Do you feel like your diet is lacking good nutrition? Do you have any picky eaters like my kiddos who don’t particularly care for their vegetables? Are you looking for a simple inexpensive way to boost your health without the added expense of supplements? Enter smoothies.
Since beginning my journey on preparing fruit smoothies, I am continually amazed what you can add to a simple smoothie to increase the health and nutrition of this wonderful beverage and get all your supplements for the day in whole food form. In fact, it seems to be the best means of getting good nutrition in your kids diet. I have never seen a child that doesn’t love a good fruit smoothie. It is a refreshing beverage for any day of the week! And they are also a great item for any meal. We’ve had them for breakfast, lunch, snacks, and even a light dinner on those extra tiring days. Lately, I have been starting to add various herbs to our smoothies and have noticed some significant improvements in our overall health.
Here are some of the goodies we add to our smoothies:
1. Kefir
I love using kefir as the base for our smoothies because it is one of the most nutritious probiotic available. Kefir, which means ‘feel good” in Turkish, is an ancient cultured, enzyme-rich food filled with friendly micro-organisms that help balance your “inner ecosystem” to maintain optimal health and strengthen immunity.
Kefir’s tart and refreshing flavor is similar to a drinking-style yogurt, and it contains beneficial yeast as well as the friendly ‘probiotic’ bacteria found in yogurt, but is more nutritious. When used regularly, the naturally occurring bacteria and yeast in Kefir combine symbiotically to help balance your intestinal flora and boost your immunity. Learn how to make your own kefir here.
Whole milk yogurt, coconut milk, coconut kefir, coconut water, or kombucha are also excellent bases for your smoothies, depending upon your needs and preferences. I have used and love all these alternatives as well. I use about 3/4 – 1 cup kefir or alternative for my base.
2. Greens
We have been making green smoothies for some time now. Adding fresh greens can assist in boosting energy, building your immune system, detoxing impurities, and loosing weight. Greens are rich in magnesium and alkaline minerals like calcium and are superb in their Omega-3 unsaturated fat content. Believe it or not, greens are one of the richest sources of protein. I have used organic spinach (as it is a highly sprayed crop) predominately as it is easy to add without affecting the texture. I can add half of head of spinach and it blends in well with all the frozen fruits.
We also use the Green Magna Plus Powder if I don’t have greens on hand or want to boost it a bit more. I will add 1 Tablespoon of this mixture. Magma Plus contains barley grass juice powder plus 56 other natural ingredients. It provides a full range of phytonutrients including active enzymes, antioxidants, carotenoids, flavonoids, vitamins, minerals, fiber, protein, amino acids, prebiotics, probiotics, and chlorophyll.
3. Herbs
Lately, we have started adding herb powders to our smoothies with excellent results. Adding herbs is like preparing your own vitamins. They are real food and easily digestible. God has provided all the health and nutrition that we need in His creation, and this is beautiful to behold as you study the different kinds of herbs and their functions in our bodies. These herbs may affect the texture somewhat of your smoothies, so start small and build up as you go to get your full dose.
Daily Boost Herba-Smoothie – This product is compiled by Bulk Herb Store and is specifically designed to give you full balance in your health and perfect for your daily smoothies. This mixture of herb powders contains the following:
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Adding 1 heaping teaspoon of this herb powder is wonderfully nutritious! It blends in so well with fruit and you cannot even notice it is there. I have had increased energy and sleep since taking these herbs.
Spirulina
Spirulina powder is a blue-green algae that grows on freshwater ponds. Spirulina is 55-70 percent protein by weight and considered my many to be the greatest plant source of usable protein and is rich in B vitamins and gammalinolenic acid (GLA). We add 1 heaping teaspoon to our smoothies currently, and hope to boost it up as we go. Spirulina is certainly a superfood!
