Brazilian Health Smoothie with its raw vegetables and vitamin rich fruits, was popular in Brazil before I ever heard of smoothies here in America.
American Health Smoothie
Until 2006, when I moved to Brazil for a few years, I had never heard of a smoothie. There were no smoothie shops or kiosks selling smoothies as we known them now.
Milkshakes were the closest thing to a smoothie I had encountered. Well… of course the odd blender drink for a Pina Colada, made with pineapple juice, coconut milk and lots of rum.
Blenders here in America were a way of pureeing a sauce, or mixing a cocktail base but to use them for daily health drinks…It just hadn’t happened yet.
Even the Magic Bullet blender had only just hit the market in 2003, but still not yet popular to puree raw veggies for drinking.
Needless to say, once I jumped in with the health benefits of smoothies, I went crazy creating as many as each season offered:
Brazilian Health Smoothie
Health – ‘Saude’ – Conscientious Brazilians taught me all I needed to know about drinking raw vegetables with fruits, herbs and protein additives.
Every mall, every city street throughout Brazil, back in 2006, had a kiosk with veggies and fruit piled high for the making of smoothies.
Walk up to the kiosk, pick your blend, maybe have other additives to boost your health, like a scoop of protein rich bovine powder, and go about your day.
Brazilian Health Bovine Powder
Protein rich bovine powder, with more cows than people in Brazil, produced some of the best animal protein powders I’ve ever had. Now that I am back home in America, I still add them to my morning drink each day.
It was in Brazil that I had my first smoothie bowl, first known as an acai bowl. Acai, being a reddish-purple grape-looking fruit, richer in antioxidants than cranberries and most our other berries. The Acai bowl has been common throughout Brazil for a long time. New to Americans now.
Best Health Smoothie
Let’s be honest, we could just as easily enjoy a big bowl of everything we put in a smoothie, only perhaps enjoy chewing it!
But let’s also be honest; there are things we might drink in a smoothie we might not otherwise choose to chomp on, especially children!
The best health smoothies are the one’s you will actually drink! The more raw veggies, the better. The less sweeteners, the better.
Protein additives, whether vegan or creature, are a great way to get a huge number of health foods into your body in one big cold drink with a straw. AND, it’s a to-go health food!
Beet and Carrot Brazilian Smoothie
Beterraba e Cenoura – Beets and Carrots. The primary health benefit for this Brazilian Health Smoothie is … well, Everything!
Beets are best known for aiding in digestive health, loaded with fiber and a wonderful natural approach to dealing with IBS, constipation, diverticulitis and a bunch of other digestive related issues.
Because of the gorgeous color pigment, it has a number of anti-inflammatory properties; so I would recommend using the red beet as apposed to the golden beet for this purpose.
Carrots, much like the beets, are loaded with fiber but carrots also are high in calcium and vitamin K, both important for bone health.
Carrots also have significant health benefits from the carotene antioxidant properties.
How To Make A Brazilian Smoothie
Peeling the skins from the beets, ginger and carrots and then grating, chopping or grinding them is where it starts.
From there, a little sweetness is added from a ripe banana and a little sweet juice from a few strawberries.
Everything goes into a strong blender, a little ice and water and give it a whirl until a creamy, thick luscious smoothie is ready to sip on for your health!
Ingredients Needed
- Raw Beets
- Raw Carrots
- Banana
- Strawberries
- Raw Ginger root
- Honey (optional)
- Water
- Ice
Equipment Needed
- Quality Blender
- Vegetable peeler
- Cutting board
- Chopping knife
- Box grater (optional)
Brazilian Health Smoothie
Course: Drinks, SmoothiesCuisine: BrazilianDifficulty: Easy1
servingsBrazil sets the example of healthy smoothies with fiber and nutrient rich raw beets, carrots, ginger root, bananas and strawberries.
Ingredients
Grated raw beets – 1/2 cup
Grated raw carrots – 1/2 cup
Ripe banana – 1/2 banana
Strawberries – 3
Raw ginger root – 1/4 tsp
Honey – 1/2 tsp (optional)
Water – 1/2 cup
Ice – 1/4 cup
Directions
- Place the grated carrots, beets and chopped ginger root into the blender. Pour a little water into the blender and pulse a few times to breakdown the vegetables.
- Cut up the banana half and add to the blender along with the chopped strawberries, remaining water, ice and honey if using and puree to a creamy smoothie.
I believe the table... that place that draws people to gather, is the most powerful symbol of togetherness. All that happens before the table is set, the planning, the gathering, the preparing, are all an intricate part of the dance that create the mood of celebration to share with friends and loved ones.
