Healthy Breakfast Smoothie Recipes

Breakfast Smoothie Recipes Make Great Breakfasts. We've all heard that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Nutritionists all agree that a nutritious breakfast is the key to how well you perform for the rest of the day. Unfortunately, many people find that breakfast is the most difficult meal to fit into their hectic schedules.

Breakfast smoothies may be the solution for you! A typical smoothie can be prepared and consumed in just a few minutes, and you'd have a hard time coming up with a meal that offers as much energy-providing nutrition.

The Benefits of Breakfast Smoothies. Healthy breakfast smoothies are loaded with phytonutrients, vitamins, minerals and enzymes that come in a whole-food form. The fruits and vegetable blended together in healthy smoothie recipes provide vitamins, minerals, enzymes and fiber that will do wonders for your health — and build up your body’s defenses against disease.

In addition, when fruits and vegetables are blended, the plant fibers are broken down just like when you chew them; the blender literally does most of the “chewing” for you. This makes smoothies easy to digest, and it also means that you'll absorb more of the nutrients.

Healthy smoothie recipes can also be a great source of fiber. Fiber works to improve your digestion and helps you start your day feeling more satisfied, and maintains that feeling longer.

Making Your Breakfast Smoothie Recipes into Protein Powerhouses. Most smoothie recipes are relatively low in protein. For some people, a high-protein breakfast is essential to provide the energy they're looking for to start their day.

The solution to this is to add protein and healthy fat to any healthy smoothie recipe. You can make any smoothie into a complete meal by adding a couple of raw eggs to your basic recipe. They won't change the taste of your smoothie at all. You can use a protein powder as well, either flavored or unflavored; just be sure to use a good quality product. See the information under "Optional Ingredients" below to learn more.

Recommended Starter
for Your Breakfast Smoothie Recipes

Most smoothie recipes call for some liquid to allow the solid ingredients to move around inside the blender and give your smoothie the right thickness. This base liquid can be plain water, milk, yogurt, soy milk, nut milks, or fruit juice. If you want your smoothie to provide optimum health benefits, you'll want to pick the right one. I share all the best tips at my page on How to Make a Smoothie the Healthy Way.

Chilling Your Breakfast Smoothies

Is there's anything more satisfying than a cold, creamy smoothie? There are two ways of chilling your healthy breakfast smoothie recipes:

• Ice Cubes — a good way of thinning down a smoothie that's too thick and chilling it at the same time.

• Frozen Fruit — has the advantage of not diluting the taste, and also giving your healthy smoothies a creamier texture. It's very easy and convenient to create a stash of frozen cut-up fruit, so you always have some on hand.

Optional Ingredients
for Your Breakfast Smoothie Recipes

Protein Additives

Adding a quality source of protein turns your smoothie into a complete meal. I recommend raw organic eggs or a protein powder made from hemp, rice, peas or whey.

Hemp protein powder is a great way to add healthy omega 3 fats and fiber to your smoothie as well.

Undenatured whey is another excellent source of protein for your smoothies. Both whey and hemp protein are very mild tasting; the hemp powder is not as concentrated and will thicken up your smoothie quite a bit more than the whey protein will.

I don't recommend using cheap protein powders, especially any with artificial ingredients. The whey protein should be cold-processed (undenatured) and derived from grass-fed cows, free of hormones and chemicals. Cold-processing whey protects the nutrients in their natural state.

Antioxidant Superfoods

Green superfood powders like chlorella and spirulina make any smoothie a super-nutritious green smoothie. They give you the equivalent of several full-size servings of dark green leafy vegetables in just one tablespoon.

Superfood supplements like maca root, raw cacao, hemp, flax, chia seeds and others increase the antioxidant content and nutritional benefits of your smoothie in their own unique ways.

Antioxidant superfruits like acai, goji, mangosteen and noni, available as concentrated juices or powders, add lots more antioxidants and a natural fruit sweetness to your smoothies.

Other Great Additions for Your Healthy Smoothie

Coconut Oil is the healthiest fat there is. It contains lauric acid, a rare medium-chain fatty acid (also found in mother's milk) that has many health-protecting properties. Coconut oil gives your healthy smoothie a richer, creamier texture. Because coconut oil is solid below a temperature of 76 degrees F, it doesn't work as well in cold smoothies.

Herbs and spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves have higher concentrations of antioxidants than any fruit or vegetable, and add a warm flavor to your healthy smoothie recipe.

Breakfast Smoothie Recipes

The following links will take you to pages of healthy smoothie recipes. Any of them can be used as breakfast smoothie recipes — just add some of the optional ingredients listed above to boost the nutritional content. (The optional ingredients are listed on each recipe page for your convenience).