Having breakfast is one important way to start our day right. It helps promote a healthier and more active lifestyle.
But rushed mornings often make us forget or skip eating a hearty meal to start our busy day.
You may think of many options for a quick grab for your morning meal and might be worried about not having enough energy for the day.
Worry not; vegan smoothies are here to rescue you from an empty stomach, even on a bustling day.
Smoothies can often be mistaken as a milkshake, as it is a thick beverages made up of two major parts - the base and the liquid.
Depending on your preferred base and the time of day you'll consume it, it can be either a snack or a meal.
You can incorporate a wide variety of fruits and vegetables when creating a smoothy depending on your chosen or preferred diet without taking up a lot of preparation time, which makes it a good pick for your breakfast, especially on rushed mornings.
Still hesitant and skeptical about having a vegan smoothy for breakfast? Here are some of the reasons why having smoothies can be a great way to jumpstart your day.
1) It's very convenient and easy to make (and drink!).
Whether it's a busy day at work or just a lazy day at home, you can never go wrong with a smoothy.
With the major help of your blender, you can create a well-balanced meal in a few minutes without creating a whole lot of mess in your kitchen.
You'll just have to pick which ingredients you'll have and prepare their portions, throw them in the blender and voila!
A quick and healthy meal before you finish your daily tasks and activities.
This is also the easiest (and yummiest) way to consume our fruits and vegetables regularly.
One good advantage is that you can also choose to put portions in your thermos and have your smoothy anywhere you go for that quick energy boost!
2) You can easily customize your drink and choose from various fruits and vegetables.
We often find ourselves tired in the kitchen just for us to have a sumptuous breakfast for ourselves. We can have a full-packed breakfast in one drink with a vegan smoothy. With a wide array of ingredients to choose from, we can tailor-fit our smoothies to our liking, depending on what diet we follow or prefer. Smoothy recipes come in different versions. Here are some recipes from gogood.co.nz:
- Low bloat / high protein breakfast smoothie made from spinach, banana, protein powder, oats, peanut butter and almond milk
- Low-calorie / detoxifying breakfast smoothie made up of spinach, raspberries, protein powder, yogurt, banana, chia seeds and oat milk
While these recipes may serve as your guide, you can create your recipe depending on your preferences and taste.
3) It's jam-packed with nutrients for a well-balanced diet.
Breakfast meals are an important part of your day, and starting it with a healthy energy boost can make a great difference.
To achieve a well-balanced smoothy, we must make sure to put in "just enough" of everything to avoid consuming too much or much less of what we need and don't need. Theeverygirl.com enumerated some of the things we may overlook while preparing our smoothies:
A) Putting too much sugar
Of course, we want our smoothies to taste delicious, making them more prone to have sugar overload to "mask" or cover the taste of the greens incorporated into our drink. We can use alternatives to avoid this sweetness overload by using more flavorful fruits with less sugar or putting in healthy milk as a substitute.
B) Not having enough greens
Greens make your smoothies healthier. Though we may be used to having more fruits in our smoothies, why not try to put in more greens as they provide us with benefits such as immunity boost, balanced hormones, reduced inflammation and a lot of fiber.
C) Too much of a good thing – nutrients
As the saying goes, too much of good things can be bad. Without us noticing, we may have been piling up on too many “superfoods”, such as protein, when enjoying our smoothies. We must keep our intake in mind to avoid future health complications. Make sure to measure and calculate the appropriate ingredients to maintain well-balanced smoothies to start a busy (or even a lazy) day ahead.
4) It has numerous health benefits.
What makes a vegan smoothy healthy is its ingredients and the right amount of portions. Being able to incorporate and blend a lot of good things into your smoothy means you'll also be provided with health benefits that go along with it.
According to thatsmyjamok.com, drinking smoothies can help you with some of these health situations:
A) Lose weight and feel full
Most vegan smoothies have fiber-rich ingredients such as fresh fruits like pears, apples and bananas. Fibers help you improve your blood sugar control and lose weight without skipping your meals.
Eating or consuming a high-fiber smoothy makes you more energized and helps you consume fewer calories, especially during breakfast. Being able to feel light and full at the same time can greatly help make your day even brighter and more productive.
To have an idea of a high fiber smoothie you can try, you can check foddaciously.com's high fibre smoothie made with raspberries, bananas, beetroot, almond butter, chia seeds, oats and almond milk.
B) Aids in Digestion
Poor digestion and an unhealthy digestive system can be the root cause of several health problems.
Maintaining a healthy gut goes a long way in keeping a healthy lifestyle. Making sure to eat breakfast is one way to keep your insides healthy but making a nutritious one can make it a whole lot better.
Putting in fresh fruits and vegetables, rich in fiber and prebiotics, in your breakfast smoothy can help aid in having smooth digestion. Incorporating yogurt rich in good bacteria as the base can also make a healthy breakfast smoothy.
C) Boosts Brain Power
Mixing and matching ingredients for your smoothies help you deliciously consume fruits and vegetables while obtaining nutrients good for your brain. Fresh fruits and vegetables containing omega-3 fatty acids give you brain strength, cognitive longevity, and stronger memory.
You can check simplegreensmothies.com for a list of fruits and vegetables you can enjoy in your smoothie for that brain power-up to begin your day and make it an even smarter.
D) Prevent Cardiovascular disease and Reduce Chances of Cancer
Having meals at the appropriate time with ample nutrients coupled with exercise and a healthy lifestyle helps prevent and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. You can check whitneybond.com’s heart-healthy smoothie made with 4 fresh and heart-healthy fruits with soy milk for your next breakfast smoothie!
Also, incorporating vegetables that aid in attacking free radicals that cause cancer in your smoothies, such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, helps stop the growth of cancer cells in your body. Also, putting berries such as strawberries, blueberries and grapes make your smoothies rich in antioxidants that help inhibit the growth of cancer-causing free radicals.
By having the right amount of nutrients such as protein, fiber, and healthy fat, you’ll surely have that healthy breakfast to boost your day in just minutes!
5) It makes you feel good – or even better!
Aside from giving you that sense of accomplishment to finish a "meal" to begin your day, having a vegan smoothie in the morning also gives you a lot of other good things.
According to the thezoereport.com, improved energy, mood and confidence boost, as well as healthy skin, hair and nails, were achieved after having smoothies for breakfast for 30 days. While this may vary from person to person, having smoothies for breakfast positively affected her well-being – she felt better about herself. Why not give it a try?
Key Takeaway
Having a full meal to start your day makes a great difference - especially if it doesn’t take up too much time and still has all the nutrients and good things you need for a greater day ahead.
Aside from being able to have a convenient and easy-to-prepare breakfast meal, you can choose from what’s in your food pantry or what’s your preference or dietary plan if you’ll have a vegan smoothy for breakfast.
You can even create and customize your very own smoothie recipe! Starting your day with a good and hearty meal will give you that sense of accomplishment and a positive attitude, which is the ultimate way to start your day.
How about you? How do you start yours daily?
Why not try a vegan smoothy?