My Morning Smoothie

First thing in the morning? For years now it was coffee, and since we have this beautiful coffee machine where you can foam milk, it was a cappuccino with oat, almond or soy milk. I loved it - and actually still do, but lately my stomach didn’t feel good with it anymore.

I needed some time to accept it, before starting to look for something else. I guess everyone who loves coffee knows how hard it is to give it up, especially in the morning. But, for the health of my stomach I had to find something that is a “better” start into the day. Tea is nice, but I love to have a cup of tea in the evening. So this didn’t work. A hot macaccino is super nice, but my stomach didn’t like it either. Then, one day I had the idea to take back up the smoothie making. I already had a blender for years, but rarely used it.

So, I started to mix smoothies. Green ones, pink ones, orange ones, red ones, chocolate ones… And now, this is my new ritual in the morning, I love it, my stomach is super happy with it and the nice thing about it all is that each day it’s a different smoothie. Like a little surprise, you never know what you get. And I can still ge a cup of coffee in the afternoon, if I want. Most days this works fine.

Learning? I thought I could never be without my coffee in the morning. But, I’ve learned it’s all a matter of what I’m, my body and mind are used to. I noticed that already when shifting to be vegetarian and then vegan. You can always change your routines, change the things you’re used to and simply get used to something new/different/other (that you then again can think you can’t be without :). Just like some people tell me they don’t like soy milk, oat milk or any of these milks. Once used to soy or oat milk, I could’t drink cow milk anymore. I didn’t like the taste of it anymore. I wasn’t used to it anymore. Did you like wine when you drank it the first time? I didn’t like it at all. But I get used to it I guess.

So, back to the smoothies. I posted some of my “in the making” smoothie videos on my insta channel, and got some questions about recipes. So I thought about sharing here three of my favorite smoothie recipes. What you will need beside the ingredients is, of course, a blender. At the moment I have the “nutri bullet” but there’s many others…

The orange one

• 1 banana

• Juice of 2 oranges or blood oranges

• Juice of 1 grapefruit

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1/2 fennel (if you like fennel)

• Water

Mix them all in a blender with water, option to add some ice cubes if you like that (and your stomach is fine with the cold).

The green one

• hand full of spinach or kale

• 1 banana

• 1/2 avocado

• 3-5 dates (makes it sweeter)

• Option to add chocolate protein power and/or hemp seeds

• Water

The pink one

• 1 banana

• hand full of blueberries, raspberries and/or other berries

• 1 apple or mango or a piece of beetroot

• Option to add protein powder, vanilla or berry flavor

• Water

If you don’t have all the ingredients, get creative. Take something else or add anything else you like. I usually make sure to not mix more than 5 ingredients (water doesn’t count). I’ve read that this is best for the body and gut. Because if you mix too many “super” foods the body can’t get all the vitamins and benefits out of each one. So less is more to get all the vitamins, minerals etc.

TIPP: I always have some spinach, kale and berries in my freezer that I use. And you can also keep bananas and mangos in your freezer.

EXTRA TIPP: As a topping I like to use hemp seeds, chia seeds or cacao nibs

The smoothie are not only great in the morning, sometimes it’s also great to have one in the afternoon, when in need of a little energy kick. Have fun trying them out. If you have any question, let mw know, aaaand if you have a great recipe that you want to share, feel free to post it in the comments.

Enjoy the rest of your day.