Sunday 31 December 2017

Healthy January #smoothieaday




Christmas is well and truly over and we are all in the same boat where we start to worry about our health. I am sure that majority of us feel guilty about the amount of food and drink that we have consumed over the festive period. January is the perfect time to take stock and change our lifestyle and eating habits.

10 things to change:

1. De clutter your kitchen cupboards and fridge of all junk food.
2. Rewrite your shopping list to include, fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds.
3. Replace refined sugars with natural sugars such agave nectar, maple syrup, stevia and honey but still consume them in moderation.
4. Stop buying cartons of juices and smoothies that have sugars and additives.
5. Make a meal plan and shop accordingly to avoid eating ready meals. Why not check out some healthy budget recipe ideas suggested by my friend Jan.
6. Replace sugary fizzy drinks with water.
7. Give up smoking
8. Reduce alcohol consumption
9. Replace sweet treats and desserts with fresh fruit. Aim to eat five fruits and vegetables a day.
10. Exercise, walk, swim, jog at least 30 minutes each day.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Its important to eat a healthy breakfast as it will stop you getting sugar cravings mid morning. Eat porridge, granola or low fat cereals with less sugar. If you don't have time for breakfast the best thing to do is to make a smoothie to take with you.

At the weekend add to your shopping list the fruits and vegetables listed below. They are so that you can create single portion smoothie mixes to keep in your freezer ready to blend in the morning.



Fruits / Vegetables

Seeds/ Berries /Nuts

Milks/ Liquids

Spices / Sweeteners

Mango
Pineapple
Bananas
Apples
Pears
Peaches
Melons
Baby Spinach
Kale
Avocado
Kiwi Fruit
Plums
Berries
Sharon Fruit
White Cabbage
Beetroot
Cauliflower
Cucumber
Carrots
Celery
Coconut
Lemon
Lime
Oranges 
Fresh Ginger
Fresh Turmeric
Pumpkin seeds
Chia Seeds
Flax Seeds
Goji Berries
Golden Berries
Almonds
Cashew nuts
Oats

Soya Milk
Almond Milk
Water
Coconut Milk
Coconut water
Rice Milk
Yoghurt
Hemp Milk
Fresh Juice
Ice cubes
Nutmeg
Cardamom
All Spice
Cinnamon
Maple Syrup
Honey
Agave Nectar
Dates
Stevia
Cocoa



To make your smoothie freezer mixes:

1. Peel, cut and dice the fruits and vegetables into one inch pieces. 
2. Peel the root ginger and turmeric and cut it into small 1 cm pieces.(You only need a very small amount of this to add to your mix)
3.Once the fruit is cut, select 3-4 fruits and vegetable combinations from the above list. There is no strict ratio but I usually select the main fruit and make it to 1 cup, add 1/2 cup second fruit, and then 1/4 cup of vegetable such as spinach, kale, cucumber, celery or cabbage and put them into a zip lock bag. If you like you can add a cm cube of turmeric or ginger too. 
4. Make up all the pouches and label the zip lock bags to say what ingredients are in them and add a date. The best thing to do is to let your family add their own choice combinations into a zip lock bag to make individual smoothie servings. Label each bag with their name and what fruits are in them. 
5. Place the zip lock bags into the freezer ready for use.
6. To make the smoothie in the morning take a smoothie mix from the freezer and add it to the Optimum 9400 Blender or any other heavy duty blender, select or two ingredients from the seeds, berries and nut column and add it to the fruit, now select a liquid from the liquid column and add 50ml  to the blender. Finally choose a sweeter or spice and add a tiny bit to the blender, This is optional.
7. Blend the smoothie and pour into a onthego cup and your smoothie is ready.

There is no hard and fast rules about the combinations of fruits and vegetables you can choose but below are some suggestions.

  • Pear and Pineapple and Ginger
  • Mixed summer Berries (strawberries, blackberries and raspberries)  cabbage, banana,
  • Kiwi, cucumber and kale
  • Beetroot, carrot and Orange
  • Sharon fruit, lime and Orange
  • Melon, raspberries and banana
  • Avocado, spinach and pineapple
  • Red apple, beetroot and ginger
  • Mango, turmeric and pineapple
  • Kale, apple and melon
  • Spinach, celery and cucumber
  • Peaches, apple and ginger 
  • Banana, avocado
  • Blue berries apple and ginger



To get you started do check some of these wonderful ideas:
Lemon Blueberry Muffin smoothie


To make the smoothies you will need together with all the ingredients a heavy duty blender. This is important as the fruits are frozen and budget blenders will not be able to blend frozen fruits.

I used my tried and trusted Optimum 9400 or Nutri Force Extractor. Both Blenders are capable of blending frozen fruit and give you the correct texture. They are both easy to clean and maintain too.

The Optimum 9400 is currently on offer for £299 and the Nutri Force Extractor is on offer for £189 . Froothie also offer 0% finance on products over £ 299 and only require a 10% deposit. That's not all, the fab people at Froothie are offering you lovely readers FREE DELIVERY too (for a limited time).  Just use this code 1572 FREE AMBASSADOR DELIVERY in the comments box when making your purchase, the delivery charge will then be refunded.


You will also need something to put your smoothie in such as on the go cups, mason jars with lids, glass bottles with lids and also straws. 

Although this sounds like an investment, it's totally worth it, think of the money you will save when you make your own smoothie. One single shop bought smoothie can cost up to two pounds and it also has many sugars and additives in it. For a fraction of this price you can make your own smoothie at home.


Tip: Buy bulk packs of fruits that are value for money. Also stock up on seasonal fruits. Shop at market stalls they often reduce berries etc at the end of the day as they often have short shelf life.Since we are freezing the fruit it does not matter if its a little over ripe. On average I worked out that one serving sometimes even two smoothie on the go costs less than 50p to make at home.


