- Former Surgeon General Jerome Adams uses a simple trick to get more vegetables into your diet.
- Adams shares the simple daily smoothie recipe she uses to cut down on ultra-processed foods and live longer.
- Citrus smoothies include spinach and carrots. He swears you can’t taste it.
Incorporating enough fruits and vegetables into your daily diet can be difficult, especially if you overthink it. However, it is important for your longevity and helps reduce your intake of unhealthy and harmful ultra-processed foods.
Former Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams has developed a simple and delicious strategy. It’s all about picking some simple vegetables you like and stashing them away from time to time, like in a smoothie.
Adams’ personal favorite vegetable is spinach.
“You can have it in a salad, you can sauté it, but I also like smoothies,” said Adams, who worked for former President Donald Trump and is now director of health equity at Purdue University. told Insider. “In fact, he can literally get an entire day’s worth of fruits and vegetables in one smoothie.”
“I’m not a huge fruit and vegetable person,” Adams says. However, she added, “The best way for individuals to protect themselves is to incorporate and substitute vegetables and fruits for processed grains and artificial foods whenever possible. Smoothies are how I achieve this.” Ta.
He uses this strategy to reduce his intake of ultra-processed foods such as sugary cereals, soft drinks, ready-made foods such as canned soups and bag noodles, and processed meats. UPF is thought to be associated with cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, and depression. A recent study in BMJ linked them to earlier death from any cause.
Thanks to his simple smoothie recipes, he’s able to sneak in more vegetables every day. He said it helps control weight and limit the risk of diseases that can shorten life, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.
“It doesn’t even taste like spinach,” Adams added. “That’s my hack.”
Easy smoothie recipe made with 4 ingredients
Adams keeps her refrigerator and freezer stocked with four basic ingredients. Spinach, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, frozen fruit, and another surprise vegetable: carrots.
He favors strawberries, bananas, and citrus fruits like pineapple and mango to mask the carrot flavor. He swears he doesn’t taste either vegetable, but the carrots actually add a bit of sweetness.
Before leaving the house or as soon as she gets home from work, Adams throws the ingredients into a blender for a quick and filling snack.
“You’d be surprised how much pure spinach you can put into a smoothie,” he says.
Yogurt is an optional ingredient, but avoid juice
Some people may want to add yogurt for protein. Adams is lactose intolerant, so he skips that ingredient.
One of the smoothie ingredients he recommends is juice, which contains a lot of sugar.
“I’ve seen people make smoothies that are essentially Slurpees,” he says.
To him, that defeats the purpose of smoothies: sneaking in healthy food by hiding it behind sweet but nutritious fruit.
