I don’t know about you, but I’m always looking for a light and preferably ice-cold frozen treat during the hot summer months. A yummy option is a frozen fruit smoothie made with plenty of strawberries, bananas, some low-fat vanilla yogurt and a splash of skim milk. It tastes good and is actually good for me. Let’s take a look at exactly why this cool drink is so good for us.
Let’s start with the frozen fruit. You know how healthy eating plenty of fruit is. There are plenty of vitamins and other nutrients in it. The fact that you are using frozen fruit is also good. This fruit is picked at its peak, when it is perfectly ripened and has the most nutrients. Some experts say that consuming frozen fruits and vegetables is even better than fresh, since the fresh produce we pick up at the grocery store is already several days old. It has to be picked off the vine or tree, washed and then taken to the grocery store by truck or train. During that time it loses many of the crucial vitamins and nutrients. And this is exactly why smoothies made with frozen fruit are even healthier for you.
The Dairy Products – The next two ingredients in our smoothie are also quite good for you. What we’ll add next is skim milk and low-fat yogurt. Both of them have quite a bit of calcium that our bones need. This is especially important for women to know. As we age, calcium leeches out of our bones and we need to make a conscious effort to replace it to prevent osteoporosis later on in life. Kids can benefit from smoothies as well. They benefit from the calcium boost just as much since their growing bodies require plenty of it.
Both yogurt and milk also contain protein which plays an important factor in muscle building and maintenance. It is truly important to get lots of of protein when you are dieting or most of your weight loss will be in muscle instead of body fat.
Staying Hydrated – Since smoothies have quite a bit of liquid in them from the milk and all the juice in the fruits, they are a great way to hydrate. During the heat of the summer months, we tend to lose more water than usual and without it your body just can’t function. Smoothies are the perfect way to help us stay hydrated – of course you should still make sure you drink plenty of plain water as well.
Because these smoothies are frozen, they also help us cool down when we drink them. It’s just one of the many benefits of drinking a frozen fruit smoothie. By far my favorite though is the fact that they taste absolutely delicious and help fill me up with just a few calories. All of this makes smoothies my favorite summer treats.
Blend the perfect frozen smoothie with this strawberry smoothie recipe. It’s fun and easy and you can find more instructions for making frozen fruit smoothie here.


