It’s nearly the end of another week. How are you feeling? Energised? Or are you feeling incredibly tired?
ADD A GREEN SMOOTHIE TO YOUR DAY!
Adding a green smoothie into your day provides your body with an excellent source of iron (predominately from green leaves) as well as vitamin C (predominately from fruit). Vitamin C is needed for iron absorption, so this is a perfect combination of ingredients. However, this is not the only benefit of green smoothies.
Some of you may remember my green smoothie article in the last CPC magazine. I’ve decided to re-post this article online as a reminded as we approach winter and an online resource. Entering into Winter we need to support and boost our immune systems. Green smoothies are a fantastic way to supply our bodies and more importantly our immune system with an incredible amount of nutrients!
Green smoothies have endless benefits. Some of these include:
• Alkalising your body, by balancing your blood pH, therefore assisting with symptoms such as fatigue, foggy headedness, constipation, achey joints as well as enhancing the strength of your bones.
• A nutrient dense snack that leaves less room in your stomach for that extra piece of cake, bread, or biscuit.
• Protein (Green leaves provide up to 30% protein)
• Magnesium (A mineral commonly depleted through stress)
• Calcium (Yes that’s right! We don’t have to get it through milk)
• Chlorophyll (Improves body odour, bad breath and assists in detoxifying the liver)
• With the addition of parsley it will purify the kidneys
• With the addition of enzyme rich sprouts your smoothie will enhance your digestion
• They taste delicious!
The modern diet and lifestyle tends to promote acidity as we consume large amounts of high fat, high sugar foods, white foods (white flour, white sugar, etc), meat, alcohol, softdrink, etc and smaller amounts of living food (green leafy vegetables, coloured vegetables, fruits, sprouts, raw nuts, etc). Stress, too little sunshine, not enough fresh air and not enough clean water also contribute to increased acidity in our blood. So we need to be mindful of this.
Our bodies are intelligent. When our blood becomes too acidic it draws alkaline minerals, such as calcium, from our bones in order to buffer the acidity. Therefore, long term acidity contributes to Osteoporosis. One step you can take to begin alkalising your system is to drink one green smoothie each day!
Green smoothies are also fantastic for kids! Have fun as a family and make one together in the morning for breakfast or to snack on throughout the day. You could also make it the night before so you are prepared with a healthy snack for the following day. With daily enjoyment of green smoothies your palate will begin to change and you will begin to notice just how sweet sugar really is.
Try one today!…
(There are so many green smoothie recipes to pick and choose from, however, a great base recipe to start with is):
2-4 cups of greens (baby spinach, mint, parsley, beetroot leaves, musculin lettuce, kale, etc)
1 frozen banana (NOTE: buy in bulk when on special at the market on a Sunday afternoon & peel skins off before freezing)
1 pear or kiwi fruit (or whatever fruit is in season)
1-2 cups water (adjust to desired consistency)
Blend together in a blender
The texture of the smoothie is a lot nicer when the banana is frozen, however ice cubes can also be added instead.
Additions that I commonly use are frozen blueberries, frozen mango, paw paw, apple, persimmon, apple, half an avocado, broccoli, etc. I also like to add green powders like wheatgrass powder or Vital Greens, as well as cacao powder, bee pollen, Acai berry powder, etc to make my smoothie as powerful and healthful as possible.Some further alkalising steps to consider include:
• Laugh daily…
• Breathe in fresh air, mindfully, daily…
• Soak up the sun’s rays, mindfully, daily…
• Filter your water and ensure you are adequately hydrated. Start your day off with 1L when you get out of bed to flush your system after rest and hydrate your brain.
• Consider the portions of your meals – cover three quarters of your plate with salad and/or vegetables. Overeating can lead to acidity.
I hope you all find time to get to the market this weekend to pick up the necessary ingredients to include a green smoothie into each day!
Happy blending!
Janelle.