This is possibly the easiest, fastest, most nutrient-rich breakfast you could have. A lot of my clients resist my suggestion to do a smoothie for breakfast, but when they stop the excuses and give it a try, they always find themselves:
- gaining energy
- losing excess weight
- feeling light
If you have a personal blender, there is no faster healthy breakfast than this because you literally throw in the ingredients, blend, and take that container to work. I find that the smaller blenders do a better job at making the smoothest smoothies.
The ingredients do matter. There is a reason for every one of them so please see my notes below the recipe. The mistakes most people make is to use tons of fruits and to leave out protein.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup frozen organic berries or dragon fruit or acai
- ½ – 1 frozen banana
- 2 cups water or unsweetened nut/oat milk
- 2 tbsp protein powder (pea/rice, hemp, pumpkin seed, or collagen)
- 1 small handful organic baby spinach (optional)
- 2 tsp ground flax seeds (optional)
METHOD
- Add all to the blender.
- Blend until smooth.
Why a smoothie is a great breakfast
And why specifically this one?
(1) Great hydration
After your overnight fast (aka not eating while you’re sleeping), one of the best things you can do for your body in the morning is hydrate. If you’re working with me, you’ll learn how to hydrate properly first thing in the morning. But a smoothie also contributes to the replenishment of liquids after being depleted for 8 + hours.
(2) Easy on digestion
A smoothie requires less work (energy used) for digestion first thing in the morning, when you’re likely to need your most energy and focus. I often see people putting 10+ ingredients in their smoothies and that completely defeats this purpose of being easy on digestion.
(3) Berries are the best fruit
The particular use of berries is key because they are high in fiber and low in glycemic index, which means their sugars (which all fruit has) are more slowly absorbed and therefore do not spike insulin the way other common breakfasts do (breads, processed carbs). Raspberries are especially fiber-rich so they are my favorite option. Berries are also high in antioxidants and vitamins, so you’re getting good energizing nutrients at a meal that otherwise might be lacking in all that goodness. The reason you don’t want to add a bunch of fruits in a smoothie is that you’re adding up the sugar (glucose/fructose load), which increases the likelihood to spike insulin.
(4) No excuses
Most people come with a long list of reasons they don’t want to or need to eat breakfast. Check out this post on why skipping breakfast can be the worst thing you do for your metabolism. With the minimal ingredients and ease of preparation/clean up, this smoothie can be one of the best breakfasts for people who have busy mornings and might otherwise not take time to have breakfast at all. At least with these healthy nutrients, you’d be giving your body good fuel and vitamins for energy and, very importantly, prevent a morning stress/cortisol spike because you’re fasting too long.
Helpful tips for making a great smoothie
(1) It’s ideal to wait until this is closer to room temp before drinking because super cold drinks like this can be too damp on the digestive system and slow digestion.
(2) How to freeze bananas. It’s best to let the bananas get ripe, even better when they brown spots, then break up each into 4 chunks and store in a freezer bag or better yet, a larger Stasher bag.
(3) You always – always – want to buy berries organic because they are very heavily sprayed with pesticides. That’s actually why I suggest buying frozen organic berries because they are as nutritious as fresh but they are way more affordable and last longer. Save your splurge on fresh organic berries for when you want to enjoy them fresh.
(4) Your smoothie will taste so much better when you use the frozen berries and frozen banana, not fresh. For some reason unbeknownst to me, the flavor and consistency is yummy yummy silky when using frozen.
(5) With the super yummy flavor of the berries/banana, and for health reasons (no added sugars), it’s best to use unsweetened protein powders for your smoothies. I don’t recommend whey protein unless you’ve done a food sensitivity test and know you have no delayed reaction food sensitivity to whey. I also don’t suggest a lot of whey protein if your blood sugar is not balanced because excess whey can spike insulin if you’re not doing the muscle exercises that will use up a hefty dose of amino acids.
