Smoothies

Smoothies have been a growing phenomenon over the past few years. If you live in a major town or city, you’ve probably noticed smoothie and juice bars springing up all over the place and people carrying weird looking plastic glasses with bulbous tops and a straw sticking out of the top filled with brightly, sometimes strangely coloured liquids, leaving you wondering what on earth it’s made of to produce such luminous concoctions. So what is a smoothie and why are they so popular?

Basically, a smoothie is a drink which is made from fruit or vegetables, usually with added liquids such as yoghurt, milk or juices and often with additional flavourings such as honey, sugar or spices, which is blended until liquefied. The benefit of smoothies against juices is that they contain the whole fruit/vegetable which means they have the advantage of providing fibre (also called roughage) which is necessary in the diet to maintain a healthy digestive system. Another health benefit is that smoothies are an easy and pleasant way to consume the recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables.

Although there is currently a little controversy as to whether you HAVE to have ‘5-a-day’ EVERY day, it’s still not a bad idea, and smoothies can play a major role in achieving the target.

They are also great for kids who might be a little fussy about eating vegetables but who usually have no problem whatsoever drinking thick milkshakes from fast food outlets.

All in all, the smoothie revolution is a fantastic development in the field of dietary awareness. Easily and quickly made from fresh, frozen or tinned fruit or fresh vegetables or both, especially when they are in season and cheap, there's no need to spend vast amounts of money on shop made smoothies.