Fresh Fruit Smoothie Recipe For ‘Body and Soul’
Registered Dietician
| 2 min read
I had the opportunity to speak at Detroit’s Eastern Market last weekend to participants of the Body and Soul Blue Challenge, a 10-week, incentive-based fitness competition that encourages members of African American faith communities to adopt healthier lifestyles. The program, developed by the American Cancer Society and also under way in Flint and Grand Rapids, helps African American churches reinforce the importance of a healthy diet in decreasing the risk of cancer and other chronic diseases.
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, which sponsors this site, is teaming with the American Cancer Society to provide an exercise component and the Blue Cross Walking Works tracking tool for participants to log their miles online.
Eastern Market Fun with Fruits and Vegetables
The beauty of this Body and Soul event is that it was held at the Eastern Market during its busy Saturday morning open-air market. The venue has a great array of local farmers and produce, which we used to make fruit smoothies and fruit and vegetable kabobs. This interactive process was fun and, hopefully, educational for the audience. They were able to try the delicious produce while getting recipes, too.
We started with the strawberry banana smoothie before the mini workout session conducted by a personal trainer. After participants worked up a sweat, we made an interactive buffet of fruits and vegetables where the participants could use skewers to make their own fruit and vegetable kabobs. We had pineapple, watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, grapes, strawberries and blackberries for the fruit kabobs and broccoli, carrots, grape tomatoes, cauliflower, mushrooms and tri-colored bell peppers for the vegetable kabobs. I also spoke about the health benefits of this delicious produce.
The smoothie recipe below is what I served to the participants. It is quick and easy, and you can add any fruit that you wish. Make sure that you avoid adding fruit juice, only because of the calories it will add to the smoothie so quickly.
What’s your favorite way to make a fresh-fruit smoothie?
Photo Credits: ontheflyrecipes and Helen Battersby.
