Successful people start their day off right, setting them up to be positive and motivated. It only seems fitting that a successful person would start their day with all the nutrients they need to function at their absolute best.

Building a smoothie has to be one of the best and most efficient ways to do this. Actually, they are really great for any meal, but most commonly and most usefully they are eaten in the morning. Getting all these nutrients in while feeling full, satisfied and refreshed at the same time gets you ahead of the game.

To start you want a veggie base. Some really good choices could be spinach, carrots or even squash. This can give you some important vitamins like vitamin A, Beta-carotene and vitamin K.

Often, people are put off by the thought of a vegetable being in their smoothie. They’re worried they will taste it, but when you combine the vegetables with other naturally sweet fruits, it will mask the taste of the vegetables. And no, you don’t need added sugars to sweeten it up. That would defeat the whole purpose of the smoothie.

Next you are going to want some sweet fruit to give it a great fresh, non-vegetable taste … unless you like that. Great nutrients from the fruit can be antioxidants helpful in fighting off cancer and vitamin C that plays a huge role in the body. As a word of advice, many people prefer their fruit frozen. It gives your smoothie a better texture, and makes it cold and refreshing.

Next, liquid is an absolutely essential part of the smoothie. Without it you’ll have quite a hard time getting it to blend. Choices like milk, almond milk and water are all tasty options.

Juice is also an alternative, but if you’re not watchful of the sugars in the juice you buy you could be adding a lot of extra calories and worthless sugar to your smoothie.

Lastly, you need some protein and flavors added in there. Some additives such as peanut butter or peanut butter powder, cocoa powder, protein powder, yogurt, cinnamon, oatmeal, vanilla. The list could go on, but these are different flavors you can experiment with to give your smoothies a different tastes and textures.

All in all, by making sure you have a vegetable, fruit, nutritious liquid and protein source you are destined to have a smoothie most amateurs can only dream of. It’ll give you the nutrients to shoot you to the top of the success ladder. So get out there and get blending.

Example for your first success smoothie:

Blueberry PB&J

• 1 medium-large banana
• 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
• 1 cup plain unsweetened almond milk
• 2/3 cup unsweetened frozen blueberries
• 2-3 tbsp. PB2 (powdered peanut butter)
• 1/2 cup ice (optional)
• 1 handful spinach leaves