My Smoothie Love Affair
I’ve been a lover of a good, wholesome smoothie for as long as I can remember. Well almost! It was 1998 when this love affair began, when I bought my very first blender. And well, as they say the rest is history!
I couldn’t get enough of them! I would throw any kind of fruit into that blender and blitz away! Of course, I didn’t have access to the internet like I do now, so my smoothie recipes were let’s say…experimental! When I stumbled across a combination of ingredients that got my taste buds doing backflips, I’d have that ‘recipe’ on repeat for days, even weeks!
Smoothies were frequently on the menu in my house. For breakfast, and occasionally morning tea and afternoon snack time! If you’d asked me, it was always a good time to have a smoothie.
Why Smoothies?
I went through a season where I did a lot of juicing. For me, that was more of a cleansing process I was exploring. Most of my juicing consisted of veggies, rather than fruit, and included fresh celery, carrots, beetroot with a chunk of fresh ginger for the all-important ‘zing’. I avoided a lot of sugary fruits etc as the concentration of sugar in such a potion would load up my liver and make it work really hard!
Because smoothies are making use of the whole fruit or vegetable, the density of nutrients is so much greater than in juice, which gets rid of all the fiber and leaves the sugar behind. For this reason smoothies are incredibly filling, leaving you less likely to consume unnecessary amounts of sugar and as a result, unnecessary calories.
I figured that if I wanted to live a healthy, full, and abundant kind of life, then I’d need to take care of every part of me – body, mind, and spirit.
Getting my Green Quota
Green smoothies became my friend when I discovered I had a chronic iron deficiency a couple of years ago. It wasn’t the magical cure, but it was the best way for me to fuel my body up on my dark leafy greens and aid the increase of my iron levels.
I consume green smoothies daily! It’s my non-negotiable every morning, along with a nice strong coffee. Actually, I always make double the amount and either tote it in a sealed jar for the next day, or my 4 year old son fights me for it, sporting a very cute green smoothie moustache afterward. (PS this excites me as a mum because I’m reassured that he gets his greens quota on those days too!).
Why Green?
As I just mentioned, consuming dark leafy greens is an all-important part of keeping our iron levels where they need to be, which in turn affects our energy levels.
After suffering from chronic iron deficiency for more than two years, possibly longer, and barely surviving, it was extremely important for me to make anything a priority that would boost my iron levels and keep them there.
My Green Smoothie Go-To
Confession time. I’m a creature of habit. I find something that works for me and I stick with it. Sometimes for a very long time. My husband is quite the opposite and still marvels at how I can have or do the same thing every day, month after month. My philosophy: when you’re on a good thing why change it!
If unlike me you like to change things up regularly because you get bored easily and need more variety, good news is there are loads of options. (I do like to experiment and swap out a few ingredients from time to time, but I inevitably end up with the ingredient combination I’m about to share with you – because it’s so amazing!)
So I want to share with you my go-to green smoothie which I was introduced to when I discovered Sarah Wilson’s I Quit Sugar program. Her recipe book ‘Clean n Green Smoothies’ http://store.iquitsugar.com/clean-n-green-smoothie-cookbook-digital/ is where this favourite can be found.
Cleansing Green Smoothie
1½ cups coconut water
¼ cup coconut cream
2 cups baby spinach
½-⅓ frozen banana, depending on the size of the banana (peeled)
This is my favourite for a number of reasons, other than the ones I’ve already mentioned.
- It’s quick and easy
- I always have the ingredients stocked in my pantry/fridge
- It’s inexpensive
- The coconut cream provides our body with those important healthy fats that fill us up, and are digested more easily, and also help improve brain function
- Squeeze of lemon juice (which aids in the absorption of iron)
I’ve always been really interested in healthy living and eating. (I can thank my dad for that!) Particularly learning more about how a holistic approach to health impacts on our physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual well-being.
I’m not necessarily your model citizen when it comes to having it all figured out, but I’ve definitely been on the journey for a long time and learned a whole lot of interesting facts along the way. Now, I can confidently say that at this stage of my journey I’m in a much better place regarding my health than ever before.
Give Green a Go!
So, whether you’re a green smoothie convert or you’re considering whether to enter that territory, I’d love to encourage you to give them a try. You just may be surprised by how addicted you become!
