Milk thistle smoothie bowl with aloe vera recipe

Breakfast of champions

Back in 2014, a US Navy Admiral named William H McRaven gave a commencement speech at the University of Texas. One of his (now famous) pieces of advice to the new graduates? Make your bed every morning. According to McRaven, it's the simple act of accomplishing something small, completing the first task of the day, that sets the whole day up for success. We believe this extends to the way we eat, too.

If you start off your day by filling your body with fresh, nutritious food that makes you feel wonderful, then you're setting yourself up for a great day. We love to kickstart the morning with this healthy green smoothie bowl recipe. With ripe banana for energy, fresh fruit for flavour and a whole lot of greens for vitamins and minerals, it'll get you ready to attack the day ahead.   

A symphony of textures

Smoothies don't have to be totally homogenous in texture. In fact, it's the details that matter here. Topping your smoothie with crunchy, chewy goodness adds interest and a range of textures can help you feel satisfied as you eat. Plus, with so many interesting textures and flavours on offer in the ingredients list, why not celebrate a few of them by letting them shine atop your green bowl? So, now you have your topping sorted, let's take a look at the greens doing the hard work in the smoothie itself.

Spinach

We love it in a risotto, in pasta sauces, in salads, in soups; and yet some of us still resist the idea of spinach in a smoothie. To the naysayers, we plead: give it a go! This wonderful leafy vegetable is a brilliant addition to your breakfast bowl, providing bright colour, grounding earthiness, and bang for your buck in terms of nutrition. In fact, as well as famously supplying you with a source of plant-based iron, 100 grams of spinach provides you with nearly a third of your Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) of the essential vitamin C.(1)

Kiwi

If you, like us, stopped eating kiwi fruit (or Chinese gooseberry) after you turned twelve, it's time to get back into them. Back in the day, we used to love carefully carving out the bright green flesh and the delightfully odd crunchy black seeds with a teaspoon. Our parents were thrilled to keep us occupied, and we attribute much of our dexterity as adults from our attempts to scoop out every last morsel of fruit. As it turns out, that process was unnecessary; the peel is edible, so you can bung the whole lot into your blender.

You could also, theoretically, eat a kiwi as you would an apple, although you may attract some glances. You would have the last laugh, though: consumption of kiwi is thought to combat harmful oxidative stress to our cells.(2)

Spirulina

Spirulina is behind the sudden popularity of 'blue juices' and 'blue smoothies', and is in fact blue-green algae, which can grow in both saltwater and freshwater. Eaten by the Aztecs, it came to public attention again when it was recommended to help nourish astronauts. And indeed, versatility is one of spirulina's strong suits.

Up the amount of spirulina powder that you put onto your smoothie bowl to a tablespoon and you will be well on your way to attaining your RDA of several valuable vitamin Bs, as well as other substances. For instance, you'd get 11% of the RDA of Vitamin B1 (thiamine) and 15% of the RDA of Vitamin B2 (riboflavin).(3)

Aloe vera

Aloe vera is as soothing to your insides as it is to your outsides. You have probably rubbed a broken aloe vera leaf onto your skin and felt the effects of its deeply soothing gel on your skin. Well, studies have found that aloe vera may have a positive effect on the antioxidant capacity of your body.(4) What better to start your day with? A high-quality Erbology Organic Aloe Vera Shot helps keep your body balanced and nourished.