4 Tips to make Homemade Smoothies & Juices

By Rachel Grunwell

Food fuels how you think, feel and perform. I’m always inspiring wellness coaching clients to fuel their body like it’s a Ferrari.

I create healthy recipes for brands, businesses and magazine pages. I’ve created recipes for New World, Lewis Road Creamery, 1838 Honey, and more. My book Balance boasts 30 nourishing recipes I had published in Good magazine too – some of which are pictured below. You can buy Balance via the link HERE

I always start my day with a juice or smoothie that’s full of real, wholefood ingredients. Here are some tips to making your own juices or smoothies:

  1. Simple is best. Don’t load up your drink with too many ingredients otherwise it can taste like swamp water.
  2. Think of the hero ingredient and build your smoothie or juice around that. ie what goes with pineapple? Obviously not milk as it would curdle. yuck. However, soda water, or coconut water can be a great base to a refreshing pineapple drink.
  3. If a recipe requires milk then choose the one you like to add. My smoothies are made with a variety of milks including real full-fat cows milk to oak milk or even cashew milk or almond milks. Use a variety of milk for different nutrients and flavours.
  4. Put a bit of avocado in your green smoothie. It tastes delicious! It’s great for your skin and thickens up your smoothie too. Yum! If you use avo in smoothies then you can store the avo in the freezer in chunks and use when you want.

Be Body Fit ‘Recipe’

By Rachel Grunwell (wellness coach)

The hardest part of starting a wellness journey is choosing to start. It’s the part where you decide to jump and commit to doing something.

This takes courage.

It also starts with self-love. You have to care about yourself, know that you matter and know that you deserve to take time out to nourish your body, mind and soul.

I do wellness coaching for people who want to work on either how they move, eat, sleep or manage stress. Sometimes people come to me with one goal, but end up realising that they’d like to work on some other things along the way. I can help anyone work on their nutrition, weight management, achieve a run goal or start a weight-lifting programme, to working on ways to manage stress or get more zzzzzzz at night.

Whatever part of your wellness you wish to work on… starting is everything. Choose any aspect and work on one small step at a time. One step builds over time and elevates your health.

Here are some ideas to start!

  1. Be body fit. ie move your body in a way that resonates with you that you enjoy and love. It could be walking with a friend at lunchtime, going for bike rides with your kids, attending a gym, running, swimming, dancing… whatever you like. Just move. It strengthens your bones, muscles and is healthy for your mind too. It helps you feel happy and alive and is a foundation for your mental health. If you have trouble sleeping… then this can be helpful for this too.
  2. Restrict your feeding window (time restricted eating, or also known as intermittent fasting) is a weight management strategy that’s worth giving a go. It could be as simple as finishing eating by 7pm at night and then not eating again until 7am the next day. You may not realise it, but you could be eating for 16-18 hours of the day and this trap of grazing non-stop is an easy trap to fall into. This strategy can stop us from over fuelling on too many calories.
  3. Not eating by the clock is another idea. We are not robots and programmed to be hungry at the exact time every day. Eat if you are hungry. If you aren’t then maybe wait a bit longer. For example, if I have had a big breakfast out with friends then I might not be hungry again until 1pm-ish. So I check in on how I feel and I’m guided by a more mindful-eating approach.
  4. Cut fruit juice. Drink water instead and the good news is this is free. Water is also free of sugar. There can be so many calories hidden in those soft drinks which give us a high, then a low.
  5. Move your body 150 minutes weekly. Get your heart rate up. Yes, I’m finishing with another movement idea because I’m so passionate about getting people moving. It helps us to look good, but importantly feel good. Ideally do this in nature if you can where you can soak up the sights and escape your never-ending to-do list!
  6. Lastly here’s a recipe for that smoothie pictured.
Add into a blender: 1 cup of milk of your choice, 1 banana (skin removed, of course), 1 scoop of protein powder (I use Clean Lean Protein by NuZest which is vegan and contains no nasties). Use the code INSPIRED to get 20% discount via nuzest.co.nz. 1 cup of strawberries (I use frozen Pams berries from my supermarket!)

Blitz this in your blender and then pour into a glass to enjoy! #ad #brandpartner #nuzest

Nut-Butter Smoothie

By Rachel Grunwell

AD/ Here’s a great post-run smoothie recipe. It’s full of real wholefoods goodness that will refuel you well after your run training prep for the @rotoruamarathon event on September 17. If you haven’t got your entry yet… there’s still time. Join me.

Post-run Nut Butter Smoothie

Ingredients:

1 ripe banana (remove skin). Make sure you use a very ripe banana and this will give the sweet taste. No need to add sugary syrup.

1 cup of milk of your choice

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon turmeric

1 tablespoon of nut butter of your choice (I use either peanut butter, cashew butter, or almond butter)

1 teaspoon tahini (if you don’t have this at home then you can skip this ingredient out, no problem)

Optional ingredient: 1 scoop of your fave protein powder.

Method

Place everything in a blender and combine. Pour into a glass and savour! #runtrain #runcoach #rotoruamarathon #brandpartner

Rach’s Remedy

AD/ If the thought of drinking apple cider vinegar neat makes your lips pucker, then try this elixir which helps to stimulate digestion, packs a nutritional punch, and is delicious! Warning: You’ll feel seriously virtuous after knocking this baby back…

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon CoralTree Organics Apple Cider Vinegar 1 large orange (skin removed)
1 tablespoon fresh ginger (skin removed and grated) 1/2 cup fresh turmeric

(or use 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder instead) 3 grinds of black pepper
1 cup coconut water (or use plain water instead) 1 teaspoon manuka honey

Method:

Place all ingredients into a blender and blitz into a juice. Pour into a glass and savour!

