Rainbow Smoothie: Eat A Rainbow Every Day!

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This post is sponsored by Ninja.  All opinions are my own.

We often hear that we should eat a rainbow of fruits & vegetables to make sure we get all of the nutrients that our bodies need to thrive.  We are also told that we should eat at least 4-5 cups of fruits and vegetables each day (USDA recommendation for a 2000 calorie diet).  Eating that much raw or cooked fruits and vegetables each day can be challenging.  After watching Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead I thought to myself, instead of juicing what if I had smoothies to help boost my fruit and veggie intake, and giving my body all of the health benefits from those most natural foods.

So for the last 3 weeks that is exactly what I have done.  Every morning, I make myself a Rainbow Smoothie made only of fresh or frozen fruits and vegetable.  That one drink starts out as 3 cups of produce – more than 75% of the amount of produce I should be eating each day!  

I have found that by drinking a Rainbow Smoothie each morning for breakfast, I feel fuller; I have more energy; my moods are better (that’s probably because before I would skip breakfast); and I have even begun loosing weight!  Starting each day off with something that is super healthy also helps me to focus on what I’m eating the rest of the day, and I’m less likely to over indulge that way.

My children are also enjoying these smoothies with me.  My youngest hears my Nutri Ninja blender start up and he quickly runs across the house and grab a cup from the cabinet.  I like that these are all natural and giving them the good stuff their growing bodies need.  They like it because they taste sweet and are a bit of a treat.

Rainbow Smoothie: The Method

In the 24 oz cup of your Nutri Ninja Blender , layer your fruits starting with anything frozen so it is farthest from the blades.  By putting your frozen fruits and harder items in first, when you screw on the blades and invert the blender these will be on the top.  That gives plenty of time for the other ingredients to get juicy and give your firmer ingredients some room to groove in the carafe.

I recommend using a rounded half-cup of each ingredient, but really this smoothie is all yours so change it up however you please.  The end result – eat a rainbow of fresh fruits and vegetables.  Think back to high school science class.  A rainbow is ROY G BIV – red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet.

Red:  Strawberries, Cherries, Watermelon, Red Apple, Blood Orange, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Red Raspberries
Orange:  Cantaloupe, Oranges, Peaches, Mango, Papaya, Pumpkin, Apricots, Nectarines
Yellow: Pineapple, Banana, Star Fruit
Green: Kale, Spinach, Kiwi, Honeydew, Green Apple, Grapes, Avocado
Blue/Purple: Blueberries, Black Raspberries, Blackberries, Black Plums, Figs, Pomegranate

My favorite combination is strawberries, red raspberries, cantaloupe, banana, pineapple, green apple, and blue berries.  Put them all together in the carafe, screw on the blades, place them on the base, and give it a whirl!  In about a minute, you have a perfectly blended, healthy, delicious smoothie that contains 75% of the fruits and vegetables you should be eating each day!

The Blender

I have had several blenders since moving out on my own.  The only one I have been incredibly happy with, and would highly recommend to others is the Nutri Ninja Blender System with Auto-IQ technology.  I have only had it for a few weeks, but I have been giving it a workout with my daily smoothies.  And I’ll be honest, I haven’t used all of the bells and whistles on it yet, however I would still highly recommend it!  

The Nutri Ninja Blender System comes with 3 travel carafes that you can build your smoothies in and drink from with the travel lid, saving yourself from cleaning an extra lid.  These have been my go to smoothie vessels!  I particularly like the 24 oz carafe since it will hold 3 cups of fresh fruit, and is still the right size for me to fit a straw in there without losing it (meaning its not too tall).  All of the pieces wash up quickly by hand or in the top rack of the dishwasher.

I also love how user friendly the Nutri Ninja Blender System is.  My daughter is just starting to get comfortable in the kitchen, so she will build her own smoothie, screw on the blade base, and pop in on the motor, and with the push of a button she is making her own breakfast while I tend to other things.