Update Your Plate, Part 4: The Smoothie Edition

This post is a continuation of the Update Your Plate series, where I demonstrate how to use MyPlate to plan your meals. Read the story behind Update Your Plate here.

This week’s UYP comes on the heels of the last one, which featured an egg ‘n’ fruit breakfast. Today: smoothies.

How could you possibly lay this out on a plate? Well, let me show you:

Clockwise from upper left: Barbara’s squares, rolled oats, Brazil nut, half banana, frozen blueberries, nonfat Greek yogurt.

Let’s look at this with the handy-dandy MyPlate template over it.

You can see the smoothie ingredients roughly follow MyPlate (remember, this is an approximation, not an exact science). I’ve chosen whole grains instead of refined grains, and nonfat Greek yogurt instead of full fat yogurt. Both of these choices are essential parts of the MyPlate universe. However, as you’ve seen, I sometimes enjoy Noosa, a full fat yogurt.  There is room for both in a healthy diet. There’s certainly room for both in mine!

Those of you who are very familiar with MyPlate may notice that technically, I’ve made an error: yogurt is considered part of the “Dairy” group, not the “Protein” group. While I understand their reasoning (milk being the precursor of yogurt and all), Greek yogurt is too high in protein not to count as part of the “Protein” group. Especially as many people don’t otherwise eat much from the Protein group at breakfast (and no, two slices of bacon doesn’t count), yogurt is a great alternative.

Finally (finally), something seems to be missing from my breakfast!

Why, it’s the fluffy abundance of fiber and folate — spinach!

While the smoothie plate was fine the way it was, I’m always looking for ways to add non-starchy veggies to my meals. I blend spinach, kale, even carrots into all my smoothies. That way I get tons of nutrients without the leafy greens taste.

I’d be surprised if any of you remember this (if so, 10 points to you!), but in the four things you need to know for healthy living, Guideline #1 was to eat as many fruits and veggies as possible in as many colors as you can. As for non-starchy veggies in particular: I pile my plate with them.

I ate the Brazil nut, laid the Barbara’s squares off to the side for topping, and blended the rest with a little water.

Reader, I enjoyed it.

Have a great weekend! I’ll see you all Sunday 🙂

Q: What do you like putting into smoothies? If you’re not a smoothie kind of person, what’s your favorite breakfast?