Green goddess ‘go-to’ smoothie recipe

Smoothies are the perfect way to nourish your body; ideal to have in a fridge to grab when feeling hungry instead of grabbing a bunch of 'snacky-rubbish foods' that you don't need, just because you're hungry.

Smoothies can be used for breakfast or an afternoon pick-me-up which I normally do. They are so versatile. 

The benefits of healthy smoothies

The benefits of drinking healthy smoothies are massive, including:

• helps you lose weight
• increases your fibre intake (makes you feel fuller for longer)
• prevents dehydration
• controls cravings
• gives you a source of antioxidants
• enhances immunity
• improves skin
• detoxifies the body

These are just some of the benefits, not even mentioning overall energy increase. 

However, all-fruit smoothies are not the best idea if you're doing smoothies on a regular basis. Pure fruit smoothies contain lots of sugar and are likely to spike your insulin and cause an energy crash afterwards. Fruits are full of sugar, some smoothies actually contain more sugar than Coke or Fanta – and our body doesn’t really make a distinction if the sugar is ‘natural’ or ‘added’, the sugar from smoothies can still cause tooth decay. Sugar has many other health consequences for us, affecting our risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity.

Smoothies are often marketed as a healthy treat, but you should be careful how many you're having on a regular basis, they are not as innocent as some of them are portrayed.

But, if made with the right ingredients, smoothies can be nutritional powerhouses and great weight loss aids.

Enure your smoothies contain: 

• Fruits (obviously), you can't go wrong with fresh or frozen bananas and berries. Apple and pineapple are great smoothie mixers too.
• Greens: spinach (classic), lettuce and other types of salads and kale are great options.
• Healthy fats: avocado, almond butter (or other), coconut oil etc.
• Probiotics: kefir or yoghurt.
• To top it up: water, almond, soy, oat, rice or other types of milk.

Green goddess smoothie recipe

Ingredients 

• Half an avocado – healthy oil for your skin, hair and nails.
• Half a lemon juice – great detoxifier.
• 2 stalks of celery – full of vitamins A, K and C plus has a slow steady effect on your blood sugar.
• 1/2 inch of ginger peeled – improves digestion and helps with aches and pains (anti-inflammatory).
• 1 small or 1/2 big apple with skin washed.
• 80-100g (handful) pineapple.
• 30g green, leafy salad.
• Water plus ice cubes (optional).

Method

Mix the leafy salad (spinach, watercress, rocket - this can also be Romaine or gem lettuce, kale or any green salad type) in a blender with the remaining ingredients above, and pulse for approximately two minutes, or until thick and smooth. Greens give you fibre, phytonutrients and antioxidants which will pick your energy up!

Top tip: make sure to add ingredients for your weekly smoothies to your shopping list. Having all the ingredients is half the job done. If you have a banana, some almond butter, a pinch of cinnamon, add some water and blend together and voila. When it comes to smoothies – don’t think too much, anything goes as long as you include all different types of ingredients as mentioned above.

Enjoy a smoothie a few times a week!