Green Super Smoothie

Happy New Year! Here’s to another year of happiness and continuing the health journey! I have an abundance of goals and ambitions for 2015 and the top of my list is focusing on my health. This means more greens and less sugar. Even those sneaky sugars in fruit and my ultimate weakness, raisins. Dried fruit is candy in disguise. Don’t let it fool you.

An easy way to get in more greens is by adding a handful of spinach to a smoothie. I choose smoothies over juice. Juicing removes all the good stuff and you miss out on the whole food benefits. Why waste all the pulpy goodness? I like to keep my smoothies simple with just a few ingredients. This version is a true green smoothie with no filler fruit. You can play around with different combinations using coconut milk, avocado and lime as a base. This smoothie is best partnered with Hiya’s plant protein snack bars.

Think of smoothies as a side dish, not a complete meal. It’s important to eat protein at each meal to keep you satiated enough throughout the day. So eat an egg, some sardines or liver to make this a breakfast. Spinach is full of calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium and folate. Although, our bodies can only absorb about 5% of the calcium in spinach. It has a high oxalate content and this binds to calcium making it unavailable for our bodies to use. Include a source of protein rich in vitamin D to help synthesize the calcium.

Green Super Smoothie
Green Super Smoothie
Makes 1 serving.

½ cup coconut milk
½ avocado
½ cup water
1 ½ tbsp fresh lime juice
1 cup raw spinach – packed down tightly

►Add all ingredients to your blender except the spinach. Blend until fully incorporated.
►When measuring the spinach, really pack it down to maximize the amount. Add into blender and mix until smooth, about 3 minutes.

Green Super Smoothie

Resources:

Calcium and Vitamin D: Important at Every Age, http://www.niams.nih.gov/Health_Info/Bone/Bone_Health/Nutrition/

What are the health benefits of spinach?, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/270609.php

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