Smoothies are an amazing way to get more healthy fat and protein in the diet – especially protein which we need to regulate and optimise our metabolism – see my article “Transforming your body’s energy system through food”. Smoothies are so handy and I have at least 3 a week to optimise my nutritional and calorie intake.
What I love about them the most is that you can make something yummy – thats like a pudding in a cup, but it can be highly medicinal too!
I love experimenting and creating a new “twist” to my smoothies… I have some staple recipes but have a whole pantry of ingredients to use depending on the outcome I want. For example, if I want something more energising, I may add in a good hit of raw cacao, matcha green tea powder and ashwaghanda (Indian ginseng). I I want something more detoxing, I may do a green smoothie with broccoli and broccoli powder, chlorella and spirulina, spinach and berries.
There’s always a way to balance the smoothies out to make them tasty and filling too. It takes some time to get your smoothie tasting just right, so you’ll have to give it a few goes before you’re happy with the taste. But don’t give up – you will get there if you stick at it! And when you hit gold and get that yummy yummy creamy desert-like smoothie – you’ll know you’ve hit the jackpot!
See some of my top tips below…
Fats – try almond/hazlenut/coconut milk, raw cacao powder (raw chocolate), cinnamon, soaked chia seeds, nut/seed butters or cacao butter, coconut oil, flesh or crème.
Proteins – include a good hit of protein (equivalent of 15 grams protein), organic pea protein powder can be bought from http://amzn.to/2ou9EQ6. Add more vegetables so that you’ve got a 1:5 fruit:veg ratio as having too much fructose is not ideas and contributes to Insulin desenstitisation and fat storage, nuts & seeds (soaked overnight in water or nut milk), nut/seed butters and oils, brocolli, protein powders (Pulsin, Sun Warrior etc), tahina.
Play around with the ingredients, make it taste good with vanilla/almond essence, more berries, more nut butter or cacao. You can do this without the protein powder. Use stevia or xylitol to sweeten.
Other ingredients: see my article about anti-inflammatory diets for more ideas on the medicinal value veggies and herbs you may want to include in your smoothies.
Milks:
Almond, gluten free oat, coconut, hazelnut (naturally sweeter), hemp
To sweeten:
Dates, date/agave Syrup (use only a tiny bit – its really sweet!), xylitol, stevia, raw honey
Soaking:
Oats, millet, chia seeds, goji berries, nuts and seeds could be soaked overnight before being added to smoothies to improve digestability
Try adding:
Protein powder
Chlorella powder
Soaked chia seeds
Hulled hemp seeds
Soaked nuts and seeds
1 tablespoon coconut oil
Broccoli powder
Spriulina powder
Kelp powder
Chlorella powder
Ashwaghanda powder
Slippery Elm powder
Inulin/FOS/probiotics – (How Inulin does work? It’s a type of fibre (fructooligosaccharide – FOS) that feeds beneficial bacteria in the gut – or probiotics – love to feast on – its their favourite food! And the FOS can be extracted from many things – the one I use is from chicory root – that seems to be popular)
Activated coconut charcoal
Medicinal mushroom powders like cordycepps, chaga, reishi, turkey tail, ganoderma and so on
Bee pollen
Inulin or probiotic powders
Astralagus powder
Tryphala powder
Psyllium husk
Essences eg vanilla
Essential oils eg ginger, cilantro
Try one of my favourite recipes… almond/hazlenut/coconut milk, protein powder (equivalent of 15 grams protein), 2 tsp raw cacao powder (raw chocolate), ½ tsp cinnamon, handful spinach, 1 tbsp berries, 1/3 banana, 1tbsp dry/4 tbsp soaked chia seeds, 2 tbsp nut butter or cacao butter, 1 tsp maca powder, stevia to sweeten.
Enjoy your liquid desert! All my love xxx
