This simple vitamin D smoothie will help you reach your daily vitamin D requirement in a convenient and tasty way!
Vitamin D is an essential micronutrient that plays important roles in the immune system. The best way to obtain vitamin D is through sun exposure to the skin. However, with the dark winter days upon us (at least up here in the frigid tundra that is Canada), sunlight is getting hard to come by. Hence, dietary vitamin D is the next best option.
This post will walk you through ways to add vitamin D to a smoothie and show you how to make a vitamin D smoothie.
Be sure to give the recipe at the end a try to help increase your vitamin D intake and give your immune system and overall health a boost!
How Do You Add Vitamin D to a Smoothie?
Unfortunately, most of the foods naturally high in vitamin D would not taste good in smoothies.
These foods include:
- fatty fish
- sardines
- beef liver
- egg yolk
- some mushrooms
…just image that in a smoothie…yuck!
Luckily, many other, more smoothie-friendly foods are fortified with vitamin D, meaning they do not naturally contain vitamin D but have had it added in.
Common vitamin D-fortified foods include:
- milk, yogurt, and other dairy products
- orange juice
- cereal products
Do note, however, that the amount of vitamin D in these products can vary greatly depending on the product and brand.
Other than fortified foods, another way of adding vitamin D to your smoothie is with a supplement. Vitamin D supplements can come in drop form, which makes it very easy to add it to any smoothie.
If using a vitamin D supplement, make sure it is of high purity and quality. Also look for vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol), which is a form of the vitamin that is more easily absorbed by the body.
How to Make a Vitamin D Smoothie
Step 1: Gather ingredients
Orange juice and milk are two commonly fortified liquids that are great for smoothies.
To make a vitamin-D rich smoothie, use fortified orange juice and/or fortified milk to make up the liquid base.
You can also throw in a scoop of fortified yogurt if you have it.
To bulk up this smoothie and give it more fruity flavour, add your choice of frozen fruit. This can be banana, strawberry, mango, etc.
Simple, but that’s all you really need to make a vitamin D smoothie!
If you’re going the supplement route instead of the fortified route, it’s even easier. Simply add the suggested number of drops of your vitamin D supplement to any smoothie of your choice!
Step 2: Blend
Add all ingredients to your blender and blend on high until thoroughly smooth.
Serve and enjoy!
Give the simple vitamin D smoothie recipe below a try, and please leave a comment to let me know how you like it!
Vitamin D Smoothie
This vitamin D smoothie is made with vitamin D-fortified ingredients that taste great and offer numerous nutritional and health benefits.
Quick and simple to make, but just the boost your immune system needs.
Ingredients
- 1 cup fortified orange juice
- 1 cup fortified milk
- 1/2 banana
- 1/2 cup frozen strawberries, mango, or other fruit
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to blender.
- Blend until smooth (about 30-60 seconds on high).
- Serve and enjoy!
Notes
The amount of vitamin D provided by this smoothie depends on how much the juice and milk have been fortified. Always check the labels.