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Tropical fruit smoothies: avocado, green or detox smoothie
Anti-aging, detox, meal replacements, protein or cleansing. Give yourself a guilt-free treat and join the smoothie trend. Follow these tips for making them.
If you want to eat healthy and your body craves vitamins, then break out the blender and prepare a fruit smoothie. Anti-aging, detox, fat burning, meal replacements, protein or cleansing. Give yourself a guilt-free treat and join the smoothie trend with these simple steps.
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Let’s get started. What should a smoothie contain?
The base: avocado smoothie, green smoothie or detox smoothie?
Filling and packed with energy, light or refreshing... Depending on the type of smoothie you want at a given time, you can choose a thicker milk base (whole milk, skim milk, soy milk, oat milk or almond milk, etc.) or something lighter, like a fruit juice, coffee, iced tea, or a fun alternative such as coconut milk. Substitute milk with sparkling water for a light smoothie or go for ice cream if it's your cheat day (but be careful when combining citrus and dairy since they don’t always work well together).
Tip: For the best smoothie texture, use a 600W blender (or stronger) equipped with stainless steel blades that are suitable for crushing ice.
The fruit:
Add two cups of liquid to the blender along with two-thirds of that amount of chopped fruit (fresh or frozen). The fruit can be peeled (if it has very thick or hard skin) or unpeeled (for more vitamins, since most vitamins are found in the skin). Strawberry and orange, passion fruit and mango; watermelon and melon... There are many flavor combinations, but be sure to include an ingredient that adds body—such as banana, mango or avocado—along with other fruits such as orange, papaya, pineapple, strawberry or passion fruit, for example. (If you love tropical fruit, you can always eat it in the Caribbean, at the Occidental Tucancún hotel. Sounds like an amazing plan, right?)
To maintain the sweetness of your smoothie while adding vegetables (spinach, kale, beet, chard, etc.), be sure to include more fruit than vegetables.
For a creamy texture, use ingredients such as Greek yogurt (it can also be flavored), and for a touch of sweetness (although this is not always necessary), you can add a small amount of sugar (white or brown), Stevia or a sweetener such as honey or a syrup (agave, caramel, etc.).
Tip: Prepare frozen fruit packs. Simply place them in the blender (still frozen) for delicious smoothies at any time. Another bonus is that the smoothie won’t be watered down by adding ice. It’s a win-win!
Extra vitamins:
If you love superfoods, don't miss the chance to add them to your smoothie: bee pollen, spirulina, wheat germ, flax seed, goji berries...
Dried fruits? Why not! However, be sure to hydrate them by boiling them in water during 15 minutes beforehand. They’ll provide an extra dose of minerals and vitamins.
Discover the superfood in a tea way: Want to be 122? Try Matcha tea.
Tip: You can also include protein in your shake by adding fresh cheese or soy powder, but remember, always at the end and after removing the smoothie from the blender.
Your special touch:
Add ice to the blender and give your creation a special touch with vanilla beans or cinnamon, a dash of cayenne pepper, or some chopped mint or spearmint leaves, and serve in your favorite way: with orange peel, with a sugar rim to decorate the glass, or with a bit of cacao powder sprinkled on top. In addition to using fresh or frozen fruit, you can also use dried fruits (dried peaches, raisins or dates, but always hydrated) or canned fruit as the base or for decoration. Let your imagination run free!
