I’ve tried a million and one smoothies (well, that might be overstating it but you get the point) but I have recently found one that I really, really like. Never one to leave a good recipe alone, my go-to recipe is an adaption of a Dr. Oz recipe I came across in the March issue of O Magazine.

Here is the original recipe:

Dr. Oz’s Revitalizing Fruit Smoothie

1/2 cup almond or hemp milk
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1/4 banana
1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
1/2 cup ice

Directions: Blend ingredients together until smooth

This particular recipe was part of Dr. Oz’s two-day cleanse program and other than the vegetable broth recipe, was my favorite thing on the program.

Here is the adapted recipe that I’ve been using:

Fit & Inspired Go-To Smoothie

1 cup hemp milk
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 banana
2 Tbsp ground flaxseed
2 Tbsp raw almonds
1/4 cup ice

Directions: Blend ingredients together until smooth

This smoothie is a great snack replacement and can also serve as a meal replacement. The addition of the almonds gives the smoothie a little bit of crunch.

Enjoy!

Get educated.  As the old saying goes “When you know better, you do better”.  You don’t have to be an expert nutritionist or well-informed dietician, but having some basic knowledge about various foods and their impact on the body is definitely a good idea.  To start, I recommend becoming familiar with the basic food pyramid to know many servings of each food group you should consume each day (another key thing to learn is what constitutes a serving).  The challenge for most people is in the area of whole grains and vegetables.  Most of us just simply don’t get enough of either group.  For whole grains, consider adding 100% whole grain bread or a serving of Kashi cereal to your breakfast routine (I normally eat the basic flakes since some of the other varieties have a pretty good amount of sugar in them).  For vegetables, I try to have two servings at lunch and dinner and to avoid boredom I shoot for lots of color – broccoli, red bell pepper (loads of vitamin c in these puppies), squash, spinach, leeks, asparagus, eggplant etc.