Cucumber Peach Green Smoothie

I've tried green smoothies in the past, but I always seemed to make them too calorie laden. I mean, come on, a 600 calorie, non-meal replacement smoothie really isn't the best way to go. I recently had a few numbers come back higher than I'd like on some blood work so I got to researching what I could do easily and without much effort (just being honest) to get healthier. I don't eat McDonald's every day, I just don't want to give up my chips and Julio's salsa. :)

Anyway, one of the things I found was obviously eating more fruits and vegetables, and an easy way to eat all of that is in liquid form. (If you want to debate juicing vs blending, I'm not here to do that. I have a blender therefore I blend. Plus it's super easy to clean. Also, see laziness note above.) Thankfully I stumbled upon simplegreensmoothies.com which has great two-serving recipes that are yummy, easy to follow and simple to halve. I've signed up for the July 30 day challenge where they email you recipes for the week with a shopping list, and you make one green smoothie a day for 30 days. I'm impatient though, and didn't want to wait until July so I started my own daily smoothie regimen early last week. I'm twelve days in, day I'm loving it. I haven't gone too crazy experimenting with different greens or veggie/fruit combinations so I haven't had a smoothie yet that I had to just choke down.

All in all, I'm already feeling good at least about my increased fruit and veggie intake. I'm prone to hippie-leaning tendencies so I've even gone as far as adding a tablespoon of chia seeds to each smoothie. Did you know that one tablespoon has 11 grams of fiber?! No more rabbit food cereal for me in the mornings! I've also been making different/better choices during lunch and dinner which seems like progress. I'm planning on going back in 6-8 weeks to see if this one change has made much, if any, difference in my blood work numbers. For now though, I'm enjoying slurping my nutrients in the morning. One of my current favorites is a light, refreshing green smoothie made with cucumbers and peaches. It's delicious!

Cucumber Peach Green Smoothie

1 cup greens (spinach works great, so does kale)
1 cup water (if you like coconut water, use it here for a more tropical taste)
1/2 cup frozen peaches
1 small cucumber, sliced
1 banana
1 Tbsp chia seeds (optional)

Blend water and greens until smooth. Add other ingredients and blend. Enjoy!