Healthy Greens Power-Up Smoothie

This power-up green smoothie is prepared using a wide selection of veggies, fruits, spices and superfoods. It’s loaded with healthy fats, has a bit of protein, it’s low in sugar and packed with vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytonutrients form all those wonderful healthy greens.

My healthy smoothie formula

To tell you the truth, when I start working on my daily smoothie, I rarely start with an exact plan in mind. Instead, I like to leave room for improvisation and this lead me to some strangely interesting combinations.

Just to give you an example, through improvisation I discovered that adding veggies to a smoothie (and I mean veggies, not just a few spinach leaves) will enhance the flavor, change the texture and will add even more health benefits.

My smoothie formula is actually very simple and pretty much looks like this:

• Healthy fats
• Veggies
• Few Fruits
• Spices
• Superfoods
• Protein
• Liquid

Learn how to make delicious smoothies from this guide: The Simple Guide to Making Smoothies

The anatomy of my green smoothie

Let’s look closely at each of these categories where I’ll try to explain the logic behind my choices and what ingredients I used for this particular smoothie.

Healthy Fats

What I used – coconut butter, avocado, hemp seeds, sour cream.

Healthy fats are a very important part of all the smoothies that I’m making. Healthy fats come with so many associated health benefits that you just can’t ignore them. But here’s one trick … you have to make sure that you’re using only the best and natural sources of healthy fats, unprocessed or processed as little as possible.

Veggies

What I used – spinach, celery.

Veggies always come with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fiber and phytonutrients. They’re also low in sugar so, since they’re not sweet as most fruits, their nutrients tend to be absorbed better by our bodies.

When it comes to veggies and smoothies, the rule is to use many different types of veggies combining all their nutrients together into a nourishing smoothie drink. Sometimes you’ll fail and your smoothie will not be the best, but most often you’ll end up with some wonderful combinations. With time you’ll get a feeling of what combinations work better, what you like most and even how to “repair” a smoothie.

Fruits

What I used – avocado, coconut (butter), dates, hemp seeds, lemon.

I like to go low-carb here, at least most of the time. Sometimes I feel the need for a more sweeter smoothie, but even that isn’t going to be as sweet as what’s considered “normal” these days. Still, because I’ve learned how to play with taste and flavor in a smoothie, I don’t need to use extra sweetness to make my smoothie taste delicious.

Bottom line, fruits are great but I always use them in moderation. I believe there are many other categories of plants that are simply worth-it more than fruits.

Spices and Superfoods

What I used – hemp seeds, turmeric powder, cinnamon powder, cacao powder, vanilla powder, Himalayan salt, lovage, dill, mint.

I like to include spices and superfoods with every smoothie that I make. These spices and superfoods come with very potent nutrients even when used in low quantities (that is why they’re called superfoods). Quick note, I never make a smoothie without using at least two of the following spices: cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, turmeric, vanilla powder.

Protein

What I used – spinach, hemp seeds, sour cream, whey protein powder.

While I’ve created a protein category here, I’m not looking to add a certain quantity or source of protein into my daily smoothies. Instead, I simply rely on my veggies to provide the protein. In case I may feel the need to include more protein, I’ll use something like a protein powder (which I used in this smoothie).

For this smoothie, because it was designed as a recovery smoothie, I’ve actually included 2 extra sources of protein: unpasteurized sour cream and whey protein powder.

When it comes to using vegan protein powders, hemp protein and pea protein are two vegan sources of protein that you must consider. And if you don’t mind using milk-based protein, you can definitely choose whey protein powder.

Liquid

What I used – water

The healthiest liquid you can use is clean fresh water and this is exactly what i used for this smoothie. You could also use coconut water, coconut milk, even your favorite nut milk will probably work great (almond or cashew milk for example). In case you feel really adventurous, you could maybe use homemade kefir, a natural homemade fruit juice (pay attention to those carbs) or even raw milk (make sure it’s from healthy happy animals).

Takeaway

In conclusion, this smoothie comes with plenty of healthy fats, a bit of protein, is low in carbohydrates, and loaded with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, healthy fiber and antioxidants. I always like using many different fresh veggies in my smoothies and just enough liquid to make my smoothie creamy and thick. Feel free to play with the liquid quantity until you obtain the desired combination, at least this is what I do.

One last note – since I used unpasteurized sour cream (raw milk) and whey protein powder (also dairy) this smoothie is not vegan. If you eat vegan and want to make this smoothie, you have 2 options:

• Option 1 – Skip those ingredients and that’s it.
• Option 2 – Replace them with vegan alternatives. You can easily replace sour cream with coconut cream and whey protein powder with protein powder from green peas or hemp seeds.

I hope that you now know a bit more about how I make my smoothies and how to put together your own recipes, packed with real nutrients.

As always, thanks for reading and I hope it was worth it for you. See you on the next smoothie!

Please share your thoughts in the comments section below and maybe leave a review and a 5-star rating if you enjoyed this green smoothie recipe.

What’s your formula for making smoothies? Did you find my smoothie formula interesting? Let’s chat in the comments!

Some more green smoothie ideas

• 5 Ingredient Simple Green Smoothie
• Glowing Skin Green Smoothie
• Spinach Pineapple Green Smoothie
• Yummy Green Smoothie with Spinach and Avocado
• Super Green Shot Energy Smoothie

Want to read more? Check-out my article on How to Make the Best Green Smoothie