Kelp Powder
Seaweeds are the richest plant source of minerals, providing 10-20 times the minerals in land-based plants. They contain a more well-balanced and broader spectrum of minerals necessary for the body than any other organism. They are used to promote longevity, prevent disease, and boost a healthy metabolism to those courageous enough to consume them. The easiest to come by and disguise is kelp powder and can be added to smoothies. We add about 1 heaping teaspoon to smoothies and will build up to about 1 Tablespoon.
Slippery Elm Bark Powder
Slippery Elm is a “mucilaginous herb that helps absorb toxins in the bowel. In fact, it is very soothing to the entire digestive system. It is useful especially for diarrhea, bowel weakness or as a mild nourishing food for sick children. Since the herb is slightly sweet, it is one that children will often take readily if it is mixed in some cereal, applesauce or fruit juice.”
We have been adding another heaping teaspoon of this powder with our smoothies.
My cousin Amy introduced me to the idea of adding herbs to my smoothies. I asked her to share her recipes and herb combos. Amy is dairy-free, and offered these helpful recipe suggestions. The liquids can easily be changed out for whatever base you would like (yogurt, kefir, coconut milk, kombucha, etc). Each recipe is prepared for 4 servings.
1 1/2 med. bananas
1 large mango
1 1/2 c. strawberries
1/2 c. kombucha
1 Tbsp flax seed
approx. 1 1/2 c. water
2 med. bananas
1 c. frozen strawberries
1 c. frozen blueberries
1 c. water
1 large mango
2 c. frozen blueberries
1 c. frozen blackberries
1-1.5 cups liquids
3 small bananas
2 c. frozen strawberries
3/4 c. kombucha
1 c. water
2-3 c. frozen blackberries
1-2 bananas
6 TBSP coconut water
1/2 c. kombucha
1 c. water
2 bananas
2 cups frozen peaches
1-2 cups water
To each of the above combos, add any or all of the following (start smaller and gradually increase herbs as desired). Again this is per 4 servings:
1 Tablespoon orange juice concentrate (helps balance it out if a smoothie needs a bit more flavor or sweetener)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (does wonders for adding flavor!)
1/4 teaspoon stevia powder, as needed
2 tsp ground Daily Boost Herba Smoothie Combo
2 tsp ground slippery elm
1 1/2 tsp ground nettle (increases liver and kidney function)
3 tsp ground kelp powder (this is the strongest flavored one, if I think the smoothie isn’t strong flavored enough to mask it, I’ll reduce the amount I add, or skip it altogether for that day)
3 tsp (or more) ground spirulina
little under 2 TBSP cut leaf alfalfa (rich in vitamins and minerals, chlorophyll, blood purifier)
Our family is currently using the herba smoothie combo, slippery elm, spirulina, and kelp powder and hope to start adding a bit more of other herbs as we go. A great option of getting real food in your smoothies without expensive supplements!
My kids love these smoothies, as you can see in the pictures!
These herbs can be purchased through Bulk Herb Store or Mountain Rose Herbs (with the exception of the Herba Smoothie mix), both of which are companies that I love!
What healthy additions do you like to make to your smoothies?
Please note that this information is shared for educational use. We are not licensed practitioners in any way but love to share out of our own personal experience. As far as I understand, all these herbs are perfectly safe for pregnant and nursing mothers.
Announcement: The winner of our Christa Taylor giveaway was Tara (taraalic..@)! Congrats!
We add kale and ginger root in our smoothies. Ginger root cubed and frozen works really well. Frozen pineapples, strawberries, bananas are great in it. Fresh garden kale can be blended to a thick paste then frozen in flat sheets to break up later and add like ice cubes for fresh garden health benefits in winter.
I want to start with the green smoothies but cannot afford the high price blenders. I have a Jack LaLane juicer and a champion juicer. Can you recommend a good cheaper blender?
Oster makes excellent blenders.
Hi;
We have used a cheap department blender and it took a lot longer time to cream the ingredients plus could not do as much greens and more water. It works just don’t do it more than 3 minutes the heat can do some cooking without realizing and destroy what you are trying to attain. Hint: use ice cubes to keep things as cool as possible.
