Tips to Eating Healthy: Delicious Fruit and Veggie Smoothie Recipes

Ahh, the vegetable. So good for you, and yet, so many better-tasting choices out there. Like potato chips. Ice cream. Chocolate cake. Why can't they be good for us. What is it with life and incessant temptation?

Don't you think an all-knowing God could have made things just a little simpler for us and our pleasure-seeking selves by making the foods and other things that are good for us taste good and give us immediate pleasure and the foods and others things in life that are bad for us taste bad and give us immediate pain, instead of, well, the opposite. I mean, seriously, come on brother, show some love.

One things for certain: All-knowing or not, whoever is behind this whole thing has one twisted sense of humor.

Fortunately, the man upstairs did bestow upon our apple-pie-à-la-mode-loving selves the gifts of creativity and invention. These are terrific tools indeed, as they affords us the opportunity to, among other things, make those items that are not apple pie à-la-mode taste like apple pie à-la-mode.  

You may have figured out by now that I like eating healthy, but I tend not to like many things that are healthy, like vegetables (well, there are exceptions. For instance, I won't turn down a fresh cob of corn, heavy on the butter).

So if you are like me, you don't eat as many vegetables as you should. It may be that you lead a busy lifestyle and often eat on-the-go, going for what is quick and easy rather than what may be healthier for you. Or, it may be that, also like me, you aren't crazy about the taste of most vegetables.

Whatever the reason, I have listed below some of the favorite fruit and vegetable drink recipes that I have created over the years to get my daily vegetable intake. Eating healthy is important, but can be difficult. Just remember, to eat healthy and get all of the fruits and veggies that your body needs, it sometimes takes a bit of vegetable alchemy to make the magic happen. That is, it sometimes it takes a fruit to make you forget that you are also eating a vegetable.

For all of these recipes, I use an Oysterizer blender. It has done a great job for me over many years of daily use and never has a problem handling the heavy ingredients. For each, blend until smooth; makes two servings. If you are concerned about sugar intake, you can substitute an equal part of water for the V-8 V-Fusion for any of the recipes.

Have fun!

1 Banana

1 Large Orange

1 1/2 Cups Spinach

4 Large Romaine Lettuce Leaves

1 Cup V-8 V-Fusion Tropical Orange

8-10 Ice Cubes

2 Florets of Broccoli

1 Cup Spinach

1/2 Apple (cored, not skinned)

1/2 Orange

1 Cup V-8 V-Fusion Tropical Orange

6-8 Ice Cubes

Apple (cored, not skinned)

1 Banana

6-8 Romaine Lettuce Leaves

1 1/2 Cups V-8 V-Fusion Passionfruit Tangerine

6-8 Ice Cubes

2 Oranges

1 Apple (cored, not skinned)

1 Carrot (skinned)

5-7 Romaine Lettuce Leaves

1/2 V-8 V-Fusion Passionfruit Tangerine

6-8 Ice Cubes

15 Tips to Eating More Vegetables From WebMD

Harvard School of Public Health Fruit and Vegetables, the Full Story

Fruits and Vegetables Resource From the CDC

I do a lot of running and bicycling and so I also drink a lot of whey protein shakes. If you are engaged in vigorous exercise for extended periods, your body requires more protein. One hundred percent whey protein helps to repair and rebuild the muscle tissue that has broken down during this exercise. The additional ingredients, such as almonds, bananas and flax seeds, are also terrific for your body and help it to recover faster. Most importantly, these recipes give you an excuse to drink a delicious shake that also happens to be good for you. You can check out my whey protein shake recipes here.