Tips and recipes for delicious smoothies, from a holistic nutritionist

Make steps to eat more vegetables, but be careful of generic juice cleanses, says a certified holistic nutritionist in Vancouver.

"The juice cleanses and the cleanses we buy in the boxes are formulated for one body, and we are all different," said Alyssa Bauman, whose website offers wellness tips and recipes.

• Browse all CBC's B.C. recipes

"A better way to take the initiative to clean up your health would be to add in the certain foods that you know are good for you."

Bauman told Our Vancouver host Gloria Macarenko that she makes large batches of healthy smoothies in advance for her family-of-five to quickly grab.

"Smoothies for me are like an insurance policy, I know exactly what's in them, and I control what's in them."

She said she also chops up and stores her produce as soon as she buys it from the store, so that it is ready to use for dinner and prevents snacking on unhealthy foods.

In the video above Bauman tells Gloria Macarenko what she puts in her signature smoothies — and the recipes for those can be found below:

Chocolate superfood milkshake

Ingredients

• 1 frozen banana
• 3 tbsp. cacao powder
• 1 tsp. maca powder-*this superfood powder is powerful with an expresso-like qualities. It's a great energy boost, not recommended for kids!
• 3 dates, soaked
• 1 tbsp. hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 1/2 cups organic unsweetened almond milk
• 1 tsp. coconut oil
• dash of cinnamon
• 1/3 cup kale (you wont even taste it, trust me) either will the kids

Instructions

Blend and watch it be devoured!

Green go go juice

Ingredients

• 2 handfuls spinach
• 1 handful kale
• 1 lemon, peeled
• 1/4 cucumber
• 1-2 celery stalks
• 1 thumbsize piece of ginger, peeled — more if you like it zingier
• 5-10 fresh parsley sprigs
• 1/2 an apple—more if you want it sweeter or whatever fruit you have: frozen pineapple or mangoes work great too
• 5-6 cups coconut water or mix of water and coconut water.

Instructions

Fill blender with water/coconut water mix. Add ingredients. Blend until smooth.

Coconut blueberry bliss

Ingredients

• 2 cups frozen or fresh blueberries
• 1/2 cup dried, shredded coconut (unsweetened, and sulphite free please)
• 1 tsp. coconut oil, organic, unrefined
• 1 cup almond milk or hemp seed milk or mix of both
• 1.5 cups coconut water or plain water
• 2 pitted dates (soaked over night is better)*
• 2 tbsp. chia seed
• 1 tbsp. hemp seed
• 1 handful spinach or any other greens
• 1-2 dashes of cinnamon

Instructions

Blend all ingredients together in a high speed blender. Enjoy