Monday, December 2, 2013

The Power of the Green Smoothie

Delicious and SUPER Nutritious!


Happy Monday!

The husband and I are on a smoothie kick, that I know for certain.  We have been finding ourselves feeling a little more than "empty" when we don't begin our day with a smoothie.  Now, our ideas of a smoothie are a little different.  We definitely have different tastes when it comes to what we want.  For example, I am a big fan of putting a dark, leafy green in my smoothie and he is definitely not on board with that.  I had always heard of a "green smoothie" but to be honest, I thought it was a smoothie made up of strictly green fruits and vegetables.  My idea of a green smoothie was just avocado, kale and spinach.  That doesn't sound super appetizing to me.  I could probably drink it, but not enjoy it.  Now, I imagine there is a recipe out there with just those ingredients, but imagine my surprise when I learned that green smoothies are really just a normal fruit smoothie with a healthy helping of a dark, leafy green mixed in.  Tasty!

As you may very well know, I'm a huge fan of YouTube videos.  I have expanded my tastes in videos from not only beauty gurus, but also to fitness gurus.  One of my favorite recent discoveries is Bex from BexLife.comShe is full of energy in a not-so-annoying-fitness-guru kind of way.  Her workout videos on YouTube are really fun and challenging and she's got some great series' from workout challenges to nutrition and clean eating!  I came across a video she did with her friend Mike about green smoothies.   Not only did they show a tasty looking green smoothie recipe, but Mike shared the reason why these smoothies are so good for you!  When you drink a fruit smoothie, you are getting the great benefits of the vitamins and minerals in the fruits and that extra kick of energy from the fruit in the sugar.  However, the sugars in the fruits are very quickly digested in our bodies and the energy rush can wear off rather quickly.  Sugars from dark, leafy greens are digested slower in the body than fruit sugars.  By adding a green, dark, leafy vegetables such as spinach or kale, you are allowing the sugars from the smoothie as a whole to be digested more slowly, allowing a more consistent, longer lasting energy boost.

Green smoothies are now my go-to breakfast in the morning!  After my morning routine of oil-pulling (post soon to come on this subject), warm lemon water, and another glass of water, I am working on blending up a tasty green smoothie to start my day!



Tropical Blue-Green Smoothie
  • 16 oz. Silk Vanilla coconut milk
  • 1 cup frozen mixed fruit (I'm using Great Value strawberries, mangoes, peaches, and pineapple at the moment)
  • 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 apple, seeds removed
  • 1 big spoonful of vanilla Greek yogurt (I like Dannon Oikos Greek, it's not terribly expensive and doesn't taste like fake sugar)
  • 2 big handfuls fresh baby spinach
  • Enough water to loosen up the smoothie and get it to blend on the blender 
 Just blend that all up and serve!

 Enjoy!!



Do you have any smoothie recipes you really enjoy?  Please share them!

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