5 Healthy Green Juice and Smoothie Recipes Dancers Will Enjoy
Boost Your Energy Before Class When You Enjoy One Of These Healthy Green Juice Drinks
We’ve all heard that you need six to eight servings of fruits and veggies per day as part of a healthy diet – and hard-working dancers need even more to give them the energy boost they need to make it through a big day! Chopping & preparing veggies can get dull, and eating them raw can also get boring.
I think I first heard about adding greens to smoothies in a post about tricking your kids into eating more vegetables. A mom added spinach to her kids morning smoothie and called it “hulk juice”. Her superhero obsessed son loved it!
Since there was a big, wilting bag of spinach in my fridge, and since spinach can go from yummy salad to slimy mess in no time, I decided to give it a try. I added a big handful of baby spinach to my morning mix of frozen mixed berries, banana, protein powder and nut milk – and was hooked! Spinach for breakfast? I’d gotten in 2 of my veggie servings already! Yeah!
I later decided I wanted to get even MORE adventurous and try juicing some tougher veggies like carrots and beets. I loved getting juices from local franchises, but I knew I could do it at home for less money.
One of my first juices had carrots, beets, ginger and apples and was so delicious I couldn’t wait to try EVERYTHING. Fennel is now one of my favourite things.
Tools for Making Your Own Green Juice Or Smoothie
You don’t need a fancy juicer to enjoy a healthy green juice – but if you do have one, you’ll be able to add more solid veggies such as carrots, beets and fennel to your drink. A slow juicer that presses the fruit and vegetables to extract the juice is a great option – I use the Hurom slow juicer.
A regular blender will do a great job of making a green drink if you are using leafy greens or herbs, but you might want to strain the juice before you drink it.
A high-powered blender will really liquify all those veggies without missing any of the fiber!
Recipes
- Green Apple Juice – A good intro to green juices, the apples & cucumber are very easy to drink.
- 2 medium green apples
- 1 cucumber
- ½ lemon
- 4 cups chopped kale
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 large handfuls of spinach
2. Sour Patch Kid Juice The lime gives this juice a great kick – you’ll think you’re drinking sour candies!
- 2 Green apples
- 1 lime
- 4 large kale leaves
- 1 inch ginger
- ¼ pineapple
3. Mint Refresh Smoothie – Add a scoop of your favourite chocolate protein powder to this smoothie if you want a mint-chocolate treat!
- Handful baby spinach
- 2 tomatillos
- 1 bunch mint
- 1 banana
- 1 lime
- 1 cup water
4. Green Goddess Smoothie – Greens + fruit and a little something to thin it out is all you need to make a smoothie as unique as you!
- Big handful of your favourite greens (kale, spinach & cabbage are great)
- 2 cups fresh or frozen fruit (mixed berry blend or mango are great)
- 2 oz coconut water or plain water
5. Fresh Fennel Juice – Fennel has a surprisingly clean flavour you’ll get addicted to!
- 1 cucumber
- 2 green apples
- 1 bulb fennel
- ½ lemon
Any green juice is best when consumed immediately, but will also keep well in the fridge for 1-3 days.
You can even turn a smoothie into a delicious smoothie bowl, by serving it in a cereal bowl and topping it with nuts, chia seeds and sliced fruits – so pretty!
Getting Your Veggies
The next time you’re shopping, be sure to add kale, spinach, fennel, green apples, limes, celery, ginger, cucumber & zucchini to your list so you’ll have plenty of greens to keep you fresh for dancing.
Another great way to get a variety of veggies to inspire your juices is by subscribing to a Community Supported Agriculture Box.
If you have veggies or fruits that are starting to go bad, throw them in a freezer bag so you can pull them out to add to a smoothie – it will be a surprise every time!
In a future blog post I’ll feature protein powders I like using.
What’s your favourite veggie to add to a smoothie?