Also a book for sale at http://www.hamiltonbooks.com called THE SMOOTHIES BIBLE by Pat Crocker is a very good book to have plus the book only uses DEPARTMENT STORE BLENDER. We have a Vita-Mix and still use the book. Price is good too. 320 pages.
We buy the greens at a supermarket, ozone in the sink (contact for more info on that) then wash with cold water and chop stuff in bags and freeze. The only thing we use unfrozen is a apple, clove garlic, slice onion each time for those raw enzymes to work together.
Raw milk is illegal in my state. What do you think about water kefir? Saw a kit for it on Cultures for health website. I also saw coconut milk kefir….which do you think I should do?
This is all very new and overwhelming at times.
I SO appreciate your site. It is slowly changing my family’s diet, and life!
I would recommend coconut milk kefir because it can be used just as easily as milk kefir for smoothies, baking, etc. Yummy stuff!
Do you know if Bulk Herb Store uses any chemicals/pesticides on their herbs? I can’t find any info on their site about how they grow their herbs, where they’re from, etc. Anything you’ve found about this? Thanks!
Just so anyone else who’s curious knows… I emailed BHS and they told me they are moving towards more organic herbs but not quite there yet. Most all of them are wild and none have been sprayed or irradiated. Good to know… but obviously these details aren’t super duper important.
I can’t wait to try some of these ideas! I’m especially excited to learn about the Green Magma Plus powder. I have a hard time finding organic spinach or kale in my area, so it would be nice to have this alternative when I can’t get the fresh stuff.
I also noticed a few comments asking about supplements/vitamins. Was wondering if you’ve heard of Juice Plus. It’s what I take as a nursing mother and took instead of prenatals, actually, because it is whole-food based so I know that it’s more easily absorbable. It’s ingredients are foods, much like the Magma powder has them listed…although it’s simply fruits, veggies, and grains.
Anyway, I have my 2 yr old daughter on the chewables and she asks for them everyday, so I know they’re good.
So I just added Spirulina to my green smoothie and I think I might throw up…Seriously that stuff is gross. I don’t know how you disguise the flavor. Any tips as I just bought a 1lb bag from Mountain Rose Herbs?
Thanks!
Yum! Thanks for the suggestions! I was also wondering: do you have any supplement/vitamin recommendations for nursing moms? Thanks so much
Nordic Naturals DHA fish oil is awesome for nursing mothers!
Have you tried Running Food™ milled chia? I got a sample at a local race and have been using it in all of my cooking! It is a great soup/stew/pie thickener or “sprinkle” for finished foods. I searched chia on the internet and found that it has great health benefits and now I have personally seen significant results with my blood work, reducing my cholesterol (bad and triglycerides) and increasing the good! I don’t think that there is really a “taste” so it is easy to “sneak” into my 6 year old daughter’s food for added nutrition. Best part too, when I ran out, I ordered right on their website at http://www.runningfood.com and shipping ANYWHERE or QUANTITY is ONLY $5 and the products are made in a Green manufacturing plant that uses 100% renewable sources of energy (solar, wind, water), is Kosher certified and gluten free! My kind of company!
I just put an order in to The Bulk Herb Store – I am so excited! Thank you so much for the wonderful info!
We love green smoothies here, too. We try to start our day out with one, each morning. I always had a challenging time getting my eldest daughter to eat any greens until we got our Vitamix. She will now drink just about anything as long as it is blended in the Vita Mix. Our favorite combo is:
2 cups Kale/spinach
1 cup water
2 bananas
1 cup mixed frozen fruit
Green smoothies have reinvigorated my family.
Wow – I can’t wait to try this. We love our juicer (for hard fruits and veggies, it’s great!), and for awhile our blender/smoothie machine got put on a back shelf. Quick question – Do you cut and freeze all of your fruit prior to making the smoothies? And do you make your own kefir or buy it? All I can find in the stores is the sweetened versions.