41 comments:

  1. I love the idea of putting your mixes in the freezer,
    Effect for ensuring variety without waste x

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  2. Love your post, have book marked it as I am feeling my jeans have got tighter in the last month so going to try to be healthy in January

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  3. I am a smoothie fan. I pretty much like every one ive tried. I'll try a few of your suggestions:)

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  4. I'm going on a 31 day "no coffee/soda" run and see how I do. I don't drink much soda but coffee......that will be rugged. Maybe a few smoothies will help me as well...
    '

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  5. I think that making a smoothie mix is such a good idea for people who struggle to eat healthily or feel like they have no time.

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  6. I'm going to print this list out if you don't mind as I'm starting my half marathon training today for the next 3 months and the smoothies would be a good boast! I already meal plan and write a weekly food shop but I need definitely improve my fruit and veg intake.

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  7. A brilliant way to start the new year - think I will do this!

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  8. Ooh I am planning on starting to have smoothies each day so this is really helpful! My health has been bad so I am trying to build myself back up!

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  9. I dont do any of this it really does look like a good idea

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  10. That's so organised. I would never have thought of pre-preparing smoothies like that!

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  11. What a brilliant way to start the new year. I used to enjoy smoothies all the time but for some reason stopped making them. I need to get back into it more!

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  12. I have plans to do this. I got as far as moving the blender from the cupboard to the countertop, but all our local shops are closed for two days and there's no fresh food in our house yet except for veg, lol!

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  13. Now this sounds like a great way to start the new year. There is something wonderful about a fresh smoothie you have made they taste so much nicer than shop bought and pre-prepping make it so much simpler as well.

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  14. Yum - that sounds delicious. I like how simple you have made the smoothie recipe sound with 1 cup then half then quarter. I think I should give smoothies a go!

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  15. This sounds amazing, and having a healthy January is something I am going to try and achieve myself.

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  16. The last time I made smoothies is when I was at university and had a blender but sadly mine has broken down. I need a new one so I can make delicious smoothies and I like the idea of having one per day!

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  17. This is a great post with heaps of inspiration for smoothies. I love experimenting with different ingredient combos so I'll be trying some of these.

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  18. Argh, thanks for reminding me to "De clutter your kitchen cupboards and fridge" haha!

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  19. I might not be doing a smoothie a day but I am starting to plan meals more and giving myself a time limit for fizzy drinks so I can't have them after a certain point as I am pretty bad with them x

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  20. I love the idea of making smoothy freezer mixes, what a fabulous idea

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  21. We did a smoothie a day challenge last year and I felt so much better for a morning green smoothie.

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  22. I can honestly say I have never made a smoothie in my life and I don't even knw if we have a blender, but I do like the idea of trying it!

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  23. We love smoothies and they tend to be a treat for us while we're out and about. Must try and invest in ways to make them at home x

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  24. I've gone back to making sure I drink my daily allowance of water and getting fruit back on the shopping list, I'll have to give some of your smoothie combinations a try

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    1. Oh I definitely need to increase my water intake as well I am hopeless at that. Hopefully the smoothies can help me get more fresh fruit and veggies into my diet!

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  25. I love my smoothie maker but never thought to pre-package all the fruit like this before!

    C x

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  26. This is such a great way to kick off January and I adore smoothies. I agree that it's important to clear out your cupboards too. If there is junk in there, it's so much more tempting to eat it. Looking forward to trying out some of the smoothie recipes you have shared.

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  27. Smoothies are great to start the day but shop bought ones can be so expensive. These are brilliant ideas!

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  28. This is actually a cracking idea! We have no kitchen right now (house fire) and we'll need to replace our small appliances, so I'm on the lookout for a new blender too!

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  29. Smoothies are great for breakfast but really can be enjoyed any time of the day. I like your combo of mango, tumeric, and pineapple, I will have to try that one! Here is south Florida in the USA we have plenty of local mangoes all summer long when they are harvested, and sometimes I will cut up a bunch of them to store "cubes" of the mango fruit in freezer bags so I can use them in smoothies during the fall and winter months!

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  30. Great article. would you also suggest to add salt or some seeds maybe?

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  31. I like your idea. It is going to be more convenient to make smoothies with prepackaged fruits stored in the freezer. I will heed your advice. Healthy eating is going to be my everyday mantra.

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  32. Nice tips to start the year after all the festivities. Although I will have a hard time doing this "Replace sweet treats and desserts with fresh fruit". I eat fruits, but I can't give up chocolates...LOL

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  33. SUCH AG GREAT REMINDER TO GET MOTIVATED! THANKS FOR THE SUGGESTIONS.

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  34. Errrm. I usually love smoothies.. but without nuts. Have you heard of Chuice? Look it up. Very healthy.. and fun, especially if you like to chew your smoothies

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  35. That chart is the perfect list for me when I go to grocery shopping. I try to eat more healthy along with fruits and veggies. Nuts? not so much but I will try haha I love smoothies though!

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  36. I have to be honest - I've started feeling super sluggish today. And I'm sure it's because I'm still scoffing the Christmas leftovers! I've not had a smoothie in ages, but might have to make one tomorrow now as I forgot how much I love them!

    Louise x

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  37. This is my favorite tip --> 4. Stop buying cartons of juices and smoothies that have sugars and additives.

    After all, we want juices/smoothies that I make myself. No additives/preservatives, no added sugar, and are a combination of a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. :)

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  38. I think this would be great for those who love smoothies. I like veg juices so its a good idea for me to do similar xxx

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  39. Really awesome ideas!Thanks for penning these! Bookmarked this blog now so I can revert when needed!

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  40. This is great! I always do this at home, I always prepare to eat fruits everyday mix them and shake... it's very healthy!

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