Nutritious --- and YUMMY! --- smoothie recipe

Blueberry Chocolate Smoothie

I made a delicious smoothie today. The base was organic, unfiltered blueberry juice, to which I added frozen pineapple and blueberries and a banana. Yum. A smoothie would be perfect just like that, but no...I then added a heaping teaspoon of organic cacao powder (sooooo good for you) and a teaspoon of raw honey (ditto). The end result was a chocolate-blueberry smoothie, delightfully tasting and truly healthy.

What a great way to start the morning! Next time I make it, I'll take a picture and note the amounts so I can include it here as a recipe. Though it's really about eyeballing it and adjusting to your personal tastes.

I also think I'll substitute the blueberry juice base with something like almond milk, which should make the smoothie more creamy, like a shake.

The anatomy of a healthy smoothie

I'm not a big breakfast eater, and so in lieu of a large meal I tend to make some kind of smoothie chock full of things to keep me going for a few hours.

I drink these nearly every day, if not at breakfast than at lunch -- sometimes even for dinner. They're easy to make, delicious and extremely healthy for you.

The ingredients are not difficult to find or hard to use. I'll explain why I personally use them, too, so you can decide whether you want to begin incorporating some of these things into the smoothies you make at home.

• 8 to 12 oz water or orange juice for base
• Fresh or frozen fruit
• 1 - 3 tablespoons coconut oil
• Nascent iodine, 4 drops
• Biotics Research Aqueous Multi Plus
• 1 teaspoon blue agave

Let's go through them one by one:

Orange juice: Oranges are a superfood. Superfoods are foods which contain important nutrients not usually found in other foods. Basically they are the superheroes of foods. The more we eat these foods the healthier we will be. I try to eat as much off the superfood list as I possibly can each day.

In this case, when unable to consume actual oranges, use orange juice. Get organic with all the pulp, if you can. I realize in the picture above I've got Tropicana and that's because wow, I'm kind of human and also totally budget conscious. Still, I get organic whenever I can. What's also wonderful, though, is using a filtered water base with actual orange slices mixed in with the rest of your fruit.

Fresh or frozen fruit: Everybody needs about five servings of fruit a day, isn't that what thye say? Personally I can't imagine eating that much whole fruit (I'm not as big a fruit lover as others I know) and so this smoothie is a good way for me to get what I need all in one go. Remember: fruit should never be eaten with anything else because the digestive processes required to break down fruit are different from the processes used to break down protein and carbohydrates. If you eat fruit with anything else, the fruit will be last to be processed, and this will cause fermentation in your stomach.

One other thing to remember is that the darker the fruit, or more vibrantly colorful, the more healthy and anti-oxidant rich. Blueberries are also a superfood and I tend to always have them on hand, either to throw into smoothies like these or to put on top of my oatmeal (oats? also a superfood). Unsweetened blueberry jam is also a healthy treat to have around the house --- use liberally on toast or scones or whatever you like. Blackberries are also fab in smoothies, as well as strawberries --- but one warning about strawberries: only eat organic. There's more pesticide found on strawberries than nearly any other fruit.

Coconut Oil: I recently wrote a post on what I consider to be the miraculous properties of coconut oil. As such I not only apply coconut oil liberally to my body, but also ingest it one to three times a day. It adds a nice flavor in this smoothie, and so I recommend it.

Nascent Iodine: I use nascent (or atomic) iodine specifically as a tonic for my thyroid, but its benefits, I believe, are legion:

...another, more modern form of Iodine is nascent iodine. It is a consumable iodine in it's atomic form rather than it's molecular form. It can hold an electromagnetic charge which basically means it has a huge release of energy when consumed.
According to Dr Guy Abraham Iodine is detected in every organ and tissue in the body. And so essential is it for life that a deficiency in it will bring a wide variety of afflictions (including cancer) that are difficult to trace back to the trace mineral, iodine. It used to be routinely added to bread as a supplement up until 20 years ago.
60 million mainland Japanese consume a daily average of 13.8 mg of elemental iodine, and they are one of the healthiest nations based on overall well being and cancer statistics - Abraham, G.E.
Because iodine deficiency results in increased iodine trapping by the thyroid, iodine deficient individuals of all ages are more susceptible to radiation-induced thyroid cancer.
Iodine occurs naturally in very small quantities in Salt (iodized), Cod, Shrimp, Tuna, Milk, Eggs and in much, much larger quantities in Seaweed. Some companies also offer it as a supplement.
Source.
(Please note that the referenced article also indicates an added benefit when taking nascent iodine with transdermal magnesium. I intend to write a post about the wonders of transdermal magnesium and how it has positively impacted my own health. Look for it soon.)

The few drops of nascent iodine used in this smoothie are undetectable.

Biotics Research Aqueous Multi Plus: This liquid vitamin supplement was recommended to me by my trusted integrative M.D. I've taken a lot of supplements, as it's my opinion that the traditional diet no longer provides for the essential vitamins and minerals we all need. I recommend this brand because it works for me. If taken by the tablespoon it tastes a bit like orange flavored cough syrup, though not nearly as objectionable (if you, like me, hate taking cough syrup). I have no problem whatsoever with it, and it too is undetectable in this smoothie.

Blue Agave Nectar: I don't use too much of this as obviously this is a sweet enough smoothie without it. However, sometimes I use more tart fruits like pineapple and the like, and in those cases agave sweetens nicely. I prefer it to honey. Clearly, add according to your own taste.

Enjoy!

Intriguing Smoothie Recipe I Must Try

Found this smoothie recipe online and it looks quite good. Lots goes into it, obviously, and perhaps I wouldn't use all ingredients, but man, tons of power nutrients listed here.
I'm going to try it, and am posting it here for my own records.

Start off with half an inch of water and put it into your vitamix.
Add:

1. Spoon of raw and organic honey
2. Spoon of raw/organic coconut oil
3. Pinch of organic sea salt
4. Handful of organic cashews or organic brazil nuts
5. Two squirts of vanilla stevia

Blend on high until silky smooth. Now you have your base!
Now Add:

1. Half a cup of Organic Frozen Berries (or fresh berries like strawberry, raspberry, blueberry, etc.)
2. 1.5 - 2 cups Coconut water or some kind of nut milk (I prefer coconut water, but I do use nut milk sometimes. Such as vanilla almond milk or hemp milk)
3. 2 to 3 (or more :)) big tablespoons of Cacao Powder
4. 1 - 2 teaspoons of Goji Berry Extract powder
5. Handful of Goji Berries
6. 2 to 3 tablespoons of some kind of seeds (I like Chia seeds the best. But you can use flax seeds)
7. 1 - 3 scoops of SunWarrior Protein
8. 1 - 2 tablespoons of tocotrienols
9. 1-2 tablespoons of SunWarrior activated barley (optional)
10. 1 tablespoon of maca extreme (be careful! :))
11. 1 -2 tablespoons of The Sun is Shining (or spirulina)
12. 1 tablespoon of organic peanut butter (optional)

Blend that all up until smooth and enjoy!
You can basically mix and match ANYTHING you want and be okay. The more you put, the thicker the smoothie will be. As you start making more of them and watching what you put everyday, you’ll get a good idea of what works for you. There is so much you can put into smoothies its incredible. Like I said, once you have your base, you can dump stuff in and it’ll still taste good! The ingredients above are just some of the things I put in my smoothies. Some days I put other stuff and substitute. All depends on what you feel like.
The best part is, they taste GREAT and they make you feel GREAT.