smoothie

Recipe: Mango Pineapple Smoothie

/ Michelle / 2 Comments

My favourite smoothie at McDonald’s is the mango pineapple smoothie. The ingredients are listed as ice and mango pineapple fruit base. Upon further searching, I found the ingredients to the mango pineapple fruit base, on the McDonald’s website:

Water, Clarified Demineralized Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Mango Puree Concentrate, Pineapple Juice Concentrate, Orange Juice Concentrate, Pineapple Puree (Pineapple and Ascorbic Acid), Apple Juice Concentrate, Contains Less than 1%: Cellulose Powder, Natural (Plant Source) and Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Pectin, Citric Acid, Fruit and Vegetable Juice for Color, Turmeric Extract (Color).

I was expecting added sugar in the ingredients list, but found artificial flavours and colours! Plus, I’m not really sure how ‘juice concentrate’ compares to real fruit.

So… I think I will choose my Nutribullet mango pineapple smoothie instead. mango pineapple smoothie
Here’s the recipe:

  • fresh pineapple chunks
  • frozen mango chunks
  • cold water

Place everything in the Nutribullet cup. Add the blade. Blend. It tastes the same and contains only pure and natural ingredients!

mango pineapple smoothie blended

 

 

 

 

Enjoy! Michelle

 

Recipe: Naturally Sweet Smoothie

/ Michelle / 1 Comment

Do you remember when I said yesterday that fruits, vegetables, and herbs contained natural sweeteners in a natural state? Well, a great way to harness that sweetness in a drink is by making a smoothie!

I love my NutriBullet and use it often. I don’t add sweeteners. Here’s my favourite recipe:

sweet fruit smoothie

  • 1 banana
  • 1 small pear
  • 1 small apple
  • 4-5 frozen mango chunks
  • handful of baby spinach leaves
  • cold water

 

Cut banana, apple, and pear into chunks. Place everything, peel and all, in the large Nutribullet cup. Add the blade and blend. Enjoy!

These sweet fruits make for a sweet smoothie. The spinach adds a veggie serving to your day. Plus, there is natural fibre in the leaves and peels.

finished smoothie

 

 

 

 

Michelle

Better Drinking

/ Michelle / Leave a comment

Goal #1? Drink better!

I’m concerned about the amount of sugar that I consume and I’m pretty certain that a lot of it is in the things I drink. So I did a quick internet search to find out how many teaspoons of sugar we are consuming in the common things that I and my family drink regularly. I knew it would be high, but I was a little shocked at some of these. I made every attempt to find accurate sugar information on these drinks, but please keep in mind that this information is from various online sources.

  • My favourite coffee: a grande Starbucks Caramel Macchiato – 6.5 tsps of sugar!
  • My husband prefers a grande Latte at Starbucks – 3.5 tsps.
  • I also enjoy a Tim Horton’s French Vanilla Cappuccino every now and then. The small size – 6 tsps.
  • The small frozen lemonade at Tim’s – 5 tsps.
  • Smoothies should be better, right? A Tim Horton’s medium strawberry banana smoothie with yogurt – 10 tsps.
  • A McDonald’s medium strawberry banana smoothie with yogurt –  12 tsps.
  • A Mcd’s medium chocolate shake – 22 tsps of sugar!
  • What about a can of pepsi or coke? – depending on the info source, 8 – 10 tsps.
  • 12 ounces of apple juice, a staple in every kids’ diet – 10 tsps.
  • 1 cup of chocolate milk – 6 tsps.
  • I enjoy vitamin water. That’s healthy, right? 1 bottle of vitamin water – 6.5 tsps.
  • And, my son’s recent favourite pop? A 20 oz bottle of Mountain Dew – 15 tsps of sugar. I had no idea!

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Just in case these shocking numbers alone are not enough to make me want to change my drinking habits, here are some real reasons to do so:

  • Sugar contains no essential nutrients.
  • Sugar is bad for our teeth.
  • Too much sugar can cause insulin resistance which can lead to Type II Diabetes.
  • Sugar might lead to obesity.
  • Sugar might lead to diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke.
  • Sugar might lower immunity.
  • Sugar might cause inflammation in the body.
  • Sugar might cause skin aging, or skin problems such as acne.

Take a look at these articles:

How Toxic is Sugar? CBC News
What Does Cancer Eat? Sugar Mostly…  National Post
 7 Surprising Reasons to Give Up Sugar  ABC News

Okay, I’ll stop now! I am going to do a little more reading about sugar and I’ll share my findings in future blog posts. But for now, here is what I plan to do:

  1. I will gradually reduce the amount of sugar I put in my morning coffee until I can get away with only a bit, or maybe even none.
  2. I will drink more tea throughout the day, both hot and cold. This is a great excuse to experiment with homemade iced tea!
  3. I’ll drink more water and to make it appetizing I will infuse fruit in my water. I recently saw a very cool water bottle with a built in infuser compartment. Will have to go shopping!
  4. I will make fruit smoothies at home with no sugar.

Let’s talk about sugar. What are your thoughts?

Michelle