Best Liquid Smoothie Ingredients - Benefits of Water in Smoothies

When it comes to what smoothie ingredients to use, you have several options for a liquid base.

A liquid base is important because it pulls together the entire fruit shake. Think of it like the cement that binds together the bricks when you’re building a wall.

Here is a quick summary of your options:

• Water
• Dairy Milk
• Plant Milk (Almond Milk, Coconut Milk, and Others)
• Juice (Fresh Squeezed or Store Bought)
• Coconut Water

First things first. I’ll start with the most simple...

Why Water? And Which is the Best Water to Drink?

Water is first, because it’s so easy and simple.

There are a few different types to choose from:

• Filtered water - This can be the easiest option if you have a water filter such as reverse osmosis built into your fridge, kitchen sink or whole house filtration system.
  
• Tap water - The quality and toxicity of tap water varies widely from region to region.  Before going with tap water, I highly recommend doing a bit of investigation into your tap water source.  At a bare minimum, if you must go with tap water, I recommend using a filtration jug such as Brita, ZeroWater or Pur.
• Bottled water - Whenever I live in places without suitable tap water or a built-in filter, I usually buy several gallon jugs of bottled water each week and use that at home for all drinking water, coffee, tea, homemade broth, etc. Save money by refilling the same gallon bottles instead of buying new.  
• Spring water - Better yet, if you can access a quality local source of spring water and refill glass jugs instead of using plastic, you will get more benefits and less potential for toxic chemicals to leech into your water source. Glass bottles are best for bottled water as well when possible.
• Water coolers - a variation on bottled or filtered water, many workplaces, gyms and even some hotels/hostels when travelling internationally have water coolers with quality filtered water available to refill water bottles. Great for the environment!  Opt for a glass or stainless steel water bottle if possible.

I plan to do a more in-depth article on water quality and sourcing considerations soon.

In the meantime, here is an excellent video in which Ken D Berry MD dives deeper into these options:

Here is the Amazon link for one of the reverse osmosis filters he recommends.

Unless you rely solely on bottled water or spring water, the nice thing about water is it’s always available. I never run out because it’s impossible to do so, I just go to the filter and get more.

The best part about water is that depending on your source, it’s likely either free or very inexpensive.

So if you currently drink bottled, that’s one more incentive to switch. It’s not only good for the environment, but great for your wallet too.

I drink water constantly throughout the day, especially during the workday. It keeps me feeling hydrated, healthy and happy.

Smoothie Ingredients: Why Water in Smoothies?

So why is water good in smoothies?

I remember very early in my green smoothie journey, I read some green smoothie recipes online that used water, and I thought it was weird.

I had always used milk in my fruit shakes, so this seemed almost equivalent to using water in my cereal. Pretty gross, or so I thought.

Turns out, water is actually pretty good in a certain type of fruit shakes. Why? There are several benefits:

• Healthy – We all know we need to drink plenty of water, and this is a simple way to get more
• Sugar free – Most juices and even some milk varieties are loaded with sugar, whether it’s natural or added sweeteners. Water doesn’t have any of that, in fact, it’s...
• Zero calories – This makes it a good choice if you’re trying to lose weight or eat a low calorie diet. You can make a super low calorie smoothie with water as the base.
• No flavor – Why is this a benefit? The trick is combining it with other smoothie ingredients that have lots of yummy flavor, like bananas, berries, or tropical fruits, for example. Because water doesn’t conflict with the other flavors or create weird combinations, it actually brings out the other flavors by letting them shine.

I especially like using water in my green smoothies.

While it’s possible to make green smoothies with any liquid ingredients, including milk, I especially like them with H20.

Some may claim that this is how you make a “true” green smoothie, mostly because that’s what Victoria Boutenko promotes in her fantastic book, Green Smoothie Revolution.

I believe the claims are true that water is a more natural liquid to use for these frozen drinks. It really brings out the incredible powers of the raw living foods in the fruit shake - the fruits and green leafy vegetables that are so good for you.

But green smoothies are only one type of smoothies.

Despite the incredible benefits of water, I also believe it’s important to have fun with your fruit shakes and experiment with lots of different taste combinations.

That’s why you should also consider using milk or juice sometimes.

Which brings me to my next point. Click the link below to go to the next page in the liquid smoothie ingredients series:

Smoothie Liquid Ingredients Page 2 - Dairy Milk

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