The Perfect Green Shake/Smoothie
Many people ask me - what should I put in my smoothie or green shake? How can I make it delicious, fast, and healthy? How can I make it easy? Are there any things I should not put in it? (If you want it dead easy, and a 5 second smoothie/shake, skip down to the bottom.)
If green shakes or smoothies weren't tasty and easy, then I wouldn't make them myself - so believe me, eating quick and healthy can definitely be delicious!
I recommend some combination of the following 3 main groups. Use water or something like coconut milk, almond milk, etc for the liquid base. One caution about fruit - it's delicious and healthy, but even the lower sugar content of berries will add up if you have a smoothie full of fruit! Try for 20-30% fruit maximum, and 70-80 percent veggies/leafy greens. If you are new to smoothies/green shakes, then perhaps ease yourself into them with some of the flavouring techniques below, versus making a mega fruit smoothie. However, when it comes down to it, make it so that you will eat it!!!
Vegetables - whatever you would like - I rotate between some combination of peppers, celery, carrots, cucumber, turmeric, ginger, or use all of them if you like! Cucumber will help thicken and bulk up the smoothie without adding much sugar or other flavours to it
Greens - Oh, healthy leafy greens, what a superfood you are! Things like dandelion greens, swiss chard, collard greens, spinach, of course the ever-popular kale, watercress, parsley, cilantro and so on. Add in some powder or liquid chlorella or spirulina if you like! These greens can all be found at almost any grocery store, but you may need to go to a health food grocery store for chlorella or spirulina. Plus, they are all superfoods useful at helping you detox, as well as rid yourself of heavy metals. Just go to Google images if you are wondering what any of these look like. Whenever you can, buy your greens organic, due to the higher vitamin content and drastically reduced chemical load.
Berries (Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries), cranberries, rhubarb are some of the lowest sugar fruits, with strawberries being close behind. Apples are fine, prunes/plums as well, but try to avoid some of the higher sugar fruits like melon, bananas, mangoes, grapes, pineapple, etc. Whenever you can, buy your berries organic due to the higher vitamin content and drastically reduced chemical load.
Make It Even Better - Add LOVE, LOV, or the Greens Power Shake (discussed below) to give your smoothie an even more powerful nutritional kick, and make it a complete meal replacement! Better than a regular meal in fact! Or, if you already put plenty of greens in, just add the Thorne FX protein powder for some delicious protein to your shake.
Flavour - did I mention flavour?? Make it delicious! Add as much cinnamon as you like (stabilizes blood sugar!) and it also makes it delicious. 2 tbsp of cinnamon will stabilize your blood sugar as well! It's also full of nutrients, and is anti-microbial!, cayenne pepper to add some kick (and detox!), as well as a natural sweetener if you need like Stevia or Xylitol or Monk Fruit extract. (You can find most of these even at regular grocery stores.) Then blend it all up for a whopping 30-60 secs with your favorite protein powder (or hemp hearts) and throw it in a big shaker bottle or thermos. Play with the amount of liquid/water for your desired consistency.
Making it fast and easy. I recommend preparing these smoothies the night before and then storing them in the fridge if you find it difficult to do in the morning. If you want it dead easy and delicious, and have a 5 second smoothie/shake you can do either of the following, or mix it up like I do.
Use Purium LOVE or LOV in water, almond milk, coconut milk, flax/rice/hemp, etc. milk. Check it out at the link below:
http://puriumcorp.com/LOVE.aspx
Or use the Purium Power Shake and the high quality Thorne FX Rice and Pea protein in combination, and voila! Instant power smoothie! Check them out at the link below:
http://www.puriumcorp.com/ProductPage.aspx?ItemID=1620
https://thornefx.safety-cart.com/products/veganpro-trade-complex-618.html