Book Review: Smarter Fitter Smoothies by Monica Shaw

If we were to do a poll to ask how many of our readers like smoothies and drink them with some regularity, my guess is we’d get a pretty high positive response.  You don’t need to be a master chef to know how to throw some fruit and a liquid into a blender.  Even if you don’t want to make one yourself, you can probably buy a smoothie if you go to the gym or drive by a Smoothie King.

So, we’ve established that smoothies are easy.  But most of us know that they are not necessarily the best choice when it comes to a healthy diet.  Overly-processed protein powders, too much fruit or fruit juice, and other additions may quickly turn your healthy drink into a diet buster.  That’s where Monica Shaw’s Smarter Fitter Smoothies comes in.

Monica Shaw is a freelance writer and web consultant who clearly makes a mean smoothie.

I’m a pretty experienced smoothie-maker and drinker, and I found a lot of good with the book which, by the way, is available in eBook or print forms.  The good stuff:

1. A nice variety of recipes.  Not your standard banana/almond milk/spinach drinks.
2. Speaking of bananas, you won’t find a lot of them in these recipes.  Bananas seem to be the best fruit for thickening a smoothie and making it seem like a real milkshake.  But if you are allergic to bananas or you simply don’t like them, you may have a tough time finding recipes that DON’T include bananas. Out of the 33 recipes in this book, I counted only seven which include bananas.
3. Nutrition information for each recipe.  Maybe this isn’t important to everyone, but it is important to a lot of people.
4. Lots of veggies!  Carrots, beets (a vegetable I’m really trying to like), cucumbers, and some greens.
5. Most of the ingredients are easy to find and may already be in your house.

On the other hand, if you have a problem with nuts and seeds this isn’t the book for you.  Most of the recipes contain some kind of nut or seed.  In addition, the measurements can be confusing.  Monica lives in the U.K.  There are metric measurements and some standard measurements, but also some “splash of this” and “few of that” thrown in.  Not a deal breaker, but if you want exact measurements, you could be confused on occasion.

The book would make a great gift for someone who is not familiar with the smoothie-making process (the introduction provides a great summary of how to make a smoothie). It’s also great for someone who simply wants some new ideas and doesn’t want to take the time to experiment.  In fact, the biggest attraction for me is the variety of recipes.  The Churro (a simple smoothie with just a few ingredients), Gazpacho, Pumpkin Apple Ginger, and Carrot Cake (with raisins and walnuts!) are just a few of the smoothies that I plan to include in my smoothie rotation.  If you think you might want to do the same, visit Monica’s site and buy the book.  You won’t be disappointed.