No one can deny the allure of a quick energy fix. And we don't just want a small dose of it - we search for a heart-racing, mind-pumping, mega-indulgent pick-me-up. Whatever has you reaching for that energy boost throughout the day, know that you don't have to rely on a caffeine surge to get it.

If you're big into caffeine, from the likes of pop or coffee, you've likely experienced the related monster of mid-day crashes. If you need an energy recharge, smoothies and juices can give you the kick you need without the come down. When they're made specifically for a boost, a smoothie or a juice drink can be a healthier alternative, and the charge that your body gets is more natural and longer lasting.

If you're looking to create a smoothie or juice to kick start your system, there is a wide array of ingredients to choose from. Recent trendy additives for drinks include wheatgrass, wheat germ, spirulina, flax seeds, and goji berries, to name a few. These sources of energy can give instant boosts, stimulating the system with extremely concentrated nutrients. Depending on your tastes, it can be fun to experiment with different energy-identifying ingredients. The actual taste of things like wheatgrass, acai berries, or goji berries can have a bit of a raw bite, so it's all about finding the right things to mix and match to give you the energy you need without off-putting aftertastes.

On a visit to the Little Green Café, located at 3300 Monroe Avenue, Marie Lovenheim, nutritionist and manager of the café, shared some tips on how to prepare an energy-boosting smoothie. At the café, Lovenheim adds a little bit of wheat germ or different kinds of nut butters, just for starters, into a drink that, when finished, will naturally charge the customer's batteries. "Smoothies can really help us to fight fatigue," says Lovenheim.

When you skip meals you have to compensate for the energy that you've missed. Putting something healthy and rejuvenating into your body every couple of hours helps to avoid those extreme highs and lows. The café menu at Little Green serves up options like Antioxidant Acai (acai, banana, coconut, and pineapple juice), Jodi's Power Drink (berries, rice milk, spirulina, flax seeds, rice protein, acai), and Lean on Green (greens, sunflower butter, banana, apple, and orange juice).

As Lovenheim points out, a smoothie is a good alternative for people on the go, who don't have time to create or make meals for themselves. Although a smoothie should not continuously replace daily meals, you can get more nutrients in one smoothie than some people get in an entire day, says Lovenheim. Little Green's breakfast smoothie, for instance, is overflowing with good stuff: unsweetened vanilla almond milk with dairy milk, soymilk, hempmilk, coconut water, juice, fresh or frozen fruit, banana, oats, and a tablespoon of wheat germ. Optional additions include nuts or nut butter, flaxseed, dates, and cinnamon. This drink on its own provides a good source of soluble fiber to help keep cholesterol low, and offers up a good amount of protein, vitamin E, and about 20 other nutrients.

Right down the street from the Little Green, tucked into the center of Main Street in Pittsford, you can also check out the Breathe Yoga kitchen and juice bar. The atmosphere at Breathe is warm and peaceful, and there are plenty of drinks to try. You can start out with an acai smoothie, or maybe a Hippie Shake (banana, strawberries, acai, almonds, goji berries, hemp oil, and apple juice). If you're feeling a little daring, you can go for The Whole Shebang, made with banana, strawberries, pineapple, acai berry, fructol, elixir booster, and apple juice. Or just try out a wheatgrass shot or blast. Wheatgrass - an intensely green juice loaded with chlorophyll, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals - can afford an almost instant energy boost, and some believe it can boost the immune system during sickness. Just watch out for the taste.

If you enjoy the kick you get from a wheatgrass shot, or want to try your hand at creating your own mix-and-match drink concoction, head to Abundance Co-Op at 62 Marshall Street, off of Monroe. You first choose a base of carrot, celery, or apple, and then choose two ingredients out of a long list of add-ons - cucumber, kale, parsley, ginger, lemon, orange, etc. A 1 oz. wheatgrass shot is only $2 extra, and you can purchase a shot on its own as well. According to the Abundance Co-Op, on an empty stomach wheatgrass assimilates into the bloodstream in less than 10 minutes and it creates energy by quickly feeding oxygen into our systems.

You may also want to check out Hyjea, a quaint cafe in the Four Corners of Penfield, at 2120 Five Mile Line Road. The venue is small, with about four to five tables and a juice bar, but the menu is sizeable. Here you can try out a single, double, or 16 oz. shot of wheatgrass. According to manager Troy Goergen, one ounce of wheat grass is the equivalent of two pounds of vegetables. You can also sample an acai bowl (acai blended with vanilla soymilk, and topped with granola and sliced bananas), an acai passion (acai berry, banana, mango juice, vanilla whey protein), or a Banana Cream Bliss smoothie (bananas, oats, peanut butter, cinnamon, vanilla soymilk, vanilla whey protein).

Inside Natural Oasis at 288 Monroe Avenue, a new fresh bar has recently been added into the mix. The menu is clever and inventive, giving you a choice of special drinks like Zadvala (fresh wheatgrass alongside an orange creamsicle shot), Gajara (fresh carrot and ginger combined with spices and sweetened to evoke the taste of fall), and a traditional fermented Kombucha (a sweetened tea made with bacteria cultures, typically made for medicinal purposes), which is made and created in-house. The homemade ingredients come across in the taste.