Who doesn’t love a smoothie?  It’s one of the best foods for people who need texture modification. They’re thick and they’re cold. Thick makes them safer to swallow and cold things make the swallow faster and more vigorous.

Smoothies are extremely versatile. There are dozens of recipe books , websites, and even smoothie juice bar/restaurants devoted to smoothies. Check out this website for example: http://allrecipes.com/recipes/drinks/smoothies/ or this one www.ehow.com/how_2217514_make–smoothies.html

There are an infinite number of combinations of vegetables and fruits, so you can be creative.  But whatever ingredients you’re using, you need to be sure that you thoroughly processed them (in a blender or food process)er, and that there are no remaining skins or seeds or other pieces left to float down the airway when swallowed. If in doubt, you can reprocess and then put the smoothie through a strainer.  As our goal is to have thick smoothies, follow the rule that the greater the number of frozen products you use, the thicker the smoothie will be. If your fruit or vegetable has a lot of fiber it will be thicker than those with less fiber. Water content matters, also, watermelon being one of the more “watery” fruits and hence will produce a more liquid smoothie. Nutrition content can be boosted by adding protein powder, tofu, milk or soy, or other nutritional supplements.

Here’s a basic formula for 2 tall servings (at least) of a fruit smoothie:

½ cup frozen fruit or vegetables

½ cup of fresh fruit or vegetable

1 scoop of protein powder

½ cup yogurt

¼ cup juice (optional)

Blend all together  for 4 to 5 minutes. Check for thickness. If not thick enough, process more.

My combination today was the following

½ mixed frozen mixed berries (from Costco)

½ fresh mango slices

1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt

1 scoop Vanilla Whey protein

Blended together, they resulted in a very thick delicious smoothie.

The formula is pretty much the same for vegetable smoothies, although I decided to try and use what I had in my frig which included kale and spinach. It ended up being quite tasty but exactly what we do NOT want in a smoothie. It was full of little particles even though I blended it repeatedly. I could feel little pieces clinging to my teeth. You can get into trouble with small particles falling into the airway under 3 different conditions: on 1) while you’re processing the food (bolus) through your mouth and you lose control of parts of it, usually because of tongue weakness;  2) if there is food left behind in your mouth (as in the case of this smoothie just described) or in the crevices within your throat or 3), rather rarely, as the swallow itself takes place because the airway stays open as you swallow. We want to avoid all three situations! So…I tried another mixture with success:

Blended Green Lemonade
serves 1-2

Ingredients:

3/4 cup water
1-2 kale leaves, stems removed
1/2 romaine heart
1/2 cucumber, chopped
1/4 ripe avocado
1/2 apple, cored
1 frozen banana
juice of 1 lemon
handful of ice

Directions:

Combine all of the ingredients in a high-speed blender, and blend until completely smooth. (You may need to use a tamper to help the ingredients reach the blades.)