Spring is finally here and as the weather gets warmer, cool and refreshing smoothies are making a comeback.

If your blender has been tucked into the back corner of your kitchen cabinet for a while, it’s time to wipe the dust off of it and blend up some great smoothies!

There are a bunch of pretty awesome reasons why we decided to kick off springtime with a smoothie challenge:

Why Smoothies?

• Smoothies are healthy! By using fruit, veggies, healthy fats, and protein, you’ll add a ton of good nutrients to your diet. Let’s stay away from too many sugary add-ins and keep these smoothies healthy!
• Smoothies are tasty. There’s nothing worse than eating foods that you don’t like. Smoothies can—and should—be delicious!
• Smoothies are a perfect pre-workout fuel because they provide you with energy without leaving you feeling heavy.
• Smoothies can also serve as really great post-workout snacks. It’s important to eat after your workout to help with recovery, but if you’re one of those people who can’t eat right after training, drinking a smoothie may be a quick and convenient option for you.
• You only need one kitchen tool–a blender. If you use a blender like Magic Bullet, you don’t even need a separate cup for drinking your smoothie (and we think that this is awesome).
• Smoothies can be so versatile. The classic banana, strawberry, and peanut butter combination always works, but there are many other fruit varieties, veggies, fat, and protein sources to try in a smoothie.
• Smoothies can be turned into a dessert! Seriously, some smoothies are better than ice cream.

The April Smoothie Challenge Rules

We hope you’re joining us for this fun and healthy April Smoothie Challenge! Here’s what you need to know about it:

• The Smoothie Challenge will run for four weeks, from April 3rd to April 30th. 
• Each week has a special theme. Each Friday, we’ll post the theme for the next week, together with three recipes you can try. You’ll find the posts here on the blog and in our Facebook group.
• These three recipes are meant to give you some ideas, but don’t feel constrained to just these smoothies. We encourage you to come up with your own recipes and share them, together with all your mouthwatering photos, in our Facebook group.
• Try to make and drink a healthy smoothie three times a week.

That’s it!

We hope you’re in! If you aren’t a member of our Facebook group yet, join us! That’s where we’ll be sharing all our recipes and post photos.

The theme for the first week will be posted on Monday, April 3rd. 

The post Get Ready for the April Smoothie Challenge! appeared first on 12 Minute Athlete.