at the start of the year, alpro challenged a bunch of bloggers to join in their #alproAM morning smoothie campaign. the aim was to encourage people to brighten their winter mornings with a healthy and delicious plant-power smoothie, using alpro's almond milk, and by sharing our creations on our many social media outlets.as well as a carton of both the sweetened and unsweetened milk, the fab people over at alpro also included a smoothie guide, to get my juices flowing (if you'll excuse the pun). there was a different smoothie to try for each day of the seven day challenge - some were hits, some were definitely misses.
i started off with easy favourites; banana and strawberries and a dash of honey, but over the next few days had increased my challenge by including more 'superfoods' like beetroot and spinach. my least favourite was the beetroot blend; frozen berries, orange and beetroot, all blended with the almond milk. the beetroot made the drink smell... fishy. it was really hard to get down. another i struggled through near the end of the week was banana, avodaco and peanut butter. the smoothie was really salty in flavour, the combo of the avocado and the peanut butter was too much of a good thing. it was thick too, it could've done with more of the almond milk i suppose.
one thing i did notice was that my snacking took on a new form after taking the challenge and kicking off the morning with a massive dose of superfoods - i don't normally have breakfast; i walk into work with a massive coffee and repeat that until lunch time. but with the smoothie kick starting my morning, i had half as much coffee in the morning, and wasn't craving the same foods i usually do over lunch. now, instead of popcorn or crisps with my lunch, i was after more fruit. rarher a nice change!
since i ran out of almond milk on friday, i have bought more. i've really enjoyed having something filling me up on the commute into work, the flavours i've been creating, and just how healthy my mornings are. my next challenge is getting boyfriend in to it too... wish me luck!
how do you start off your mornings? have you tried the smoothie challenge yourself?
