Looking for a good and healthy snack? Here are the fruit-shakes!

If you're looking for a snack that's healthy but also tasty, you're in the right place. My brother Emanuele and I, when the afternoon craving hits, always make ourselves a good fruit smoothie: it keeps us light, refreshed, energetic and full.

There's an interesting distinction that few people know:

• Real fruit-shakes: made by blending fruit in the blender, adding milk or yoghurt (smoothie) or ice, coconut water, ice cream or frozen fruit (frappé).
• Juices: made by passing the fruit through an extractor, a device that draws out the juice at low speed without overheating the fruit.
• Centrifuged juices: made with a centrifuge, which spins at a higher speed and, by overheating the fruit, causes a significant loss of nutrients.

Why it's good for you

Good fruit, healthy fruit

I love fruit so much, at breakfast and as a snack, and it brings a lot of benefits to our bodies: it gives us a high amount of nutrients, like mineral salts, unlike the heavily advertised supplements that are often useless; it detoxifies the body, even after we've been sick with a fever and had to take medicine, helping us cleanse ourselves. It's low in fat and provides omega 3, enzymes, potassium, iron, calcium and more. It holds the energy of the sun absorbed while growing and gives it back to our bodies, energizing and revitalizing us. It digests quickly and contains fructose, a healthy sugar that doesn't cause blood-sugar problems. Fruit is also rich in fibre, which helps our intestines and benefits our gut flora.

My choice

Why home-made fruit-shakes?

I chose to snack on smoothies because I like to follow the Mediterranean diet and always use genuine, healthy products from my area. When I see my friends eating supermarket snacks I don't envy them at all, because I know the amount of preservatives, sugars and fats in those snacks is very high, and harmful to my diet. I'd rather make them at home with my mom than choose the overly sugary, low-fruit ones sold in stores.

A common question

Peel, yes or no?

It depends on what you're making for breakfast or a snack. If you're making a smoothie you can peel the fruit, because, as I mentioned, blending doesn't take any nutrients away from the pulp. For fresh juices or centrifuged juices, though, I recommend leaving the peel on, because of the nutrients lost to the extractor or centrifuge. One warning: industries use more and more pesticides these days, so always make sure you've washed your fruit well.

The recipe

Victoria recommends: the tropical fruit-shake

One of my favourite smoothies is the tropical fruit blend, and what better time for it than summer? Let's make it together.

Peel the fruit and cut it into cubes. Put it in the blender jar along with the lemon juice, the sugar and the milk. Blend until you get a smooth, even mixture, then pour it into whichever glasses you like best — and there you have it. So good! I chose tropical fruit, but you can mix in any fruit you like.

Bye! See you soon!