Blueberry Pineapple Smoothie - The Secret of the Perfect Fruit Smoothie

Today I wanted a fruit smoothie for breakfast. The secret to making a good fruit smoothie without adding a sweetener is to not use ice! Instead, keep some frozen fruit on hand. I buy bananas when they are slightly green. I love eating them before they are fully ripe. So I eat one or two until they just barely start to get brown spots. Once they start getting speckled, I peel them, break them in half and toss them in a large ziplock bag and freeze them for smoothies! Depending on your blender you may want to slice them before you freeze them. I also try to keep frozen blueberries and strawberries in stock. Frozen bananas make a great smoothie base. They add all the extra sweetness I need.


Berries are far less sweet, an all berry smoothie would need some type of sweetener for most people. If you don't want banana you can use some softened dates, raw organic honey or grade b maple syrup. Stevia is an option as well. Personally, I rarely use any of those in my smoothies unless I am making a nut butter smoothie (which is not to often).  Anyway, by using frozen fruit and no ice, you are not "watering down" the flavor and sweetness. You'll need to add a bit of liquid still, to facilitate blending.

Blueberry Pineapple Smoothie:
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup pineapple
1/4 cup almond milk (or other nut, coconut milk, or water)
3 tbsp chia (optional)

Toss all ingredients into a blender and run until smooth. You may need to add another splash or two of the almond milk to facilitate blending. You may or may not like adding seeds to your smoothie. They will give it a "seedy" texture, kind of like raspberry or strawberry seeds. You can add the seeds and the almond milk and blend them first if you'd like a smoother texture. I like to use chia or hemp seeds give it an extra nutritional boost.

If you start with a base of frozen banana you can use some other non-frozen fruits as well. For this smoothie, my bananas and blueberries were frozen, but my pineapple was fresh. Now, there is no rule that says your smoothie has to be frozen at all! Most commercial fruit smoothies use a lot of ice and to compensate for lack of flavor they use a lot of refined sugars like high fructose corn syrup which is so unhealthy. I have removed these refined sugars from my diet. Once you stop eating overly sweetened foods you can begin to appreciate natural sweetness once again.