If you are like myself and many other people (especially with kids) you probably think that consuming your “five-a-day” is a bit of a chore. So to get on the back of the juicing bandwagon and try to give five-a-day a chance, we have been working on a variety of smoothie recipes to be consumed in addition your normal meals to provide a boost of vitamins and minerals.

At Sundried, we do not recommend juicing as a method for weight loss, but rather for the nutrition and health benefits to supplement your training and healthy diet. One of the benefits of making your own juice is that it will stay fresh rather than losing its nutrients from being stored for long periods of time. Also, you can modify the ingredients to really suit your taste and maybe even experiment with new flavours. Your children will enjoy helping you make them and I'm personally amazed at how we can convince our daughter to consume vegetables by calling the smoothie ‘green chocolate’.

Personally if the juice contains just vegetables I will not enjoy the flavour and it feels more like forcing medicine down rather than having a refreshing smoothie. By adding in some fruit you end up with a delicious tasting drink. It's true that you are better off eating fruit and vegetables rather than drinking them as the juicing process means you lose many of the nutrients, but the reality is I don't get close to my five day through just eating fruit and veg, so adding a green smoothie into my diet really helps. It's also important to remember that the majority of your five a day should be green vegetables as opposed to just fruit.

So what’s in it?

In this particular juice we have

• 500 grams of strawberries
• 1/2 a cucumber
• 1 avocado
• ⅓ cup chia seeds (soaked in water)
• a pack of baby spinach
• 500ml of apple juice (you can use almond milk or coconut water if preferred),
• A good handful of ice

This recipe will make 4 really generous servings.

Nutrition Information

Per 100g	Energy Kcal	Fat (g)	of which Saturates Fat (g)	Carbohydrate (g)	of which Sugars (g)	Fibre (g)	Protein (g)	Salt (g)	Total Weight (g)
Baby Spinach pack	29	0.8	0.1	1.6	1.5	2.1	2.8	0.03	115
Strawberries 500 gms	33	0.3	0	8	4.9	2	0.7	0.01	500
1/2 Cucumber	16	0.1	0	3.6	1.7	0.5	0.6	0.02	150
Cup of Chia Seeds	486	31	3.3	42	0	34	17	0.16	85
Apple Juice 500 ml	46	0.1	0	11	10	0.2	0.1	0.04	500
Avocado	160	15	2.1	9	0.7	7	2	0.07	215
Totals
Baby Spinach pack	33.35	0.92	0.115	1.84	1.725	2.415	3.22	0.0345
Strawberries 500 gms	165	1.5	0	40	24.5	10	3.5	0.05
1/2 Cucumber	24	0.15	0	5.4	2.55	0.75	0.9	0.03
Cup of Chia Seeds	413.1	26.35	2.805	35.7	0	28.9	14.45	0.136
Apple Juice 500 ml	230	0.5	0	55	50	1	0.5	0.2
1 Avocado	344	32.25	4.515	19.35	1.505	15.05	4.3	0.1505
Total	1209.45	61.67	7.435	157.29	80.28	58.115	26.87	0.601
	Energy Kcal	Fat (g)	of which Saturates Fat (g)	Carbohydrate (g)	of which Sugars (g)	Fibre (g)	Protein (g)	Salt (g)
Per Serving	302.36	15.42	1.86	39.32	20.07	14.53	6.72	0.15