I freeze all my fruit in bulk during the summer when I can get good prices. I freeze my strawberries, blueberries, and peaches in ziploc bags for the purpose of smoothies. I buy bananas throughout the year in large quantities to last for a month. When they are very ripe, I will divide them into 2 or 3 pieces and freeze them as well. I make my own kefir using kefir grains, which I purchased through Cultures for Health. An excellent, easy, economical way to go.
I love your site, it has been a blessing to me. I thought you’d be interested in this, regarding green smoothies.
http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/2010/10/think-raw-veggies-are-best-think-again.html
I know there are those who do not believe that eating raw greens is digestible, but I have found that Sally Fallon is one of the few who promote this position. When you research further in the raw food world, you find significant evidence to the value of eating greens raw for gleaning the most nutrition. If you are concerned, you can certainly steam your greens before adding to your smoothies. I have tried it both methods and found no superior value to the steaming – and it required extra effort without any noticeable results. The herbs I recommended are specifically helpful in boosting digestion and I believe would counteract any difficulty.
Oh I wish my daughter would drink smoothies. I think she’s the only kid I’ve heard of who doesn’t like them. They’re too cold.
I have encountered this problem with my little girl too. The solution: use more fresh fruit rather than frozen…or allow the mixture to sit at room temperature for a hour before consuming.
mine used to say that too! now i have a Nutribullet blender and we make juice instead. (LOVE the nutribullet – doesn’t discard anything, so you get the nutritional benefits of the peels/seeds/etc too). my kids don’t love smoothies as much and juice is something i can give my 3 year old twins in the morning and they can drink it quickly and it’s done. my son is THE PICKIEST child on the planet and can’t get a fruit or veggie in him, but if i let him “make the juice” (he pushes the button and watches it go) and he says “ooh, let me taste, let me taste!” i used to hide what i put in the juice, but now he sees the spinach and fruits and he’s okay with it. good luck!
Those are the cutest photos ever!
We’ve been doing green smoothies for a couple of years now! This is such an easy way to get extra fruits and veggies into our family’s diet
We always have a “green smoothie” mix bag in the freezer filled with celery tops, carrot tops, broccoli stems, kale etc…
1 frozen banana
1-2 handfuls of “green smoothie” mix
3 frozen strawberries
add pure water, coconut milk or yogurt
Blend away in the Vitamix! For a quick (on the run) breakfast, grind up some oatmeal and throw that in too!
Love Your Blog!
Amy Jo
We love green smoothies! My fav is 2 cups water, 1 orange, 1 banana, 1 cup of grapes and a huge handful of spinach or romaine lettuce. Yummy!!!! I can’t wait to try your recipes!! They sounds so delish.
Blessings,
Joanna
Though my children and I enjoy smoothies, my hubby doesn’t like them. Can the herbs you mentioned be sneaked into other foods so he gets some too? Or would the heat of baking or cooking destroy it’s benefits?
I have added the herbs to our morning oatmeal and yogurt without much notice.
My hubby is a meat eater! He’s not to keen on oatmeal and definitely not yogurt. What about adding the herbs to say hamburgers or in pancakes or casserols. Do you think the baking would destroy it’s benefits? Thanks!
I do believe heating would be harmful for the herbs. Would he drink them mixed in juice or water? That may be your best option…and encourage him to drink it for his own personal health.
Thanks for your encouragement Lindsay! We’ll see what happens!
My fiance and I have green smoothies most days of the week (if we go too long without one we both start having withdrawsls). I add hemp seeds for the healthy fats, which improves our bodies ability to absorb many of the nutrients in the smoothie, and the protien. I also add local, very fresh bee pollen which I have found helps me with my allergies. I regularly consume ground flax and chia seed as well, but I usually add those to my yogurt. I’ll have to try some of these others, thanks for the ideas!
