We’ve heard it day in and day out: fruits and vegetables are healthy for you and you should strive to eat them every single day. Eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables as part of an overall healthy diet can help protect against a number of serious and costly chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and obesity. According to the 2015–2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans, their recommendations for adults are to consume at least 1.5–2 cups of fruits and 2–3 cups of vegetables per day. That includes any variety including fresh, frozen, dried, or canned.

The Standard American Diet (SAD) acronym holds true, it is indeed very sad.

According to the Center for Disease Control, based on the dietary guidelines of Americans and recommendations of 1.5–2 cups of fruits and 2–3 cups of vegetables.  Only 12.2% of American adults meet the daily fruit intake recommendations and only 9.3% of American adults meet the daily vegetable intake recommendations. It is evident that we have room for improvement when it comes to eating our fruits and vegetables.

Smoothies can be a nutritious and convenient meal replacement, refreshing snack, or sweet desserts packed with multiple servings of fruits and vegetables without even knowing. They also can be very customizable to one’s own pallet and with a lot of different flavors. Recipes can be very easy to follow as well as modifiable, but what ingredients should you add to make your smoothie just right for you?

Tune in to today’s #HBHealthAtHome nutrition presentation by Home Base’s SWFL Dietitian, Ryan to hear more about how to customize a smoothie to your health needs, and also your palate!

Tune in to the video above to learn more about how to make a smoothie suited for you.