, or you can build your own and customize it to your taste. The latter is a little bit more time-consuming, but it’s the route I like to go.

Slowing down and living my life is something I’m taking seriously this summer (let’s hope I form those habits and they last long past summer!) and cooking, or making a smoothie, is something that I like to take my time doing. It might sound silly, but having those few mindful moments in the kitchen, creating something that I know will benefit my body is also good for my mind.

I typically keep a lot of these ingredients on hand, or I prep them in advance and keep them in the fridge or freezer to make for easy smoothie prep! So, without further ado, here’s my go-to healthy smoothie recipe that’s jam packed with tasty and healthy ingredients to keep your body and mind fueled!

Superfood Smoothie Recipe

• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 cup chopped kale, feel free to substitute spinach if you’d like!
• 1/2 inch fresh ginger
• 1/4 avocado
• 1 Tbsp goji berries, soaked in water for 15-20 minutes to soften
• 2 Vital Proteins Spirulina Capsule, just pop open and pour in the powder
• 1 scoop Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides protein powder (18g of protein & 20g of collagen)
• 1/2-1 cup coconut water, start with less and add more if it’s too thick

Before you add everything, you’ll need to prepare a few ingredients. I freeze my bananas in advance. One thing to note, frozen bananas can be really hard to blend, so make sure you’re using a high power blender. If you don’t want to get a new blender, instead of just cutting the banana in half, try cutting it into slices and then freezing for easier blending! If you’re making this right now and don’t have frozen banana, just add a few ice cubes to keep it all cold!

Goji berries are also on the chewier side, so I recommend soaking them in warm water for 15-20 minutes before to soften them up and make them easier to blend! This adds a little sweetness to the smoothie. If you need a little more sweetness, you can try adding real maple syrup, but stick to a teaspoon as most.

Vital Proteins Spirulina

I just started adding a capsule of Vital Proteins Spirulina to my smoothies! Spirulina is an algae that is insanely dense in vitamins and minerals, making it a super superfood! It’s also what gives this smoothie it’s really deep greenish-blue color. You can also just take these capsules with water, but since it made my superfood smoothie even more super, so I figured why not!

Once those ingredients are prepped, add everything to your blender and blend until smooth! You might need to add a little bit of water or coconut water to get it to the consistency that you like. Pour into a tall glass and top with hemp seeds, chia seeds and fresh blueberries, if desired!

This green smoothie is superfood rich and super tasty—I hope you guys enjoy it as much as I do!
 
What are your favorite smoothie recipes?! Share below!

BTW, my recipe for an easy matcha latte, and how and why to make a clean beauty swap.