We all know that we need to eat our fruit and veggies and according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), a healthy diet should consist at least 5 portions (400g)¹ of them per day. However, our current busy lifestyles can make this difficult…worse if you’re not particularly fond of eating vegetables. That is why drinking blended smoothies is an easy way to get more fruit and vegetables in your diet, but you want to be sure that you’ve unlocked all the goodness and nutrients possible without compromising on taste.
Prepare your smoothies at home
Making a smoothie at home means that you can tailor it to your personal taste and select which ingredients you would like to use, while controlling the sugar content. By adding vegetables, you can ensure that your smoothie has lower sugar concentration while still providing the vitamins, minerals, polyphenols and anthocyanins² in one tasty drink.
Oxidation occurs when any food is juiced, cut, chopped, shredded, peeled and exposed to air. During the blending process, oxidation can immediately decrease the nutritional value of the vitamins and minerals released and cause browning, decolourisation or separation. As such, when you prepare your smoothie at home, you’re making sure that you’re drinking your smoothie at a higher nutritional value compared to a store that may have pre-cut the fruit and vegetables before it even goes into the blender. Of course, you can further minimise this oxidation using equipment such as Philips’ High Speed Vacuum Blender that removes air from the blending container, thus preserving three times the amount of vitamin C and 60% more antioxidants compared to normal blending³.
Try out some smoothie recipes!
Why not try one of these simple but delicious smoothies at home? Of course, if you’d like prepare a breakfast smoothie, you can also check out some of our other recipes here.
| Apple, carrot and ginger smoothie | Goji berries and strawberry smoothie | |
| Ingredients |
|
|
| Method |
|
|
| Health benefit | Rich in vitamin A, which contributes to the functioning of the immune system, and helps maintain good skin and vision | Rich in vitamins C, E and calcium, which contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism. Vitamins C and E also contribute to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. |
Recipes from: https://www.philips.co.uk/c-m-ho/food-preparation/healthy-drinks-recipe-app
Conclusion
Get your blender on and start your smoothie journey! It’ll help you hit your recommended daily fibre intake and thus, ensure that you’re on the way to eating healthier while not compromising on taste and time!
References:
- World Health Organization, Healthy diet, Fact sheet no.394: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs394/en/
- Polyphenols and anthocyanins are a category of chemicals that naturally occur in plants, and are antioxidants. Antioxidants are known for their ability to combat cell damage
- Compared to blending without the use of vacuum function in Philips HR3752, test conducted with tomato by independent laboratory Nov/Dec 2017
Images: Pixabay and Unsplash
Melissa Fann
