Blueberry Sweet Potato Smoothie

If you’ve been following Running on Real Food for a while, you know I’m a big fan of adding veggies to smoothies. This Creamy Blueberry Sweet Potato Smoothie is my newest veggie smoothie obsession. It’s insanely thick, seriously nutritious, has wondering healing anti-inflammatory properties and besides all that, it tastes incredible. I’m hooked on this one and I think you will be too!

Sweet Potato Smoothie

To prepare sweet potato for smoothies, I simply bake them whole then freeze the cooked sweet potato in silicone ice cube trays (love these things!). You can also use fresh sweet potato but frozen will give your smoothies more amazing creamy texture than fresh cooked sweet potato.

If you don’t want to use the ice cube tray method, just cut the cooked sweet potato into chunks, freeze on a tray and then store in the freezer in a container or freezer bag. I find if I just add the cooked sweet potato to a container without freezing on a tray first, I end up with one huge chunk of frozen sweet potato so I’d recommend freezing the chunks on a baking tray before storing.

Optional Superfood Add-Ins

I added three of my favourite superfoods to this beautiful blueberry smoothie: chaga mushroom, raw cacao powder and spirulina. These ingredients are optional but if you’re intersted in trying them, let’s take a look at what makes these 3 superfoods so nutritious.

The Benefits of Spirulina

Spirulina is a microscopic blue-green algae that flourishes in fresh water and seawater and gram for gram is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet. Spirulina has a strong flavour. Well, strong is one word to describe it anyways. It’s fairly unpleasant. If you’ve ever tried to drink a shot of the stuff, be prepared for a nice cup of pond scum.

No worries though because it easily blends into smoothies and if you just use 1/2 a teaspoon, you can’t really taste it. I added 1 teaspoon to my smoothie because I don’t mind the taste of it when mixed with other ingredients but if it’s your first time using it you’d probably find that a little overpowering, so stick with 1/2 teaspoon and go from there.

Regardless of it’s lovely flavour, spirulina is worth adding to your diet for the range of powerful health benefits it offers:

1. Protein: Spirulina contains an unusually high amount of protein. The protein in spirulina is considered a complete meaning it contains all essential amino acids and the protein is also highly usable meaning the body can actually absorb it.
2. EFA’s: Spirulina is rich in oils including a variety of omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids, in particular GLA or gamma linoleic acid which has anti-inflammatory properties
3. Iron: Spirulina is one of the best plant sources of iron making it a great food for vegans and vegetarians. The iron it contains is highly absorbable and gentle on the digestive system
4. Calcium: Spirulina is very high in calcium and in fact, contains 26 times the calcium tha tmilk does
5. Vitamin B1 (Thiamine): Spirulina is high in B vitamins, in particular B! which is necessary for hte digestiong of fats and protein and often taken forimproved energy and eye and brain health
6. Antioxidants: Spirulina is high in antioxidants, powerful compounds that protect our cells from damage, in particular, spirulina contains phycocyanin which is an anti-inflammatory.
7. Chorophyll: Spirulina is very high in chlorophyll which helps to detoxify the body, remove heavy metals from the blood and boost the immune system.

You can use spirulina in powder form which I prefer for adding to smoothies and other recipes but if you can’t get on board with the taste, you can also take it in capsule form.

The Benefits of Cacao

I’ve talked a lot about cacao on the blog before and used this powerful superfood in it’s different forms in many of my recipes. You can enjoy the benefits of cacao by eating cacao nibs, cacao powder, cacao beans or cacao butter. I love them all but most often, I use cacao powder and cacao nibs.

Here are my favourite benefits of this chocolate superfood:

1. Antioxidants: Cacao contains over 40 times the free-radical fighting antioxidants of blueberries.
2. Iron: Cacao is very high in iron making it a good food for vegans and vegetarians. To take advantage of all that iron, it’s best consumed along with vitamin C.
3. Magnesium: Cacao is one of the highest plant-sources of magnesium of which many people are deficient in today. Magnesium is important for a healthy heart and brain.
4. Calcium: Cacao contains more calcium than milk.
5. Neurotransmitters: Cacao is a good source of serotonin, dopamine, anandamide and phenylethylamine all of which are associated with feelings of wellbeing an happiness.

I recommend this brand and this brand if you want to try adding cacao powder to your diet. I also love cacao nibs and eat them on my oats, smoothies, in chia pudding and even on their own more or less everyday. So good!

Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie

If you read my post on Anti-Inflammatory Living to Heal Inflammation Naturally you’ll know the benefits of reducing inflammation include improved brain health and Alzheimers prevention, a lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, decreased cholesterol levels, improved mood and a lowered risk of cancer. This smoothie is a good option to fit into an anti-inflammatory, gut-health promoting lifestyle.

Here’s what this smoothie has going on for healing and preventing inflammation:

• Blueberries are one of the top inflammation-fighting foods thanks to their high antioxidant content which helps protein cells from inflammation and oxidative stress.
• The anthocyanins in blueberries help keep your blood vessels strong, help stop the proliferation of cancer and enhance the antioxidant effects of vitamin C. Blueberries also contain fibre, manganese and vitamins C, E and K.
• As for the sweet potato, it’s a good source of complex carbohydrates, fibre, beta-carotene, manganese and vitamin C, all of which contrinutes to the anti-inflammatory properties of this healthy potato
• To boost the healing properties of this smoothie even further, you could add a tablespoon of hemp seeds for omega-3, vitamin E, iron, zinc and magnesium.

More Reading: 

• How to Build a Healthy Gut
• Anti-Inflammatory Breakfast Recipes
• Vegan Nutrition Guide

Blueberry Sweet Potato Smoothie

So, we talked about those 3 powerful superfood upgrades but even if you don’t add those, the blueberries and sweet potato are superfoods in their own right and by enjoying them in this smoothie you’ll be upping your vitamin, mineral and antioxidant game big time. You’ll also be enjoying some energizing complex carbohydrates and fibre.

Whatever though, ya, ya, this smoothie is super nutritious but aside from that, it’s also super delicious! It’s thick and chocolately and the sweet potato gives it the smoothest texture ever. I hope you guys aren’t too freaked out by this interesting smoothie combo and you give this beautiful, nourishing smoothie a try!

For more low-sugar smoothies made with veggies, check out my blueberry coconut smoothie or green monster smoothie.

Print