To make a grown-up version, add a shot of gin and rename it a “Coral Reefy”! 

Rachel Grunwell is a wellness expert and author of the book Balance: Food, Health and Happiness, as well as a healthy recipe creator for Good magazine. She has been taking apple cider vinegar daily for years as one of her wellbeing rituals and as part of her philosophy to live life more in balance.

Sunshine Smoothie Bowl

(AD) Sunshine Smoothie Bowl 

We can’t get to the islands right now. But we can bring a taste of that decadent island holiday food and sunshine like feels to our table!

I’ll be demonstrating how to make this smoothie bowl at the Go Green Expo in Auckland (March 27 & 28 on the Vitamix stand between 11am-2pm). Come along and learn some smoothie bowl tips and tricks and how to use a Vitamix to make smoothies, soups, bliss balls, juices, ice-cream and more!

I’ve had a Vitamix for years and back it. It’s sturdy, safe, powerful and has a seven year warranty. It never breaks!

By the way, this smoothie bowl is best served on a hot Summery day. Slurp it up loud. It will cool you down and that sweetness in the bowl will make you smile.

This bowl is nutrient-dense, delicious and you can make it up pretty quick.

One of the superfood ingredients is turmeric, which can aid digestion and is seen as an anti-inflammatory food.

Sunshine Smoothie Bowl 

½ cup almond milk

2 cups mango flesh (you can use fresh or I just buy it in frozen chunks in 1 kilo bags from the supermarket)

1 cup banana (skin removed)

½ teaspoon each of vanilla cinnamon and turmeric

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon’ Manuka honey

Method:

Place all the ingredients into the Vitamix blender in the order listed above. Blend the ingredients quickly until smooth. Don’t blend for too long (I do it for around 10 seconds) otherwise it will make the smoothie less thick and more liquid-like. Pour the mixture into a bowl and eat just as it is. Or you can top it with whatever you have at home. I had mint leaves, shaved dark chocolate, passionfruit and coconut chips. Eat and savour!

https://www.instagram.com/vitamix_aunz/https://www.instagram.com/gogreenexpo/https://www.instagram.com/harveynormannz/
  • Rachel is a wellness expert, author of the book Balance: Food, Health + Happiness and a healthy recipe creator for magazines and brands. She is a proud ambassador for Vitamix! Follow her on Instagram or Facebook 

This post was proudly sponsored by Vitamix

Beetroot Energiser Juice by Rachel Grunwell

Beetroot Energiser Juice

You’re guaranteed to feel virtuous after drinking this vibrant, refreshing juice

There are so many benefits to beetroot juice. Beets have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, contain brain function-boosting vitamin B3 – and I also love how they taste in this drink.

Read More
Choc Bomb Indulgence by Rachel Grunwell

Choc Bomb Indulgence

This nutrient-dense dessert jar will make you smile

This chocolate treat isn’t only divinely decadent, but boasts a host of superfood ingredients such as honey from The True Honey Co., who make a high-quality manuka honey that has wonderful anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. It’s also New Zealand-made and ethically harvested. Chia seeds are a hero ingredient, as well as being on-trend right now. These little powerhouses are a great source of protein, fibre and omega 3, just to name some benefits. However, the ultimate hero will be you, if you whip this recipe up for a loved one.

Read More
Recipe for Blackberry Whip by Rachel Grunwell

Blackberry Whip

Refreshing and delicious, treat yourself to our sin-free, all-natural iced dessert.

With summer is in sight, there’s nothing quite like a refreshing bowl of Blackberry Whip. This super quick and easy recipe, packed full of natural ingredients, is perfect for a mid-afternoon snack.

Read More

Pink berry delight

A deliciously filling berry drink to celebrate summer.

I sometimes make double the amount of this pretty pink drink and put the extra into a big glass jar in the fridge for another day. Often the kids get to it before I can, of course. The strawberry moustache can be a giveaway with my youngest son, Finn. The coconut milk will keep you full for a while by the way – so that’s why it’s satisfying. Did I mention it is mouth-wateringly delicious too? I know this because my kids – who I dub ‘the chief taste-testers’ – love it too. I love berries and it’s so much fun to find a farm where you can pick your own. Check out pickyourown.org to find a farm to visit when the fruit is in season. Take the family on the weekend and pick strawberries to eat and get lots for the freezer too. That way, you can make this recipe with the freshest produce while supporting a local business.

Read More

Strawberry Nice Cream soon on offer at Rotorua’s iconic Polynesian Spa

strawb smoothie

Article by Rachel Grunwell: Award-winning writer. Magazine wellness columnist for Good magazine, & Indulge magazine (the latter goes on the Herald on-line weekly). Yoga + meditation teacher & PT. Co-leader of the Mindful Moments retreats at Rotorua’s Polynesian Spa.

TripAdvisor recently named Rotorua as one of their top 10 best places in the world for travel experiences.

Rotorua got 4th place. Meanwhile, 1st place went to San Carlos, Costa Rica, 2nd place went to Kauai, Hawaii, in the USA, while, the 3rd place-getter was Tromso in Norway….

Read More