Although there are many factors that influence your health, it’s well-known that diet plays a significant role. One of the important aspects of a health-supportive diet is variety. To boost your health, you want to be eating as diverse of a whole-food diet as possible.
I like to support my family’s health through making a kefir smoothie every morning that includes a wide variety of nutritious ingredients.
The actual recipe is never quite the same, but always includes the kefir as the base ingredient. The other ingredients are several vegetables, protein powder (we rotate the version used), a little bit of fruit, chia seed, hemp seed, and ground flax seed. Basically, whatever veggies and/or fruit we have on hand at the time. During the late spring, summer, and fall we participate in a CSA (community support agriculture) where we get a box of seasonal veggies each week.
Keep in mind while reading this recipe that I’m making a smoothie for a family of six. It comes out to about 1 ½ cups of smoothie for each person, but I really don’t measure the exact amount.
Here is an example of what we put in the kefir smoothie:
- 1 avocado
- 5 romaine lettuce leafs
- ½ green bell pepper
- 1 celery stalk
- 1 big carrot
- 1 banana
- 2 scoops of protein powder
- 2 Tbsp hemp seed
- 2 Tbsp chia seed
- 2 Tbsp ground flax
- 1 Cup strained kefir (we ordered our starter batch of kefir grains here.)
- filtered water to thin it out to a smoothie consistency
- 3 ice cubes
Combine all ingredients in a high-power blender (we use a Blendtec) and blend for 1 minute.
As I mentioned, the fruits/veggies I use in the smoothie are always changing. Here are some common ones that I rotate (try to use organic as much as possible):
- Apple
- Mixed berries (Costco has bag of frozen mixed berries that work well)
- Pear
- Pineapple
- Oranges/clementines
- Strawberries
- Blueberries
- Power Greens (mixed bag of greens from Costco)
- Organic spinach
- Celery
- Broccoli (including the stem)
- Cauliflower
- Carrots
- Beets (including the skin if it is a thin-skinned version)
- Sun chokes
- Fresh ginger root
- Sweet peppers (including the stem)
- Cabbage
- Eggplant (peeled)
Having a well-rounded smoothie in the morning is a great way to get a jump start on getting the recommended amount of vegetables and fruits in each day. I hope you enjoy it!
