Fresh, homemade smoothies are an excellent way to get a lot of veg in your daily diet, all crammed into one easy to make drink. But just note, I am not at all talking about the store bought ‘fresh smoothies’ that can contain several teaspoons of sugar (at least) to ensure you keep coming back for more ‘goodness’. Note my sarcasm here.
Better Than A Multi-Vitamin Tablet
The smoothies you make from scratch at home, so long as you put the right healthy ingredients in, can give you a great does of vital vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytonutrients that your body needs to function optimally.
Most multivitamins on the shelves are not derived from organic whole foods, and can actually use up already stored nutrients from food to break them down – causing nutrient loss with minimal nutrient absorption from the actual multivitamin. Nothing is more bio-available (easy to break down and utilise) than organic whole foods, so this is why you can’t rely on your multivitamin to give you all your nourishment.
Raw Is Best
It is best to use raw vegetables when making a smoothie to ensure you do get the enzyme content found with them, as they are destroyed once heated. Another good reason to add a smoothie into your daily diet is if you are someone that only ever has cooked food.
Without enzymes proper digestion cannot happen. Without vitamins, enzymes can’t be activated. So this is why you must ensure you are getting sufficient levels of nutrients every day else enzymes cant work the way they were designed to.
As well as ensuring proper digestion (break down of food) happens, enzymes are also essential for absorbing food, converting food, producing energy at the cellular level and are critical for most of the metabolic activities taking place in your body as you read this.
Many nutrients we need are stuck in the fibre of the fruits and vegetables we consume. So when you go to make a smoothie, and blend these fruits and vegetables, you break down the fibre and release the vital nutrients into a form your body can easily use. This is why smoothies can be great for people suffering with poor digestive function.
Plus smoothies taste great and are very refreshing, and can help convince kids to get in more vegetables as they are more likely to drink a smoothie than sit down and eat a whole plate of vegetables they need day in day out.
Feel Your Best Every Day
Consuming a few raw fruits and lots of vegetables in a smoothie every day could do several things for you:
- Ensure you are correctly hydrated if you have one at the beginning of the day
- Provide you with the full spectrum of nature’s bioavailable vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants
- Give you plenty of natural fiber to aid excellent digestion (start off slowly if you currently do not consume a lot of fibre to help reduce any initial bloating)
- Help strengthen your immune system to protect you from illness
- Save you money and time
Amy Morris’ Deluxe Super-Green Breakfast Smoothie Recipe
Do you wake up feeling sluggish in the morning? Well instead of reaching for a coffee, try making this smoothie some mornings. As well as helping you cleanse your liver of toxins that can contribute to that sluggish feeling, it can give you a great energy boost! Sure, it may not look the prettiest but it really does taste good so don’t be shy if you have never tried making a smoothie with vegetables before! Vegetables are far more nutritious than fruit anyway.
You will need:
- 1 tablespoon organic dried goji berries
- 4 tablespoons of organic fresh broccoli
- 1 teaspoon of organic psyllium husk powder (optional)
- 200ml organic almond milk
- 1 tablespoon organic coconut oil
- 3 organic lettuce leaves
- 1 tablespoon organic chia seeds (optional)
- 1 teaspoon organic moringa powder
- 1 organic banana
- 1 teaspoon organic date syrup <— high in vitamins A, B, D, as well as minerals calcium, magnesium and potassium, PLUS it has a low GI
- 1 tablespoon organic smooth peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon organic clean greens (by Pukka)
Start off by adding your liquid first, in this case it is almond milk. Then add your dry ingredients. Blend for between 1- 3 minutes. This all depends on the type of blender you have, i.e. if you have a Vitamix then it will be done in a minute. Basically you want it to be smooth with no lumps. Sometimes you may need to add a little more liquid, but go easy at first as the desired consistency is a thick smoothie, not a watery one! Enjoy heath seekers!