Yes, I add flax or chai seeds to our smoothies all the time as well. I also grind them up and add them to our oatmeal.
The healthy home economist blog posted earlier this week about which greens you should not eat raw (spinach & kale being two of them) which is not happy news to hear, but my solution is to steam them then puree (thow in blender while still hot) with coconut oil & freeze in ice cube trays. Easy to always have greens on hands for smoothies this way too- you can buy a big bunch (or get a big bunch from your CSA or garden) & process all at once.
Yes, there are a mix of opinions on this topic. I have compared our digestion with both methods (steamed or raw) and did not notice any difference. The herb additions also boost digestion. There is also significant research out there in the raw food community about the benefits of consuming everything raw. I compared the two and found the evidence for raw to be more significant. That was our personal decision.
In our family we call smoothies “Green Goblin” drinks, named after the bad guy from Spiderman. I add a lot of frozen spinach to the drink so it’s always green, and my son loves to drink something named after anything dealing with Spiderman
. Spinach and banana smoothies mixed with some grape juice and milk, all very afordable, is a hit in our home.
We add raw zucchini, tofu,and spinach to our smoothies. When I make a fruit salad with strawberries, I would cut off the tops and throw them in the freezer. I’ll add these to our smoothies too.
I love all the comments too! I have a few new ideas!
Thank you for posting this today! I just made my daughter a smoothie, she loves them when she is teething and her incisors just popped through today. I’m so excited about trying new ingredients to boost the nutritional value!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! My childrens’health and nutrition has sooo been on my heart! And I don’t know why I didn’t think of green smoothies earlier! It’s perfect timing as we’re entering the cold and flu season! I have lots of reading to do now! I am truly thankful for this post! Hugs!
Hi! I’m new to your blog. I love it! It’s been great. I just thought I would share with you that I have one of those kids who does NOT like fruit smoothies. He’s five and he has never liked them. We have tried making them together and all sorts of stuff…he loves the idea…and the first sip or two is great. But that’s it. Then again, he doesn’t like juice much either. Fortunately, he’s got a pretty decent assortment of fruits and veggies he will eat…but just thought I’d share. There are kids out there who don’t like smoothies. I wish he did. I might try another recipe…again. We’ll see.
I’ve been debating buying the herba smoothie mix for a awhile now. I just placed an order with the bulk herb store last week so I’m going to have to wait awhile. I’ve been taking juice plus but want a cheaper alternative, I plan on buying a mix from the bulk herb store when I’m about to run out!
I was curious if you give your kids chewable vitamins? If so, which kind?
No, we just use these herbs and occasionally liquid cod liver oil when we can afford it.
Green smoothies are a staple in my diet. I haven’t tried herbs in them yet and generally avoid any powders of any kind. I may have to try kefir though; thanks for the suggestion. My green smoothies are fairly simple: organic spinach, organic frozen banana, frozen berries (mostly organic), water and some flaxseed. Some days I’ll add yogurt and on occasion milk.
I like to add coconut flour to my smoothies. It’s high in fiber and also adds protein.
It’s funny you would post on this today – we had green smoothies for breakfast!! Lots of spinach, fruits, coconut oil, flax seed, honey and organic plain yogurt!
We’re a bit under the weather, so having all this nutrition in one glass of refreshing liquid is helping!
Great ideas!!! I was given ‘Deceptively Delicious’ a few years ago, which essentially is a cookbook focused on sneaking veggies into regular cooking and baking by way of pureeing. If the purees were spiked with these nutritious goodies, even the humble chocolate chip cookie could be health food. Great post!
I think you’ve finally encouraged me to seriously look into making my own Kefir! I’ve stopped buying processed milk (our family could easily go through two gallons a week) and have started buying goat’s milk and kefir to keep up with my boys’ calcium intake. But it’s seriously getting expensive, and I’d love to be able to make my own kefir instead of buying it for $3/qt.
