Here’s the second instalment of our smoothie line: Deep Purple Avocado.
It’s also another real replacement smoothie, ideally for breakfast or lunch, covering you for a good 2 or 3 hours and giving you an excellent energy base to work from.
Introduction
The idea for this is as simple one, and it is an adaptation of a healthy ‘dessert shake’ the editor of this site saw years ago.
Adapting and upgrading it slightly to become a more rounded and even healthier option for the dieter, this is a nutrient dense drink which should satisfy your hunger and provide you with valuable vitamins and nutrients.
The one major advantage of blending food to liquid form is the release of far more nutrients than solid food does through digestion alone. This means much more of the goodness of the fruits and other elements are made bioavailable.
That’s also why a relatively small volume of smoothie can replace a meal with such efficiency.
The feeling of hunger is really the brains interpretation and signal of the need for nutrition. When this need is satisfied, the hunger pangs will abate. So in theory, the denser the nutrient value, the less volume is required.
The added beauty of this particular smoothie is the good fat content. Fat satisfies hunger more so than carbohydrate and protein combined (gram for gram) so the Deep Purple Avocado is deeply satisfying.
Good Fat
The Deep Purple Avocado has a rich, balanced omega-3 and omega-6 presence.
These are commonly known as the ‘good fats’, and it is generally accepted that a ratio of 3:1 – Omega-3 : Omega-6 is ideal for optimal heart health and weight control.
Avocados come with this balance naturally, and they add delicious consistency to smoothies, making them one of our go-to ingredients
In case you’re worried about the fat content, then stress not. Fats like these are more easily metabolized and burned as fuel for energy than trans fats. Sure, if your diet is high in saturated and trans fats, you are going to struggle more to shift it.
The Deep Purple Avocado
Its a meal replacement smoothie because it has enough calories to provide the energy of a meal. So, the point is NOT to drink it as a snack between meals.
The colour is attributed to the dark frozen berries you will use.
The thickness should almost enough to use a spoon with it. In fact, that might just be the best way to eat/drink this one!
it’s so thick because there is a lot of fruit in the smoothie, and the avocado really makes a difference. There isn’t much room for a fully liquid element (depending on the size of blender container you use) and that’s the way we like it.
However, feel free to add more of the milk/juice or water/ice to thin it out if that’s the way you like it.
Frozen Fruit
The berries we used in this recipe are frozen which is the cold element. You will otherwise have to add ice to get the coolness.
Ingredients
- Avocado – 1 scooped out with spoon (if you can scoop it out easily and it’s a nice creamy green/green colour and isn’t a mucky grey/brown colour then it’s good)
- Banana – 1 x fresh or frozen
- Blueberries – 1/4 cup frozen
- Strawberries – 1/3 cup frozen
- Blackberries – 1/4 cup frozen
- Cocoa powder – 1 x teaspoon
- Almond Milk/apple juice – 1-1.5 cups
- Cinnamon – 1 x pinch
- Lemon Juice – 1 x squirt (a tbsp or 2)
- Dark Chocolate Chips – (a sprinkling after blending)
Alternates
Instead of all these individual berries, you can use a ‘berry mix’. Most supermarkets will stock bags of it in the freezers.
Time To Drink
As mentioned already, the Deep Purple Avocado is best used as a meal replacement for the person trying to slim down via a calorie controlled diet.
Breakfast or lunch are the obvious choices. If you have breakfast really early then you might have to make a slightly larger batch, split it in two and have the second half mid-morning to keep the hunger pangs at bay.
Lunch might be the better option for those who just feel they neat to chew and crunch things for breakfast.
Ready for the next one?
Try the Peanut Butter Banana Classic
Be the first to comment