12 Most Energizing Ingredients for Your Green Smoothie
Freshly made green smoothies are life-improving. A good smoothie will give you sustained energy, a leaner waist, and a healthier body.
When a green smoothie is made properly, it is refreshing, filling, and astoundingly delicious! Here are 12 ingredients that you can use in your own freshly made green smoothies to feel better than you have ever felt before.
1. Spices
Spices put the flavor into life! Spices are not only flavorful but many also contain antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. My favorites for green smoothies are cayenne, turmeric, and ginger. For dessert smoothies, I like cinnamon, nutmeg or cardamom.
2. Coconut
Coconut flour, coconut milk, shredded coconut — any of these can taste great in a smoothie! Coconut can be a healthy fat that prevents blood sugar spikes; it helps the carbohydrates within your smoothie provide you with sustained energy.
3. Superfoods
Exotic superfoods can infuse your smoothies with super nutrition. Foods such as goji berries, maca, mangosteen, tree mushroom powder, shilajit, and mesquite can add a welcomed dimension to the flavor of your shake, while providing a restorative effect to your body.
4. Seeds
My favorite seeds are raw sprouted pumpkin, chia, and flax. As a source of protein, seeds are exceptional.
5. Nuts
My favorite nuts to toss into the blender are brazil nuts, almonds, or pecans. Brazil nuts are naturally high in selenium (so high in fact that you probably only need to add one or two brazil nut per person, and even then you don’t need them every single day). By the way, I’m not a big fan of peanuts (they have a lovely flavor but many people are sensitive to the mold inside peanuts — besides, there are so many other fantastic nuts to choose from).
6. Lemons and limes
Man-oh-man, do I love freshly squeezed lemon and lime juice! If you told me I had to go to a deserted island and could only take a few foods with me, lemons or limes would definitely be among the foods on that short list. Lemon and lime juice give smoothies the perfect amount of zing!
7. Organic vegetables
The beauty of smoothies (and the genius of owning a great blender) is that it makes it simple to sneak in those extra servings of vegetables into your daily diet.
Some of my favorite vegetables to add are broccoli, cucumber, celery, and red bell pepper.
8. Dark, leafy greens
These vegetables are so nutritious and fantastic for you that they deserve their own category! I like kale, chard, spinach, and parsley. I usually have a different one each day — if I think my body is low in iron, then I add a lot; if I think my body is a bit high in iron then I only add a little.
9. Fruits
When I first started making fresh smoothies, I added lots of fruit, like berries and frozen banana chunks. Years later, my taste buds evolved, and now (miracle of miracles!) I find I don’t need as many sweets in my diet. Now, I mostly stick to a bit of mango, frozen peaches, or organic apples. I keep the skin on my apples, as they are loaded with phytonutrients that the body finds helpful.
10. Ice
Ice does something important to the texture of a smoothie — it helps make it more like a milkshake (and less like soup).
11. Prunes
If you need more fiber in your diet but don’t normally like the taste of prunes, they go perfectly in a smoothie!
12. Bee pollen
I use locally harvested bee pollen in my smoothies to help prevent environmental allergies. Bee pollen is 40% (highly assimilable) protein and one of nature’s most nourishing foods.
Many people in our modern culture eat cold cereal or toast for breakfast, hamburgers for lunch, and burritos or pizza for dinner. A freshly made green smoothie is almost certainly a better choice than any of those meals. A freshly made green smoothie can help you to have a extremely healthy body.
All you need to be great at making delicious, healthy smoothies is a positive attitude, a sense of adventure and a willingness to experiment with new ingredients! For tasty and green smoothie recipes — including specific ratios and calorie breakdowns — you can swing by instantDane.tv.
Featured image courtesy of ktmadeblog licensed via Creative Commons.
http://www.instantdane.tv
Dane is a Longevity Lifestyle Coach who holds a masters degree in Counseling Depth Psychology. His past professional adventures include Digital Marketing Director for a large brokerage and decades spent as a professional fitness trainer. Today, Dane curates instantDane.tv, an online community for creative types over 40 who want to improve their health as they improve their daily quality of life.
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