One question…where did you get your kefir grains?
Bulk Herb Store is a fabulous company! I live in Africa, and whenever I hear of someone coming for a visit from America, I always ask if I can send an order from Bulk Herb Store to them to bring here for me! There are many health-conscious item that simply are practical or possible for me and my family. For instance, I can make smoothies…IF power is on! I am now making tinctures in order to get the most out of my herbal nutrients. If i had known it was so easy, I would have started making tinctures long ago. I do put spirulina in my children’s 100% juice every morning, along with fish oil.
whoops, i meant there are many health-conscious items that simply are NOT practical or possible!
We have been working on this too at our house! I think it’s a EXCELLENT way to get all those cleasing, nourishing and healing herbs into our bodies. They are so abundant and so inexpensive especially if you can learn to grow your own which I’m working on too but it’s a slow process.
Thanks so much for sharing this It will be really helpful for me as we continue to improve our nutrition especially minerals!
Thanks again, Tammie
Smoothies are a regular part of our diet, too! So easy to get a lot of good stuff in the little ones with smoothies. Do you use plain kefir? I haven’t been able to find any plain kefir, only the flavored kind and I don’t want the added sugar, so we stick with plain yogurt for now. We like to add a lot of the things that have already been mentioned: avocado, kale, flax seeds, chia seeds, and peanut or almond butter.
Yes, we use plain homemade kefir made from milk and kefir grains. I buy kefir grains from Cultures for Health and it makes it so easy to make kefir and economical too! I also use flax or chai seeds frequently in our smoothies.
I like Amazing Grass Greens Powder. I also use chia seeds, hemp seeds, and ground flax seed almost daily in addition to raw spinach, a banana, frozen fruit, and water or almond milk. Yum!!
I, too, like Amazing Grass! I buy the chocolate flavor, add flax seeds, a teaspoon of peanut butter, and almond milk. It satisfies my sweet tooth!
First off, your children are beautiful!!!! I am dropping hints of a vitamix for Christmas!!!!
I have been without a blender for several months now but waiting and hoping for the vitamix!
Can’t wait to try these recipes!!!! I love smoothies and I love adding greens!
Thank you for sharing!
I always add chia seeds to my greendrinks for added superfood benefits. My daughter loves them and would rather have her greens than any sweet things (on her 1st birthday she refused to eat a bite of cake but quickly downed a handful of frozen peas!)
We often buy organic kale in bulk on sale, cut it, wash and spin it and then freeze it in bags. The freezing process halts vitamin reduction as well as helps break up the pieces into smaller bits for blending easier or tossing in soups.
Also, back to the chia, I make a chia pudding treat that is super healthy and very tasty. Chia is ancient and has tons more minerals, protein, fiber, vitamins and trace nutrients than even the beloved flax seed! We make a pudding of 1 cup almond milk and 2 tbsp chia. Let sit 5-10 minutes for it to “gel” and add agave to taste. It’s a great alternative to pudding and nourishing the body at the same time!
I, too, love adding greens to smoothies! My favorites are swiss chard, avocado, and beet greens. I avoid spinach and kale because they contain goitrogens, meaning essentially that they can negatively affect the thyroid gland. Cooking them seems to inactivate the effect. You can find more about this here:
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=george&dbid=47 as well as other sources on the internet.
I love to add kale to my fruit smoothies. I don’t like to eat it uncooked usually, but it is delicious blended in a smoothy.
I guess we both have herbs on the brain….I have two posts so far this week on herbs and using them with our family of 7….and the first reminds me very much of yours! We LOVE bulk herb store, and there educational youtube video links on their site. We also add herbs to our smoothies, and since these are nutritional herbs, i even added them to our chili last night! They can be added to soups and stews, smoothies, your imagination is the limit! Love the smoothie recipes on this post, and I’ll have to add them to my stash. Great post!
http://www.vimandvigor.typepad.com