If you are one of the millions of Americans who doesn't eat breakfast, let me tell you - start! Your body needs fuel to operate efficiently, and getting a healthy start can make the entire day much more enjoyable. Those hunger pains that hit you in the middle of the morning will affect your productivity and ability to concentrate, as well as your overall energy level and mood.

I don't know about you, but I have a really hard time eating breakfast. My body just isn't quite ready for food at 6am, but I need something in me before I go out for a long run or a long day at school or work.

My savior has been the smoothie - a great way to get vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, protein, carbohydrates and more - Without having to actually eat anything. A good smoothie provides you just the right amount of nutrients to get your metabolism going, as well as a reasonable amount of calories for the level of nutrition you are receiving.

The most cost effective way to do this is to either buy bulk frozen fruit (A much better deal in 2-5 lb bags than in the smaller size bags you typically see in the grocery store), or to buy fresh and cut it yourself. The problem with buying the fresh and freezing it yourself is trying to get the fruit at its peak ripeness. For around $20 you can buy enough frozen fruit to have a smoothie a day for the entire month, much cheaper than your morning cappuccino or vitamin-enhanced water, and far more nutritious - when you drink a smoothie as opposed to fruit juice, you get the benefits of fiber, as well as more antioxidants if you leave the skin on the fruit.

Instead of posting my whole food intake for the day, I used the food log feature to give you a recipe for a smoothie that I drink every morning for breakfast, right after my morning run. Be sure to check out the advanced nutrition report by clicking the button below - You can see with this one smoothie you are getting about half your vitamins and minerals for the entire day, as well as a ton of antioxidants!

The recipe for this smoothie is 1 1/2 cups milk, and 1/4 cup each of the fruits listed below. As I said before, the easiest way is to mix up big bags of all the fruit and throw them in the freezer. Then it's just a matter of 2 minutes in the blender and you have a thick and tasty smoothie.

You can certainly use about any fruit in a smoothie, however I stick with the ones in this list for nutrition reasons and flavor - some fruits such as peaches and plums don't have a strong enough flavor to make a delicious smoothie.

If you really want to add a nutritional boost, add a few tablespoons of nutritional yeast, and you will have nearly all your vitamins and amino acid requirements fulfilled for the day in one glass.

If you have any good recipes, leave a comment and let me know!

This Blog Entry Was Posted On Thursday, September 11th at 10:09 pm