Spinach and beets, avocados and peanut butter, chia seeds and bee pollen – smoothies have come a long way from fruit, yogurt and juice.
In fact, for a lot of people they’re not a drink at all. They’re a meal.
Both Durango Natural Foods Co-op and Nature’s Oasis, which sell health-food smoothies at their deli counters, have experienced an increase in smoothie sales in the past year. Everyone from fitness buffs to hurried parents to dieters is trying the trend, whether to get through the afternoon sugar craving or to substitute for a meal they don’t have time to eat.
At Nature’s Oasis, protein smoothies abound in the morning, fruity ones are popular at lunch and anything goes for afternoon drinks.
“Some customers are like, ‘I’m really digging chia seeds.’ The next week, they’re like, ‘I’m really digging goji berries,’” said Zack Ledbetter, who works at the deli in Nature’s Oasis.
The best seller is the Green Machine, a combination of spinach, kale, pineapple, mango, soy milk and orange juice. Similarly, the most popular smoothie at DNF is the Mean Green, with spinach, spirulina, banana and your choice of apple or orange juice and coconut, almond or rice milk. Both delis encourage customers to create their own smoothies from the ingredients they offer.
But at home, the fridge is the limit. A good part of a smoothie’s appeal is that it’s fast and easy to make and relies on ingredients readily available in your kitchen. And did we mention that you can put anything you want in them?
Anything?
“I’ve been known to throw beans into mine,” said Nicola St. Mary, a local naturopath. “You can shred beets, carrots, sprouts, greens. It’s a good way to get veggies into your diet. That’s why people are doing smoothies.”
It’s also a good way to get less scrumptious vegetables – let’s face it, kale cannot compare to carrots – into your children. St. Mary’s young son has no idea that his strawberry shake also includes greens, almond milk and shelled hemp seeds, a superfood full of fiber.
“It’s obvious people are doing this to be healthy,” said Charis Rose, deli manager at DNF. “Protein powders and nut butters make smoothies more of a meal, not just a snack. That’s what people are looking for.”
But is it healthy to replace a meal with a drink?
Most nutritionists I interviewed said yes, with a major caveat. Whatever you put into your smoothie, it must contain the same things a balanced meal would – protein, healthy fats and high-fiber carbohydrates. And they added one more admonition – avoid fruit juices, which are mostly sugar.
So, how to create an appetizing liquid meal that meets the healthful standards you’re looking for?
While proteins are most abundant in meat and seafood, the plant world has its share. So of course, feel free to use organic high-fat milk and yogurt, but you could just as easily include almond, rice or coconut milk. You could also boost the protein content with powders made from whey, pea, rice or egg whites. And here’s where the green leafy vegetables come in. They’re full of vitamins and antioxidants but are also the protein princes of the vegetable kingdom. (Beans are the king, as St. Mary already knows.) Spinach, broccoli and peas are just a few.
The healthy fat category can be handled by throwing in nuts, either in their natural form or in butters, and seeds such as pumpkin, sunflower, flax and chia. Avocados and coconut oil are other good sources.
And you might not think of fruit as carbohydrates, but for the purpose of your smoothie, they’re just that. Berries, pears, oranges and apples are the highest in fiber. Berries also contain the least sugar, while mangoes, grapes and bananas have the most.
One friend swears by a kale-carrot-beet smoothie blended with a little orange juice and water for an afternoon pick-me-up. Ledbetter says the Health Nut, which includes yogurt, rice milk, o. j., mangoes, blueberries and flax and sunflower seeds, is a hot ticket. And Rose blends her up own at home from berries, banana, spinach, kale, almond butter, chia seeds and coconut milk, a concoction that’s not only full of nutrients, but flavor.
One note – not a single nutritionist mentioned smoothies as a way to lose weight. To be of any nutritional service to your body, the drink needs to be hefty enough in protein and fat to carry you through until your next meal. In fact, one health coach recommends smoothies to her clients who need to gain weight.
“It’s easier to get calories down if they’re liquefied,” said Tiffany Godwin, of Natural Grocers.
For those who drink a smoothie rather than having a proper breakfast or lunch, she cautions against making it a habit.
“As humans, we’re not built to drink our food, we’re built to chew it. It’s a signal to our body to release those digestive enzymes,” she said.
Substituting a liquid meal for a chewable one is OK a couple of times a week, she said, especially if it includes textured ingredients like nuts, coconut flakes or cacao nibs.
Others contend that if drinking a smoothie means you’ll have breakfast rather than skipping it or eat spinach rather than avoiding it, by all means, drink smoothies.
“A lot of people don’t like leafy greens, and if I can get them to eat it in some other way, then that’s a good thing,” Rose said.
She also makes sure to balance the bitter or sour flavors of vegetables with naturally sweet properties of fruit like banana and almonds. If you must, adding a little agave nectar or honey isn’t too bad.
For those of us who like spinach and eat a good breakfast, a banana-strawberry smoothie with plain yogurt, vanilla and a little honey will do just fine.
phasterok@durangoherald.com
