I’ve been doing green smoothies in the morning for a while now and I can happily recommend it to everyone. In fact it was probably the first step we took as a family towards achieving a healthier gut, getting more energy and for some, weight loss!
My husband and I have managed to replace breakfast with a smoothie. When you think about the other breakfast alternatives and the nutrient value, it’s a no brainier. Most cereals contain sugar (except of course my homemade muesli which is my alternative when I fancy something to crunch down on) and toast is never going to deliver a great nutritional punch and give you bags of energy, quite the opposite. But spinach, avocado, chia seeds and fruit all blended into an easy to digest format is just wonderful and easy to throw into a travel mug and take with you on the school run. Of course the other mums were interested what the green sludge like liquid I was consuming was and I’m happy to say I have quite a few converts. The best bit is that the kids are also on board. They can choose what to put in and I explain the benefits of different things and they happily make it a part of their breakfast. It helps enormously with my sons tricky gut as well.
So, never happy to just rest on my laurels I have always been looking for ways to pack more into that morning beverage. The children keep theirs at a very palatable ratio of 1/3 vegetable to 2/3 fruit and that’s good enough for me. However, for the adults we have slowly been changing that ratio and you would be surprised what you can grow used to. The ultimate in green smoothie is the recipe below from Neal’s Yard, so much veg straight into your empty stomach although I did replace apple juice with a whole apple and coconut water. It sounds like it’s going to be rough going but the cucumber and mint really freshen things up. Anyway, give it a go, your stomach will thank you for it and you will be full of beans for the rest of the day.
Although as the title of this post suggests (and one word of warning!) once I have thrown back my ginger and lemon drink, a mug of echinacea tea and a litre of this smoothie I always have to stop for a bathroom break at Starbucks on the way home from the school run. But I guess that means that I’m starting the day super hydrated!
Here it is.
Organic Health & Beauty 