By Chinwendu Nnamani
Smoothies are drinks made from pureed raw fruit and/or vegetables, typically using a blender. A smoothie often has a liquid base such as water, fruit juice, plant milk, and sometimes dairy products.
Most smoothies consist of three parts: some type of liquid (often called the “base” of the smoothie), an assortment of fruits and/or vegetables, and ice. If frozen fruit or vegetables are used, the cool temperature can be achieved without using ice.
The “thickness” of a smoothie is usually determined by the ratio of liquids to solids, so to thicken any smoothie recipe you can generally reduce the amount of added liquid or conversely increase the amount of added fruit or vegetables.
Since it is a combination of fruits and/or vegetables, it gives one the advantage of benefiting from the different nutrients these fruits and/or vegetables contains at the same time, different type of smoothie has different nutrient and consequently is taken for different reason depending on what is contained in the smoothie.
Different functions of smoothie ranges from aiding digestion, ease of bowl movement, helps in weight loss, helps in hydration, keeps you full, controls cravings, enhances immunity, curbs sleep disorder, improves skin, provide good amount of fiber and a whole lot of other function.
The idea is basically for you to find fruits and vegetables that perform a particular function you are looking for, combine them together in a blender, add a liquid of choice that will help with that function, blend together and your smoothie is ready.
For example, a smoothie for weight loss is likely to contain green apple (low sugar), Avocado (healthy fat), pineapple (rich in antioxidant), ginger (anti-inflammatory effect), grapes (high water and fiber content) Spinach, lime, cucumber and a whole lot of fruit and vegetable that will help you lose weight. While a smoothie for better sleep will likely contain banana, pineapple, mint leave.
For smoothie that better served cold, instead of refrigerating after blending, you could use freeze fruits or put ice cubes while preparing the smoothie.
Get your blender, your fruits/vegetables, ice cubes, milk/yoghurt and whatever else you need and enjoy the yumminess and deliciousness called smoothie.
Enjoy!!
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