4 Areas of Health Improved by Smoothies
Smoothies are so much more than the sweetness of the fruit, and the convenience of having a “breakfast to go”. They pack a powerful punch in terms of nutrition, especially when you change the types of ingredients that go in your smoothie.
Here are four areas of health that can be improved just by choosing how to make your smoothies.
1. Improve Your Cardiovascular Health
The first way smoothies can help with your health is with your heart health, more specifically with helping to lower your blood pressure.
For your blood pressure, consider the following types of smoothies and their ingredients:
Simple Smoothie with Berries and Banana
If you are limited on your budget and the fruit that is available to you, then you may want to stick with a simple smoothie. One of the easiest ones is a blueberry banana smoothie. You will need 1 cup of blueberries, 1/2 banana, 1 cup of plain yogurt, and 1 cup of baby spinach. You can use frozen blueberries if you need to. Mix the ingredients in a blender and enjoy. This specific smoothie has ingredients that can be purchased year-round and may help reduce your blood pressure. It can be taken daily and can also boost your energy easily. You also get a shot of iron with this smoothie that can benefit expectant mothers who may have blood pressure issues.
Fruity Green Smoothie
When you think of a green smoothie, you may not think of berries with that. One smoothie mixture that has everything you need to reduce your high blood pressure does have that. 1 cup of greens, 1 diced avocado, 1 cup of strawberries, and 1 cup of blueberries can be mixed with yogurt or water and made into the ideal smoothie to help reduce blood pressure. Frozen berries can be used and the other two ingredients can be found year-round at most stores.
2. Treading or Reducing Your Risk for Diabetes
You can also make yourself a healthy smoothie that helps reduce your risk for getting diabetes, or is a smoothie you can have when you already have type 2 diabetes. When you have diabetes, keeping a healthy balance of lower fruit and higher vegetables in your diet is vital to your health.
Some good options are:
Nutrient-Dense Smoothie
This is the ultimate smoothie for people who are trying to eat a superfood based diet. If superfoods are part of your routine, then you possibly have most of these foods already. Here are the foods that make up the smoothie, and the amounts of each one. Start with unsweetened almond milk and add frozen blueberries, frozen strawberries, avocado, yogurt, spinach, and other greens you are interested in. You can also add some extra ingredients like protein powder, chia seeds, and even flaxseed.
It’s All Coming Up Strawberries
If you need something quick and simple to help you balance out your blood sugar, then there is an option available for you. It only has a few ingredients and is quick to mix up when you may feel the need to regulate or balance yourself. It includes fresh strawberries, yogurt of your choice, any milk you like, ice cubes, and extra ingredients if you choose. You can flavor this with other berries, or just leave it strawberry. in mind, for this smoothie to give you a regulated and balanced feeling, you will need to make sure that you use no additional sweeteners and that the milk and yogurt is unflavored and unsweetened as well.
3. Improving Your Digestion
Your gut health is one of the health issues that you can have with your body that can make or break how you feel. If your gut health is positive then you will have good digestion and you will reduce your chances of fatigue and other body issues. If you have poor gut health you can find yourself having issues with weight gain, toxin build-up, and digestive issues that can cause further problems in the body. If you are facing gut health issues, or you want to avoid them, then here are some smoothies you should consider. Just one a day can make a drastic difference in your gut health and overall health.
A Smoothie Perfect for Gut Health
Gut health related smoothies are similar. However, if you want a full blown powerful gut healing smoothie there is a base that is ideal. This is the go to recipe for people having gut related issues. It contains full-fat coconut milk or almond milk, a handful of kale and a handful of mixed greens, 1/2 a frozen banana, avocado, ginger, hemp hearts, chia seeds, and bee pollen. For a sweeter taste, add in some honey as well. By drinking this smoothie daily, you may see and improvement in your digestion.
4. Thyroid Health
Lastly, you can also have a smoothie that is good for your thyroid. These include smoothies that are made with a lot of leafy greens and vegetables, especially spinach and kale, cucumber, avocado, and carrots.
