Most of us have tried to blend a smoothie at some point in our lives. The process seems easy enough on paper or handheld device screen, but the execution may be more of a work of art. Making a great smoothie is more than just dumping ingredients into an old blender that has been sitting in your cabinet for 15 years. If you want an excellent product then you need excellent attention to detail.
When a smoothie is poorly made the first thing you will notice is the flavor profile. You put too much of one ingredient and not enough of another. The flavor is so out of whack you really don’t even know if you can finish the smoothie. Make sure you buy the proper ingredients, that they are fresh, and that you add them to the mix at the proper time. “Deviating from a great recipe is how you get subpar results,” said Doug, owner of a smoothie shop in the Outer Banks, NC. He went on to say, “it’s not an exact science but if you do it wrong, you will know within the first sip or two.”
Next, we need to talk about something I alluded to in the opening paragraph, outdated or barely working equipment. Yes, that blender you received as a Christmas gift back in 2002 has been lying dormant in your cabinet for years now, waiting to be used. But the fact of the matter is that it probably won’t perform like it used to. Worn out motors, dull blades, cracks in the plastic, these are just some of the many things that can go wrong with an old blender. Take a look at newer blenders on the market and see what they have to offer. You’d be surprised what you can get for 60 or 70 bucks.
When it comes to how you add ingredients to the blender, order and ratio are important. Remember the golden ratios:
- ¾–1 cup liquid
- 1 cup soft fruit or veggies (banana, mango, avocado, steamed-then-frozen zucchini, etc.)
- 1–1½ cups frozen fruit or ice
- 1–2 big handfuls greens (optional but life-changing)
Add ingredients in exactly that order—liquid first. This creates a vortex that pulls everything down toward the blades and prevents air pockets.
Smoothies deliver sustenance using foods packed with vitamins and other nutrients. Make sure to include some super foods in the mix to really get your full daily dose. Smoothies can act as a meal replacement or as a snack to hold you over until dinner. They are sweet and cold, much like a milkshake, but are ten times healthier than a milkshake.
Can you live on smoothies alone? It’s probably not a good idea, at least in the long term. You need protein and other amino acids not found in fruit smoothies. Creatine, L-carnitine, L-lysine just to name a few. These building blocks help form and maintain muscles in your body. Without then your body would atrophy. Smoothies can be a great way to skip one regular meal during the day in an effort to reduce your caloric intake.